How it’s done
John Twomey says: “When my wife and I were away for two weeks in October, my son and his wife ‘dog-sat’ our then five-month old puppy Charlotte (Maltipoo). Their 10-yearold boxer, Stella, taught the puppy how to relax.”
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Here’s a sample of the responses those surveyed made about Saratoga Springs police.
“SSPD has pulled my daughter’s father over numerous times over the last 20 years, and pulled him out of the car to talk, even when in someone else’s car, just because he’s Black. No traffic infraction led to him being pulled over, and no traffic tickets given after. I also know of another Black man who was ticketed by SSPD for driving without a license, even though he had a valid license from another state.”
“In the summer months on Caroline Street I witnessed an officer calmly walk an explosive white man off the premises of a bar. Over the span of 20 minutes the officer calmly stayed with the screaming and pushing individual, simply verbally encouraging him to leave. The man had started a fight inside the bar ... The officer had incredible respect and gave space for this man, never touching him just pointing and encouraging him to proceed down the street, as the man was pushing and screaming profanities. In a similar situation, I saw a cop roughing and arresting a black individual who was rowdy leaving a bar. This black man was not nearly as brash as the white man in the incident mentioned above. In these incidents the white man was louder, violent and overall a bigger concern for public safety. Whereas the black individual who was similarly rowdy in a bar, he was forcibly removed. This to me shows that if you’re rowdy and white on Caroline Street, you’ll be kindly encouraged to leave on your own accord as you scream profanities, but if you’re Black and rowdy on Caroline street you’ll be immediately forcibly removed.”
“Assumed my car has been stolen since it is nice and my family is brown, has happened multiple times.”
“My Black friends have been stopped multiple times by SSPD while simply walking down the street and asked for identification and searched their bags. Additionally, SSPD have spit on my friends.”
“Summer of 2004 I was at the end of Caroline street in the evening across the street from Trotters, and a drunken Black person was physically abused by the Saratoga Police department. I remember he was tased repeatedly, even when clearly on the ground and no threat.”
“I’m white. My son is Black. He has been mistreated, physically abused, threatened with a gun (when he was 13), and had other multiple ‘living while black’ incidents. The police in Saratoga Springs are dangerous for Black men.” Commenters also made mention of Darryl Mount, Jr., a 21-yearold biracial man who died after police pursued him on foot in 2013, and the July 30, 2020, Black Lives Matter rally where protesters were shot with pepper spray pellets.
There were also complaints on how the police handled domestic abusers. Here’s just one example: “I was a domestic violence victim and instead of helping the (Saratoga) police left my abuser in MY house.”