Town of Ulster police reform committee welcomes public input.
TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. » Recent high-profile matters that involved town police are expected to get attention from the town Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Committee after public input sessions planned for Jan. 20 and 28.
The Dec. 28 arrest of Shana Shaw, in which she says an Ulster County sheriff’s deputy was unnecessarily rough on her, was discussed at a Jan. 5 meeting, after recommendations drawn up by the committee were largely completed.
“The irony in this work that we’ve done in the committee is that we had not had any incidents of that magnitude in the town of Ulster prior to us coming together or while we were together,” committee member Marlene Anderson-Butler said.
Body camera video released by the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office showed Shaw, 26, yelling at a deputy that he “has no legal right” to arrest her and that she is “not resisting arrest,” even as she pulls away from the deputy as he tries to remove her from the driver’s seat of her vehicle while telling her she is “under arrest.”
The incident, at which town of Ulster police were present, happened in the parking lot of the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, at 1266 Ulster Ave., after Shaw was pulled over for failing to signal a turn. Authorities say she also was found to be driving with a suspended license.
A bystander’s video, but not the body cam footage, showed Shaw being removed from her vehicle after a town of Ulster officer entered the passenger side and pushed her toward the deputy, who pulled her to the ground, where she was handcuffed before being placed in a patrol car.
Shaw, speaking during a Dec. 29 protest of the arrest, said the deputy acted “aggressively” toward her and “used excessive force.”
Members of the Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Committee in Ulster said they watched the entire body camera video and found to be an example of how such situations can escalate.
Anderson-Butler said the town of Ulster officer in the video “came up to assist and was trying to de-escalate and be helpful” and that, thankfully, the incident did not have a tragic ending. She also said, though, that the video demonstrated how some people react when confronted by police.
“We’ve had lots of conversations about race and ethnicity and privilege. and those were certainly conversations that were guided during the work” of the committee, Anderson-Butler said. “I can’t imagine what Shana Shaw was feeling that day. I’m not a Black woman.”
Some members of the committee also noted the need for extra law enforcement at pro-Trump rallies held along Ulster Avenue, in the town’s main commercial district, in October. There were no reported incidents at the rallies that required police intervention, but committee members pointed to the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol as an example of how protests can get out of hand.
Committee member Wayne Spanier said reports of some officers at the Capitol helping the rioters while others put their lives on the line suggests a need to review officers’ affiliations. He also said police treatment of the Capitol rioters seemed less aggressive than the treatment by police of Black Lives Matter protesters in major U.S. cities last summer.
Spainer said town police department policy must address officers’ attitudes toward specific groups.
“I am not finding anything in the paperwork that disqualifies an officer who is involved in a white supremacist organization, website or chat group,” he said. “I’m thinking that should be raised .... ”
Committee member Stewart Dean said one recommendation by the committee is that officers engage in a “charm offensive” to help the public understand that police work for the benefit of the community but also put their lives at risk.
“I think that if the pushpull charm offensive and building bridges to the community works, then people trust the cops more, will call on the cops,” Dean said, and “ordinary citizens will stand up and assist the cops and see them as the defenders of the integrity of the community.”
The public comment sessions on Jan. 20 and 28, conducted online, will start at 7 p.m. Videoconference links will be posted at bit.ly/townulster.