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Syracuse’s Common Council unanimously adopted the Syracuse Police Reform and Reinvention Plan on Monday, over a month after it was first put on the council’s agenda.

The plan details changes in the Syracuse Police Department’s hiring process, response to calls and community outreach, among other changes. After comments from the public and council, Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens presented updates to the original draft document, creating an oversight committee and a more concrete timeline for implementing the changes. 

Despite improvements to the plan, councilors Ronnie White and Khalid Bey expressed concerns about accountability.

White, an at-large councilor, said he believes the current plan is much better than the plan originally presented to the council, but implementation and oversight of the plan will be the true measures of its success.

“I challenge all of us on this body to ensure that this document doesn’t become just another hollow promise, and that we hold the police department administration accountable for reform that this plan purports to accomplish,” White said. 

New York state hasn’t yet set up concrete methods to hold police departments accountable for upholding the plans that the state requires. Bey, also an at-large councilor, expressed uncertainty about the measures in place to ensure the reform plan is fully executed after it is submitted. 

“I’m certainly not satisfied with what we have going forward. I can appreciate the fact that it was stated to be a live document, but it doesn’t have any real impact on state law, so I don’t know what it does for us,” Bey said.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said in a statement after the plan’s approval that the police reform process in the city is ongoing. 

“Our work will be implemented with transparency and involve the partnership of the community we serve,” Walsh said. “Chief Buckner and the members of the Syracuse Police Department have been implementing changes since the chief arrived and they are implementing more changes each day. We know that what we do together today will have a lasting impact on the city and its residents.”

The plan must be signed by the mayor and submitted to the state by April 1 to comply with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order on police reform.

Other business

The council delayed approving legislation on the development of the Tech Garden on Harrison Street due to concerns over revenue sharing. The city-owned building would be leased to the CenterState CEO and would serve as an incubator for tech startups downtown.

At-large Councilor Michael Greene, citing concerns that the lease agreement with CenterState has not been released to the public or to all council members, decided to hold the vote until a future meeting.

The council approved a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to hire firefighters. The city will hire 12 firefighters, with the first three years of their salary and benefits paid for by the grant.

A number of city infrastructure projects are also moving into the planning phase, including the North, South, East, West Interconnect Project, at the cost of just over $230,000 to the city after federal reimbursement. The project will upgrade traffic signals at 46 intersections throughout Syracuse and connect them with the City Traffic Control Center. CCTV cameras will also be installed at some of the intersections.

Published on March 15, 2021 at 9:14 pm

Contact Nick: [email protected] | @NickRobertsonSU