Gov. Cuomo’s executive order helps communities redefine safety
By Sarah Schirmer | Published in Syracuse Post-Standard | July 31, 2020
While the New York state Legislature’s recent police reforms have received much deserved attention, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s June 12, 2020, executive order may have the longest lasting impact to the reinvention of policing and redefinition of safety and justice across the state.
The governor’s order requires every police agency to develop a community-based plan to reduce racial bias in policing, and ties efforts to end systemic racism in policing to the carrot and stick of the budgeting process. As a result, every community will be incentivized to examine the role of policing in a comprehensive and collaborative approach to keeping a community safe.
When it comes to internal reforms specific to police departments, the terms of federal consent decrees and the Obama administration’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing provide actions steps to improve use of force policies, develop early warning systems, and train on de-escalation and crisis intervention techniques. But training, tracking and limitations on use of force are not going to be enough. New York City had already implemented many of these trainings and prohibited the use of chokeholds when ex-NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo killed Eric Garner in 2014.
Communities will need to look far beyond the role of police to meet the breadth of the planning required under the governor’s order. The order specifically identifies violence prevention and reduction programs as part of a long list of opportunities for review.
The reality is, when elected officials talk about safety, their definition is often too narrow. It is more than crime and arrest data. Safety means physical and mental well-being in all communities.
In working with local jurisdictions across the nation, one theme has been consistent – we need every hand on deck to assure safety for all communities. This means every department in government plays a role, from the health department to recreation to sanitation to public works. As noted in the executive order, even city planners need to consider how elements of environmental design can boost safety.
As one example, in New Orleans, NOLA FOR LIFE was a multi-agency comprehensive approach to reducing homicide. We used a public health approach to develop a strategy that had a law enforcement component, but also partnered with numerous city departments, service providers, the faith community and the business community.
Cuomo’s order creates an incentive for local chief executives to adopt a plan that reinvents policing to better achieve safety that meets their community’s specific needs. Luckily, good models exist for how to do just that. Californians for Safety and Justice (CSJ) have developed a “Blueprint for Shared Safety” that would serve New York chief executives and police departments well because it advocates for a public health approach, defines safety as well-being, centers the voices of crime survivors from the communities that have the highest interactions with police, and seeks to break the cycle of trauma while building legitimacy.
Because most local governments spend so much of their resources on policing, the power of its purse can drive systemic change at the local level, as well. For community plans to be meaningful, they need to have a budgetary element as well. Once a community has a plan, an outcomes-based budgeting approach can help to further its implementation.
Governments need to examine the responsibilities they have placed on their police departments in the name of safety. It’s time to revise old concepts that less crime alone equals safety and that safety can only be achieved with more enforcement; it has not served our communities and will not be the answer. Compelled by the governor’s recent order, local leaders have the opportunity to do better by their communities and be an example to other states across our country grappling with the issue of how to rethink policing and redefine what it means to be safe.
Sarah Schirmer, of New Orleans, is a deputy director of the PFM Center for Justice and Safety Finance. She formerly served as Criminal Justice Policy Advisor to New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and started her career in the New York City Office of Management and Budget.