Mayor Names New Commission

As part of his June 15 executive order regarding police reforms, Mayor Kamal Johnson announced his intention to create a Police Reconciliation and Advisory Commission tasked with the following:

Such Commission shall undertake a 3-month reconciliation process whereby Commission members meet with members of the community, including those communities with the highest volume of police calls, to listen and record community concerns and suggestions about police interactions within the City. The purpose of these meetings is to give the residents of the City of Hudson the opportunity to be heard on issues related to: 1) community policing; 2) police interactions with people of color, those with substances use disorders or people in a mental health crisis; and 3) incidents of police brutality or misconduct, if any, among other issues the community may wish to raise or the Commission may wish to explore. The Commission shall also speak with all Police Officers willing to discuss these matters and shall produce a report of these meetings for the Mayor, including recommendations for addressing any concerns raised, no later than November 15, 2020. The Mayor will share such findings with the Police Department by December 1, 2020, and the public by December 30, 2020.

Today, Johnson announced who has been appointed to this commission and indicated that the first goal of the commission is "to produce a Reconciliation Report to advise the Mayor on the following":

• The current level of community trust, both citywide and in each ward, in the Hudson Police Department, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department, and the NYS Police
• Specific recent incidents (within the last 5 years), which occurred within the City involving any of these police departments that have either inspired or undermined community trust or caused a physical or emotional injury, including incidents of police brutality or misconduct, if any;
• The current level of job satisfaction and concerns among officers of the Hudson Police Department; 
• Recent incidents (within the last 5 years), of injury to police officers from any police department that have occurred while on duty in the City of Hudson; 
• Recommendations by community members or police officers to address mistrust or negative attitudes toward police officers and departments or the community; 
• Challenges associated with responding to people in mental health crises or in physical crisis due to a substance use disorder;
• Other issues the community or police may wish to raise or the Commission may wish to explore;
• Recommendations to reconcile any mistrust, negative attitudes or the physical and emotional injuries that either community members or police may have experienced.  

The following people, presented in alphabetical order, will make up the Police Reconciliation and Advisory Commission:

• Theo Anthony, a filmmaker based in Hudson
• Vern Cross, a lifelong resident of Hudson and co-host of the popular local radio show Drive Time on WGXC 
• Elizabeth Dickey, a writer, educator, and community advocate
• Sergeant Christopher Filli, a nineteen-year veteran of the Hudson Police Department
• Sergeant Mishanda Franklin, a seventeen-year veteran of the Hudson Police Department
• Linda Friedner, a five-year resident of Hudson who has worked as a media and First Amendment attorney for more than thirty years
• Joan E. Hunt, project director for Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood
• Gregory Mosley, retired New York State Trooper, who among other achievements during his thirty-two years with the State Police developed the curriculum for law enforcement officers on a national level regarding Racial Profiling and Cultural Diversity
• Dewan Sarowar, Second Ward alderman, who chairs the Common Council Police Committee
• Officer Randy Strattman, a three-year veteran of the Hudson Police Department and a bicycle officer

More biographical information about the members of the Police Reconciliation and Advisory Commission (PRAC) and Johnson's full statement upon making the announcement can be found here.