Yesterday, before Mayor Kamal Johnson made his statement on Facebook, members of the Common Council received a letter from the union body and the command staff of the Hudson Police Department. The following is the text of the letter, absent the salutatory first paragraph:
First and foremost, the police department is committed, focused, and will continue to work with Mayor Johnson on bridging the gap and improving the trust of the community. The ongoing meetings of the reconciliation committee put together by Mayor Johnson continue to work hard to meet these expectations.
The proposal put forth at the legal committee September 23rd, 2020, is divisive, inflammatory and divides the unity amongst the police, politicians, community, and the reconciliation committee. An approach that limits the exposure and interaction of the public with the police is counterproductive and not a goal of community policing. Your police department, which is an accredited agency in the State of New York, is held to a higher standard. The success of the city today would not have been attained without the assistance and dedication of your police department. The city has made great strides in the last 20+ years. To deplete the police department not only would be irresponsible but unsafe for the community as well as the officers sworn to protect. Crime would increase, store fronts would be empty, poverty levels would rise, and tourism would diminish. We do not want to go backwards!
We trust the mayor will continue to have the best interest of the community and public safety at the forefront of his agenda. We are a dedicated group of individuals that have and will continue to strive for unity within the community and continue to have conversations, so that we can have an even better Hudson. The City of Hudson Police Department wants to thank Mayor Johnson for his constant reassurance that he will not layoff or furlough any police officers. As always, the members of the City of Hudson Police Department welcome open dialogue amongst the community so that we can come to agreeable solutions. We all have the same attainable goal, which is to be able to live, work and be prosperous without fear.
The City of Hudson should be proud of its diversified and dedicated police department and its commitment and service to protect the community. To the organizations that are trying to distract, strip, defund and eliminate the police department, how well do you know the men and women of this department and the community? Maybe it's time you get to know them and learn what this department has accomplished: to have people from all walks of life want to reside, relax, commute, conduct business and work in this beautiful city we call Hudson, NY.
The letter was signed by Sergeant Christopher Filli, who is the president of the local police union, and Chief Ed Moore.
It's not exactly a straight forward list of wants, but I get the gist of it.
ReplyDeleteI do take issue with the notion that going from 26 to, say, 22 officers over the next few years would mean that "crime would increase, store fronts would be empty, poverty levels would rise, and tourism would diminish". It's purely speculative and also rather inflammatory. And besides, given our current budget problems, we may have no choice.
There are currently 23 officers on the HPD. I think the letter is responding to the Hudson Breathe Act request that the police force be reduced to 16.
DeleteIt’s an interesting perspective to think that the absence of crime is the result of policing, as opposed to factors like socio economics etc.... I’m not a sociologist, but I suspect that a study called “What Causes Crime” would site a great deal of factors, and that the absence of police presence would not be at the top of the causal list....
ReplyDeleteWhile we certainly need police, we could probably do more to stop crime if we looked at the root causes, and worked on shifting those....