Wednesday, February 17, 2021 - 5:45 am
BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week
CANTON – The Village of Canton’s executive order 203 advisory committee outlined its plan for local police reform measures at its first public forum recently.
At the forum Feb. 10, the group covered 18 recommendations for the Canton police department to meet the governor’s executive order to adopt a police reform plan by April 1. A tentative timeline to adopt the measures by March 17 was given as well.
Among the measures outlined were ways to reduce bias within community policing operations, adopting a “guardian” persona for officers, increase de-escalation and diversity training and find ways to hire from a more diverse candidate pool when making new hires, review of potential use of force situations involving officers, and coordination with local mental health professionals when handling certain cases that might require that sort of expertise.