Potsdam Police Chief Mark Murray, upper left, speaks during the Dec. 9 meeting of the police advisory committee on proposed reforms. Source: Screenshot from Village of Potsdam Facebook page
Dec 18, 2020
Two members of Potsdam’s police advisory committee overseeing police reform efforts in the village have submitted their resignations after a tense meeting last week.
The two people are the only Black members of the 12-person committee and say the group is not tackling issues of racism and policing head on and comments by some other members of the group have made them feel unsafe.
Potsdam police advisory committee resignations Well, I feel honestly they don t understand why we are really there, said Jennifer Baxtron, one of two members to resign.
Monday, December 21, 2020 - 5:28 pm
BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week
POTSDAM Two Black Lives Matter Potsdam activists have resigned from the village’s police advisory committee.
Village Administrator Greg Thompson, who facilitates the committee, confirmed that Jennifer Baxtron and John Youngblood departed the group.
He didn’t want to comment on their reasons for departing the committee.
“They are incredibly wonderful people and I hated to see them leave our Advisory Committee. I have the utmost respect for both Jenn and John. Because of that respect I am not speaking as to why they left our group,” Thompson said in a Monday, Dec. 21 email.
Well, I feel honestly they don t understand why we are really there, said Jennifer Baxtron, one of two members to resign.
Baxtron leads Potsdam’s local Black Lives Matter group and said she could not continue serving on the police advisory committee after their last meeting on Dec. 9. The meeting, broadcast on the village s Facebook page, was marked by tense exchanges between several members of the group, including Police Chief Mark Murray.
Baxtron and John Youngblood, a SUNY-Potsdam professor, were the only Black members on the committee and both decided to leave the group afterward, according to Baxtron.
Tensions within Potsdam’s group have been evident in their last couple meetings. In one exchange, John Youngblood admonishes the group after one member insinuated that Black Lives Matter supporters were antagonistic toward police.