Chautauqua County Sheriff Jim Quattrone was joined by other members of the law enforcement community and area residents at Park United Methodist Church for a public meeting on Tuesday. P-J photo by Jay Young

SINCLAIRVILLE — The first — and difficult — steps are taking place to create Chautauqua County’s police reform plans.

As part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent executive order, the New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative, county leaders led by Sheriff Jim Quattrone met with members of the public Tuesday at Park United Methodist Church for an open discussion.

The forum covered a wide range of proposed law enforcement reforms outlined in the executive order, and also provided residents an opportunity to voice concerns related to policing.

Joining Quattrone were Chautauqua County District Attorney Patrick Swanson, County Executive PJ Wendel and Lt. Timothy Jackson, interim chief of the Jamestown Police Department.

“In these conversations, as I mentioned we’re going to hear difficult things. That is OK,” Quattrone said. “Some things we might not agree with, some things we might not feel comfortable with, but our goal is to have unconditional respect. It is something that I have been trying to instill, hopefully we can continue to do that.”

The executive order, signed in the wake of rising national unrest over the death of George Floyd, asks local departments and the communities they serve to evaluate topics including: racial justice in policing, bias training, evidence-based policing strategies, use of force policies, de-escalation training and community outreach.

Reform plans will need to be adopted by a local legislative body before April 1, 2021.

After beginning with a discussion of the stakeholders involved in the process, Quattrone posed questions to those in attendance on the roles of police officers in their communities.

These included discussion of the types of incidents that police officers often respond to, the role that they should play in communities and local schools, and situations in which officers self-initiate interventions with citizens.

The main topics discussed throughout the evening also include grievances against law enforcement, systemic racism, police conduct review and accountability and the history of policing in America in relation to race.

“I live on 10th Street, I’ve lived on 10th Street in Jamestown my whole life,” said one resident. “The one thing that I have observed my whole life is that when there is a call for police in our area, no matter what the issue is, there is always going to be at least four or five police (cars) coming out. It could be something very minor. Then that antagonizes the community, because why are all of these police cars here for this little incident?”

Several Jamestown residents shared stories of interactions with police officers that they believe are reflective of racial profiling, and unequal treatment based on race.

These concerns prompted conversation on the roots of systemic racism in American history as it relates to economic opportunity, housing and social standing.

During a discussion of police misconduct procedure, some residents expressed a lack of confidence in the self-contained systems of accountability that are in place for law enforcement officers.

This lack of trust in the system was used as an example of how communities can be disincentivized from filing complaints.

“There is always a need for independent review, that is what we do in my office,” District Attorney Swanson said. “We get complaints of this nature once in a while, I will tell you it is not frequent. Listening to you folks right now, wondering whether or not it is even conduct that you complain about or not trusting the folks you are going to complain to–I understand now a little bit more about why more complaints don’t come my way.”

Swanson noted that senate bill S3595B was recently signed into law by Cuomo to create the Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office.

This legislation is intended to increase police accountability statewide.

Focusing on solutions to many of the problems discussion, Quattrone emphasized the need to break down both real and perceived barriers that exist between police officers and their communities in order to build trust.

“What are some other ways that we can break those barriers down? We have to be able to break them down if we want to move forward,” he said.

Discussions like the one held on Tuesday certainly seem like one important avenue for fostering communication between police agencies and those they serve.