After years of discussion, the City of Saratoga Springs now has a fully-formed Civilian Review Board to foster communication between the public and city police department. The new CRB held its first meeting Thursday night.
The five-member Saratoga Springs Civilian Review Board held its sparsely-attended first meeting at City Hall.
Though it gained little public attention, the organizational meeting marks the culmination of years of work between two separate city councils.
Two years ago, the city’s state-mandated Police Reform Task Force included a CRB in a slate of 50 recommendations handed up to the city council. The council, at the time, agreed to a CRB in principle but could not come to agreement on an ordinance establishing the committee before the end of the year.
A new ordinance creating the five-member body was approved by the current council last year.
Appointed chair Kristen Dart, who is one of two members on the CRB who served on the Police Reform Task Force, took time during Thursday’s meeting to explain what the CRB is, and what it is not.
“I think it was really important for folks to understand that we know a large part of the reason why the work was done in Saratoga the way it was [is] because of the Darryl Mount case and for other significant police incidents that happened in the city, including the use of military vehicles during a protest. Those unfortunately, if there's complaints that arise out of those incidents, they're not in our purview. And I think that there are people who may find that disappointing, and rightfully so, but that's not what we're tasked with doing,” said Dart.
The case of Darryl Mount, who died in 2014 as the result of injuries incurred during a police foot chase in August 2013, received new attention in recent years from police reform activists who continue to demand an independent, outside investigation into his death.
Mount’s family continues to pursue a wrongful death suit against the city, though to date, police wrongdoing has not been confirmed.
In July 2020, an armored Saratoga County police vehicle was deployed on Broadway after police used pepper bullets to disperse counter-protesters who organized in the street against a sizable “back the blue” rally downtown.
The new CRB will not review old cases. Dart, who has long advocated for police reform in the city, said the CRB will not be the “deciding” factor in police disciplinary matters.
“We're making recommendations and I will do everything in my power and I'm sure my committee members will do everything in their power to make sure the commissioner understands why we've arrived at a decision and why it should be implemented. I think the how and the why are very important,” said Dart.
Getting the CRB up and running was a key 2021 campaign goal for first-term Democratic Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino.
“It's been talked about, probably for a decade here in Saratoga Springs. I'm an older person myself, I'm 67, I grew up in New York City. So, I remember when the Civilian Complaint Review Board first arose in New York City, that's about 50 years ago. And there was a lot of wrangling back and forth, a lot of fighting as to what the jurisdiction of the CCRB would be. And it's great to see that we've made the progress that we did,” said Montagnino.
Mayor Ron Kim, a fellow Democrat and former public safety commissioner, also appeared at Thursday’s meeting to wish the new committee well.
“I'm always impressed when citizens step up for these kinds of functions. They're not getting paid. It's on their own time. But they're willing to do this because they love the city. And that's really what makes this city work so well,” said Kim.
Dart anticipates the CRB will begin reviewing complaints in a couple months after the volunteer committee gets its sea legs. During the meeting, she asked members to consider bylaws of similar bodies, including Albany’s Community Police Review Board, which has just begun hearing its first cases.
“Saratoga is a different community. We’re 30,000 people, you know, on a good day, and so what we're dealing with is very different. But there's good learnings that can happen and so we need to establish something that will work for us where we can feel like we're doing the best work for the community,” said Dart.