Public Must Be Included

In Commission To Review

Sheriff, D.A.’s Procedures

George Floyd Death, Protests Prompted

Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 203

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

COOPERSTOWN – County board Chairman David Bliss will be appointing a committee of about a dozen people, including members of the public, to review “policies and procedures” at the Otsego County Sheriff’s Department and those governing the district attorney’s investigators.

Bliss and County Attorney Ellen Coccoma yesterday briefed the county board’s Administration Committee, carried on Zoom.  (Follow the link from the “Otsego County” Facebook page.)

The chairman’s original idea was to have the county board’s Public Safety & Legal Affairs Committee, chaired  Dan Wilber, R-Burlington, conduct the reviewed required by Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 203, but Coccoma said “this has to be broadened into a community panel.”

In Executive Order 203, Cuomo has directed all 500 governmental entities in the state that have police departments to review “policies and procedures” and file a report by next April one detailing any corrective measures taken.

The order was prompted by protests and rallies – they were held nationwide and locally – that followed the asphyxiation of George Floyd by a police officer while Floyd was being arrested May 25 in Minneapolis.

Sheriff Richard J. Devlin, Jr., District Attorney John Muehl and some county board members will be included, but “interested non-profit and faith-based community groups, and members of the community” must be at the table, too.

Bliss said he’ll be appointed the panel as soon as he can; the only pacing factor is finding members of the public willing to serve.

Coccoma pointed out that the deliberations will lead to a resolution passed by the county board by April 1, and that process alone can take two months, meaning the panel’s recommendations must be delivered by early February.

“Not only do you have to review the policies and make a recommendation, then you have to have a plan to implement them,” she said.  “So there are two pretty big pieces to this.”