Suffolk County legislators pass police reform plan

The Legislature voted to approve the Suffolk County Police Reform Plan and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office Reform and Reinvention Report, with one legislator voting against it.

News 12 Staff

Mar 30, 2021, 7:33 PM

Updated 1,305 days ago

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The Suffolk Legislature has approved the county's police reform plan, just days ahead of the state-mandated deadline.
The Legislature voted to approve the Suffolk County Police Reform Plan and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office Reform and Reinvention Report, with one legislator voting against it.
Members of the public got their chance to express their opinion about the reform before the vote was made official.
There were some last-minute changes to the nearly 1,000-page plan. Amendments added Monday night by members of the reform task force included that during traffic stops, police will be required to give their name, agency and the reason for the stop. Data surrounding bicycle and pedestrian Stops will also be added to a public website and $1 million will be put towards the Mental Health Unit in the police department.
Also added were plans for a task force to be created to review the current School Resource Officer program.
Lastly, the latest Suffolk plan also tweaked the Human Rights Commission, which the county is using, along with Internal Affairs, to review civilian complaints against police officers.
Critics of the Suffolk plan said the county should adopt a civilian complaint review board like the one used in New York City, an agency with true subpoena power.
"If you don't give the Human Rights Commission the power to actually make disciplinary decisions then why are we doing this?" says Shanequa Levin, of LI United to Transform Policing and Community Safety.
These amendments come along with already established plans like a body camera program