Community Advisory Panel

New Windsor Town Supervisor George J. Meyers III announced the creation of the New Windsor Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Advisory Panel, per Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order #203, to review the New Windsor Police Department’s policies and practices on February 21, 2021.

This order, signed by Governor Cuomo on June 12, 2020, requires that each local government entity that has a police agency operating with police officers, as defined under 1.20 of the Criminal Procedure Law, to convene a group of stakeholders from government and the community to perform such evaluation.

Municipalities must address policing functions, standards, and strategies; fostering community-oriented leadership, culture, and accountability; and recruiting and supporting excellent and diverse personnel.

The Advisory Panel was charged with the task of developing a plan to improve the deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices, for the purposes of addressing the particular needs of the communities served by such police agency with an eye toward promoting community engagement to foster trust, fairness, and legitimacy, and to address any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color. The Advisory Panel ultimately develop a plan that considers the community's needs and will recommend how the New Windsor Police Department can effectively meet those needs. The Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Plan was adopted by the New Windsor Town Board on March 29, 2021. The adopted plan allowed for the establishment of the Community Advisory Panel.

The establishment of the permanent Community Advisory Panel, whose mission is to meet on a regular basis, as established by the Panel, allows the police department to seek and encourage more input and interaction with the community. The panel will (1) review and discuss police interation with the community as a whole, (2) review and discuss particular incidents of police interaction with the community, (3) make recommendations to the police department, based on the aforementioned review and discussion, as to how to improve community relations, and (4) foster increased cooperation between the police department and the community.

Additional measures taken by the New Windsor Police Department to encourage more interaction with the community will include extending invitations to select stakeholders in the community to help plan, attend, and participate in certain police training sessions. The Community Satisfaction Survey utilized in developing this Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Plan will be continued, and issued anually beginning in 2021. Consideration will also be given to inviting Community Advisory Panel members and select stakeholders in the community to attend "ride-a-longs" or other like initiatives and events with the police department in order to promote a better understanding of their interaction with general community members. This idea will require more research on issues such as protection, liability, etc. before it can be implemented, however.

The members of the current Community Advisory Panel are:

George J. Meyers III – Town Supervisor & town resident – Panel Chairman
Robert L. Doss – Town Police Chief & community member
Alana Harris – Community youth representative, college student & town resident
Sarah Ruback, Ed.D – Assistant Executive Director – St. Christopher’s Inc. in N.W.
Ciria Briscoe-Perez – School administrator, educator & town resident
Anthony Mugnano – Pastor at NW’s Encounter Church & Director of N.W. food pantry
James Hubbard – Veteran & town resident
Hon. Stewart Rosenwasser – OC District Attorney’s Office – County Court Judge (ret.)
Neil Fernandez – Town resident
Hardy Pierce – Town Police Officer & town resident
Sean Davis – Youth pastor at Vails Gate Solid Rock Church & community member
Sylvia Santiago – Town Councilwoman & town resident
Randy Siper, Esq. – Local defense attorney & town resident
John O'Malley - Town resident