Waite: Real change in Saratoga Springs policing could come from a rule change

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WEIGHING IN – Standing on the steps of Saratoga Springs’ City Hall, Saratoga Black Lives Matter leader Lexis Figuereo fought back tears as he spoke earlier this week regarding the brutal killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands – and feet – of Memphis police officers.

Figuereo’s words were some of the most forceful I’ve heard from him.

“Where does police reform really get us?” Figuereo said Tuesday. “They still manage to murder. They still manage to dehumanize a human being — an American, a father, a son, an uncle, a boyfriend. When is it going to stop?

“Reform is not the way. It’s abolition or nothing,” Figuereo continued, his voice rising. “The day that we abolish the police and come up with a better system to keep our people safe is the day that our people are safe.”

Nichols’ death is sparking renewed outrage across the country, in large part, because the 29-year-old Black man died as a result of senseless, unjustified beatings by multiple Black officers, who were part of the city’s special police team known as the SCORPION Unit.

For police-reform advocates, the fact that this time it was Black officers responding with such unwarranted use of extreme force shows in all its heinousness how deeply entrenched racism is in American policing.

Too often, police are trained to expect the worst, and they come into a situation poised for combat rather than coming in with compassion. Special forces, such as the now-disbanded SCORPION, time and time again target communities of color.

To advocates such as Figuereo, reform is not enough – it’s abolition or nothing.

I don’t agree with abolishing the police. And I know BLM advocates will tell me this makes me part of the problem rather than the solution.

But I do believe it’s time for real change. Not just talk, but action.

In Saratoga Springs there is a meaningful move the city must make if it wants to earn the trust of some of its fiercest critics, as well as many members of the general public, and show the police department is truly open-minded.

The city must change its civil service rules, which currently require the police chief to be promoted from within the department, excluding external candidates. This is especially important now because current Police Chief Shane Crooks has made clear he intends to retire in June.

I’m not arguing the next police chief necessarily has to come from somewhere else, but rules that mandate internal candidates only perpetuate the belief that the Saratoga Springs Police Department is an insular fraternity. The rule only undercuts the meaningful reforms the city and its police department say they are committed to enacting.

The civil service rule change, which is supported by BLM advocates and Commissioner of Public Safety Jim Montagnino alike, would be far from revolutionary. Cities across the state, from Newburgh to Albany, already hire from outside their departments. But the rule change would be a tangible signal that more change could be coming to Saratoga Springs.

The city’s BLM advocates are understandably disappointed by the current pace of reform. More than a year into Democratic Mayor Ron Kim’s administration, and with a new slate of Democratic council members with whom BLM leaders campaigned, not enough has changed.

BLM advocates say the 50-point plan developed by the Police Reform Task Force hasn’t been embraced. In fact, they say the first point alone, which calls for simply acknowledging the role that past conflicts have played in degrading trust in the police department, has been ignored.

Specifically, many are frustrated that the Civilian Police Review Board, which would provide citizen oversight of the city’s policing, hasn’t yet rolled out as the city has been slow to fill seats.

It’s this kind of inaction that leads a lot of people to believe no action will ever come.

“For some reason, Black people have to always hold on to a false hope,” Figuereo said.

It’s this kind of inaction that builds mistrust in relationships that are already frayed.

In the case of Tyre Nichols, video footage clearly contradicts the threat police officers said the young man posed. Officers said Nichols was coming for their weapons. The video footage shows he was crying out for his mother.

In Saratoga Springs, advocates believe police have been similarly disingenuous. For instance, they say they’ve been unjustly targeted by police because of their activism. In fact, all of the dozen-plus charges brought against Figuereo dating to April 2021 have failed to stick in court. That only advances advocates’ belief that cops are not out to help them.

Still, I don’t think advocates have all the answers. I, like a lot of us, am worried about what would happen if policing as we know it truly ceases to exist.

Police abolitionists are going to tell me my view is a result of me being a privileged white male who has benefitted from the system, so it’s in my self-preserving interest to maintain the status quo. They’ll tell me if I were a Black male, continually repressed – or worse – by the system, I’d understand the need for overhaul.

I’m sympathetic to this argument, and I agree with their points that we can cut down on crime significantly by rectifying systemic wrongs such as poverty and food deserts. But I don’t think we can ever entirely stop violent crime. To me, that belief is naïve.

Those who support abolishing the police don’t seem to have a clear answer for what, in the absence of police, the response to a violent situation, such as the shootout that occurred in downtown Saratoga Springs last November, would look like.

I asked Figuereo that question. His answer was disappointingly vague.

“The response will be a set of people who are trained to not do what they do. A set of people who do everything that they don’t do, Figuereo said at city hall. “Abolition looks like creating a new world in a new system, not reforming the same system.”

I fully support reforms that include embedding mental health professionals with police, changing police training, and adjusting protocols so armed officers aren’t always part of the standard response. But we can’t simply get rid of police.

We need police, and we need police chiefs committed to actually implementing meaningful reform. That’s why before Saratoga Springs truly begins its hiring process for the next police chief, the city must change the civil service rule to allow for outside candidates to be considered. The broader the search, the broader the set of ideas the city will be able to bring in.

With such a rule change, real change could come from the top.

Columnist Andrew Waite can be reached at [email protected] and at 518-417-9338. Follow him on Twitter @UpstateWaite.

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Categories: Andrew Waite, Email Newsletter, News, News, Opinion, Opinion, Saratoga County, Saratoga Springs