March 25, 2022
BATH, NY – Steuben County’s Police Reform Plan is a notable accomplishment, meeting all its action items for the past year, with additional item activity planned for the remaining three years of the plan, according to county Sheriff Jim Allard.
Adopted by the county Legislature in January 2021, Steuben’s police reforms include a broad range of uniform best practices for law enforcement officers. They followed a state executive order for police agencies to develop initiative-taking efforts to reach the diverse populations in their jurisdictions.
Steuben’s resolution included policies already in place in 2020 and set in motion other policies to go into effect this year. The reform plan was developed in coordination with local police departments, the county district attorney, municipalities and other stakeholders along with Corning Inc. consultant Dawn White.
According to Allard, notable achievements in 2021 include:
ü Partnering with the Sheriff’s Foundation to award two $500 scholarships to members of a marginalized community enrolled in a pre-employment police academy. Both awardees are
currently employed as police officers in the region.
ü A 50 percent increase in applicants for the correction officer civil service test after increasing the social media advertisement.
ü Partnering with SUNY Alfred and CCC to develop training for entry level police and
corrections positions. The process has begun but is still in developmental progress.
ü Expanded diversity and bias awareness training to all officers.
Increase transparency of arrest activities and calls for service, cases, incident types and public interaction as well as monthly statistics on use of force, and arrests by gender and race on both social media and the county website. All published reports were sent to news outlets.
ü Quarterly meetings with Non-Commissioned Officers to review use of force and determine training needs.
