Saratoga Springs Politics

[JK: I have tried to incorporate pages from Chief Crooks report and questionnaire into this post. Due to technical issues, I could not manage the type size of the text so these pages may be difficult to read, depending upon the device you use. With that in mind, I have provided a link to the full report.]

Saratoga Springs Police Chief Shane Crooks has written to the City Council expressing his concern about the lack of adequate outreach to “stakeholders” by the Saratoga Springs Police Review and Reinvention Task Force (SSPRRTF).

In his letter he highlights text from Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 203 in support of his concern.

In his letter he asserts “…that the task force declined to meet with key stakeholders defined in the governor’s executive order such as the DA’s office or the Public Defender’s office stating that the Council can do it. I took it upon myself to reach out to the DA’s office, the Public Defender’s office and members of our downtown area community.” Chief Crooks writes that he identified thirty stakeholder groups from whom he sought responses. He notes that while some responded fully in writing, others spoke to him, while others did not respond at all. His cover letter, his report, and the responses to his questionnaires can be found here.

The letter identifies a number of items where the responses to his survey conflicted with the findings in the SSPRRTF report.

1. He contrasted the SSPRRTF document that asserted “Very worried about over policing in certain (BIPOC and/or lower income) communities – esp. Geyser Crest” with statements from the president of the Southwest Neighborhood Association where Geyser Crest is located, who advocated for “additional patrols including a substation.”
2. He noted that the SSPRRTF included a comment from their survey that advocated for the elimination of mounted police who were characterized as threatening while a response to his questionnaire from the president of the Southwest Neighborhood Association described the same mounted police as enthusiastically embraced by children in her neighborhood.
3. He referenced the SSPRRTF allegation that claimed “…over policing of people of color, youth, and low-income residents (statistical in-city data over multiple years supports this notion).” He noted that the SSPRRTF offered no supporting data and that the police department did not keep records regarding the income status of people arrested.

Taking The Time To Learn About Our Police Department

Chief Crooks has crafted an extensive report exploring a number of key dimensions of the police department. Wherever you stand on the recent controversies, engagement seems key to making better decisions. With that in mind I strongly urge readers to take the time to read his report which begins on page 4 with this:

The report goes into considerable detail describing the different specialties of the city’s police officers (K9, horse, traffic, etc.) along with where, how, and when they are deployed (beginning on page 8). Below I have extracted from the report a number of items but the report, including the appendixes are worth the read.

Use of Force and De-Escalation

Procedural Justice & Bias

This section discusses how complaints regarding police personnel are handled

The Stakeholder Questions

The report includes responses to police chief Crooks’ questionnaire. The responses were not always uncritical.

Terry Diggory is a member of both the Saratoga Immigration Coalition and the Saratoga Springs Police Reform and Reinvention Task Force.

Mr. Diggory is a person of integrity who merits attention.

Mr. Diggory responded to the question, “Do you believe the department should conduct more or less training?” that “The issue is quality, not quantity.”

To “Do you have questions/suggestions about our use of force?” he responded, “Policy should focus more on de-escalation.”

Mr. Diggory had a number of other observations that are worth reading. Most helpful and interesting was input he solicited from LifeWorks (formerly Saratoga County EOC). Christy Nowhitney Hernandez is the deputy director of Lifeworks and works with backstretch workers. The questions she replied to came from Mr. Diggory.

Ms. Hernandez notes that “Based on EOC client reports of interactions with the SSPD, interactions in recent years have been markedly more productive and professional than in previous periods [JK: I expect that the leadership of the current chief of police may have contributed to this].

Ms. Herandez reports on some troubling examples of past interactions with the police regarding immigrants and people of color.

There are additional responses from Paul Ruchames, executive director of BEST (Backstretch Employees Service Team) and Joan Odess, Immigrant Services Manager at EOC. Both of them focused on the need for Spanish speaking translators to assist the police.

Saratoga Casino Hotel On Handling Police Related Issues

The casino questionnaire was quite revealing. They discuss the many difficulties they must deal with given the very large numbers that pass through their facility.

The police do an excellent job in deploying staff to maintain the high standards of safety enjoyed by citizens, businesses, and visitors, but during peak periods of police requests for service, responses are delayed and police time at scene become abreviated leaving bad feelings by those in need.

Questionnaire

The entire questionnaire is quite an eye opener. It makes sense that a casino will face major issues of crime and disorderly behavior. Here is their response:

Summary

It is important to acknowledge the work of the Saratoga Springs Police Reform and Reinvention Task Force. The members of the committee have provided a valuable service to the city in promoting policies that should strengthen our local department. This is particularly noteworthy as they did so with little in the way of professional support services and within a very limited period of time.

It is a testament to the city of Saratoga Springs that it has so many people willing in a variety of ways to demonstrate their concern over the issue of racism and the use of excessive force targeted at people of color in this country.

The struggle for social justice, however, needs to be tempered by a careful, and critical assessment of our own local police.

I am disheartened by the fact that the leadership of the local protests ignores or dismisses the fact that in spite of multiple demonstrations that flaunted the laws of the city to make their point, no one has been injured and I include in that assessment the July 30 event.

The reason that no one has been injured is that Police Chief Shane Crooks actually places the protection of both the protesters, his officers, and the public as the starting point for addressing demonstrations.

A blanket condemnation of our local police only contributes to the excesses and craziness that have erupted across our country.

Police Chief Shane Crooks has demonstrated a willingness to place the use of force in enforcing the law within the context of the basic mission of his department to protect and defend. This kind of leadership should be encouraged if we are to move forward.

This is not to dismiss the merits of a civilian review board (CRB). The design of institutions should not be based on personality. An effectively crafted CRB would contribute to creating a culture of openness and accountability. Currently the public assessment of the police has relied on anecdotal allegations and rumors. All of this has been further tainted by the death of Darryl Mount and the poorly managed investigation following his death.

I am sympathetic to the impatience of many who want to see a CRB approved and implemented today. My fear is that a poorly designed CRB will fail and contribute to greater anger and distrust. As so often is repeated, “the devil is in the details.”

The City Council resolution to adopt a police “reinvention” resolution includes timelines for establishing a committee to research and craft a CRB. This is an important step. I believe that the members of the City Council are operating in good faith in extending the work on a CRB. Time will tell.

Commissioner of Accounts John Franck and Sarah Burger, who was running for Commissioner of Finance, both on the Democratic ticket, have dropped out of the race for city offices.

Phila Street Historic Properties Saved from Demolition

The Design Review Commission voted unanimously to deny the application to demolish the historic building at 65 Phila Street. While the Preservation Foundation sees this as a positive outcome the Foundation hopes the owners will now be required to preserve the building or sell it to someone who will.

The application to demolish 69 Phila Street was withdrawn by the applicants as they have entered into a contract to sell the property to someone who is intending to preserve the building.

Planning Board Expresses Reservations On Proposed Stewarts Project

The Foothills Business Daily has been doing an excellent job covering local issues.

This is a link to a story from them about a proposal by Stewarts for a development near where Route 9 (Marion Avenue) meets Route 50. It includes an upgrade to their shop and construction of homes.

In order to get the variance they are seeking they need to provide a public benefit. Currently the benefits they are offering are sidewalks.

https://foothillsbusinessdaily.com/plan-for-marion-ave-no-more-mechanic/

On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, the City Council held a special meeting to seek input from the public on a proposed Council resolution regarding the recommendations made by the Saratoga Springs Police Review and Reinvention Task Force. Many people spoke during the hour and a half event and all comments supported the adoption of the recommendations of the Task Force. Most spoke forcefully that all fifty reforms should be adopted exactly as presented by the Task Force, and they were critical that two of the items were to be studied for further refinement. I do not think it unfair to observe that there was an air of suspicion among the speakers that the Council was attempting to somehow undermine the reform effort.

Is the City Required To Accept All of the Task Force’s Recommendations?

A number of the people who spoke at the meeting asserted that the City Council is required to accept and implement the Task Force’s recommendations as submitted. They asserted that were the Council not to accept the Task Force’s recommendations in their totality that the city would be violating the Executive Order that required its establishment and would therefore jeopardize funding from the state.

The Governor’s Executive Order 203 requiring communities to look for ways to improve police procedures includes the following language:

Such plan shall be offered for public comment to all citizens in the locality, and after consideration of such comments, shall be presented to the local legislative body in such political subdivision, which shall ratify or adopt such plan by local law or resolution, as appropriate [JK: My emphasis], no later than April 1, 2021

Order #203

The key words here are “as appropriate”. It is simply not credible that all the communities in New York State would be required by the state to adopt whatever changes their appointed task forces propose. If this were the intent why bother with taking the step to submit the proposals to local governing bodies for adoption? Why not just submit them directly to the state? It is in the end communities’ elected governing bodies who are given the final authority to determine and implement the plan.

Almost of the fifty recommendations by the Task Force were accepted in their entirety by the City Council, but there were two items that they felt required additional consideration and refinement.

It is important to note that one proposal from the Task Force simply conflicts with existing law. The proposal deals with “diversion of seized assets.” Wikipedia notes a seized asset “…typically applies to the alleged proceeds or instruments of crime.”  The full description can be found at this link.

The Task Force had called for the proceeds of these seizures to be allocated to “Community Based Restorative Groups or, alternatively, community service
organizations.” According to the city, the stipulation of how these moneys are allocated is restricted by the law that established the seizure program and under this law the Task Force proposal would not be allowed.

The Council determined that the detailed Task Force proposal for a civilian review board required further research and review. [JK: The relevant text in the report can be found on in Appendix A beginning on page 84] The Council resolution accepted the establishment of a civilian review board but required as part of the implementation the appointment of a committee to craft the language that would create the review board. The Council was concerned that the investigative function of the board needed to withstand potential legal challenges. This decision generated strong objections from the speakers at the meeting.

The resolution established a timeline for its committee in order to address the concerns about accountability.

The Council’s draft resolution of their response to the Task Force’s recommendation stated:

Civilian Review Board

With regard to the Task Force’s recommendation to implement a Civilian Review Board, the City Council recognizes that there has been history and debate surrounding this issue. The City Council further recognizes that many cities in New York State have implemented some version of a Civilian Review Board, some with great success and others with limited success. Additionally, the City Council recognizes that there may be legal, union, City Charter, and implementation concerns that limit the Council’s ability to implement a Civilian Review Board.

Accordingly, the City Council approves the Task Force recommendation to

develop a Civilian Review Board in principle while calling for an evaluation period of the potential legal, union, Charter and community elements that could impact the ability to adequately develop a Civilian Review Board. The review period shall be outlined in the implementation plan and may include, but is not limited to, legal review of NY Civil Service Law and due process rights by the City Attorney and external legal counsel, negotiations with the police union, evaluation of collective bargaining concerns, benchmarking against other cities successes and failures relating to implementation, and finally, the specific process, scope and limitations of the Civilian Review Board. The review will also assess the funding requirements.

The review will be conducted by an independently appointed panel with monthly updates to both the City Council and the public. At the end of the review period, and based on the totality of findings, the City Council, with input from the community, will make a final determination concerning the implementation of a Civilian Review Board.

Can Passion be Tempered by Prudence?

I think it was rather inspiring that so many people in our community felt so passionately about combating racism and about the need to address the epidemic of police violence nationally that most of us see all too often on the evening news.

It is understandable that they felt an urgency to address this violence and that they directed their energy to try to establish reforms locally. It is also understandable that they were frustrated by any suggestion that would require delay.

This is all exacerbated by the reality that for many in the community the members of the Council appear as foreign, talking heads rather than people. Ignorance breeds fear and anger.

I can only offer that this writer knows all the members of the Council and that I believe that they are earnest in their desire to establish procedures to root out racism and to ensure that our police are protectors of everyone rather than predators.

Consider the Council’s approach to the appointments to the Task Force. If the Mayor and the Council were hostile to change they would have filled the positions with reliable cronies. In Schenectady the Mayor and the Police Chief chaired the Task Force. In contrast, Mayor Kelly authorized the other members of the Council to join her in making appointments knowing that the appointees would be individuals who would rigorously and independently scrutinized the existing policies and culture of the police department.

It is unfortunate that the Council, particularly the Mayor and Commissioner of Public Safety Robin Dalton, have now become the targets of a great deal of hostility from many members of the community as a result of simply doing their job as elected officials to carefully evaluate the recommendations of the Task Force particularly in terms of what will withstand legal challenges that the changes could potentially incur.

Anyone who knows the Mayor knows she does not make promises she knows she cannot keep. The Council could have simply adopted all the Task Force’s recommendations knowing that some could not be legally implemented and that poorly crafted programs might be unnecessarily costly and hard to fund. Imagine the public’s resentment if the Council cynically did the politically popular thing and adopted all the proposals knowing they would be reneged on later. This is exactly why people become cynical and angry at politicians. Unfortunately many members of our community rather than appreciating this forthrightness resent this and see it as obstructionism.

John Franck v Meg Kelly

At the meeting there was a sharp exchange between Mayor Kelly and Accounts Commissioner John Franck. Here is a link to a channel 13 news report that includes video of part of the exchange.

A little background is in order.

Mayor Kelly, in drafting the resolution that would adopt the city’s response to the city’s Task Force proposals, was careful to seek input from her fellow Council members. Given the controversy over the implementation of some of the proposals, it seemed especially important to seek a consensus on the resolution.

At the Mayor’s request, City Attorney Vince DeLeonardis met individually with all the City Council members to go over the original resolution.

Early in the week Mr. DeLeonardis and Police Chief Shane Crooks met with Commissioner Franck to review the proposed resolution. Commissioner Franck indicated that the language of the resolution was acceptable and he would support it. He did not suggest that he would oppose the resolution and support instead adopting the Task Force recommendations exactly as written.

Following the posting on the city’s website of the original resolution and the feedback the Mayor received, working with Mr. DeLeonardis and Chief Crooks, the resolution was rewritten. The second resolution was less lawyerly as it went through the recommendations by the Task Force item by item. It also included language about establishing a timeline to resolve the outstanding issues.

This revised version was sent to Commissioner Franck and all Council members seeking input. Commissioner Franck, rather than advising the Mayor and his fellow Council members that he wanted the city to adopt the Task Force program in totality and that he would not support the Council resolution, made his position known by talking to a reporter from the Times Union. The rest of the Council learned of Commissioner Franck’s change of mind in the Monday edition of the Times Union.

At the public meeting Tuesday Franck basically acknowledged that there were some problematic issues with the Task Force’s proposals but told his colleagues, in effect, let’s not sweat the details. We will work all of this out later.

Little wonder at the Mayor’s response.

What Commissioner Franck was cynically suggesting was that it was better to please the crowd now and worry later about telling them that some of what what they had given them could never happen or would appear in a different form.

The Task Force has been successful but that success should be tempered by the fact that one resolution does not end the struggle. A civilian review board must be designed to succeed and it will require funding by a future Council to make it happen. All of that requires continued public engagement.

Reform is an endless endeavor. The Task Force has been incredibly successful in developing a plan that has Council support. I expect the resolution presented on Wednesday night will be tweaked to make that clearer and it will pass but the story will continue and hopefully have an eventual happy ending.

Rather than condemn and abuse the City Council, they along with the Task Force deserve great credit for making this happen.

Tonight (March 23, 2021) at 7:00 Mayor Kelly has scheduled a special meeting to solicit public input on a proposed Council resolution that would adopt recommendations from the Saratoga Springs Police Review and Reinvention Task Force.

In response to public input so far, Mayor Kelly has posted on the city’s website a revised version of the first draft of the resolution.

In order to watch or comment you will need to pre-register to zoom. Here is a link.

Recently I FOILed to find out how the county was doing in terms of staffing for its contact tracing program. Last fall there were a series of stories in the media reporting that people in Saratoga County testing positive for COVID were not being contacted.

The county sent me a printout of the invoices paid to people the county had contracts with for tracing. I took the period from January 22, 2021 to February 4, 2021 for my analysis.

During that period the county was contracting with thirty-eight people whose hours varied from just a few to over seventy.

According to our population, the state standard would have the county at fify full time staff.

While the staffing is well below the state recommendation that did not necessarily mean that the county was currently, actually understaffed.

I spoke to a reliable source who is a contact tracer. I was told that prior to January, the tracing operation was basically non-functional. In January the old guard was voted out and new leadership took over the Board of Supervisors. This person told me that the new leadership brought in a serious focus on fixing things. This person told me that now things are being well run and this person felt that they finally have an effective team.

It’s encouraging.

Under an executive order issued by Governor Andrew Cuomo, local municipalities were to set up committees to recommend changes in police policies in the wake of the George Floyd killing.

In contrast to the task force set up for the city of Saratoga Springs that made explicit recommendations to the city council, the county committee balked at actually recommending pretty much anything.

Consider the following excerpt from the county committee’s report/recommendations. It notes that complaints about misconduct in the sheriff’s department “…are collected and responded to on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis…”

That phrasing sets off my bureaucratic antenna. When I read that delicately crafted sentence I translate it to read, “there is little if any record keeping regarding complaints of sheriff misconduct.”

Currently, complaints submitted by the public to the Sheriff’s Office alleging misconduct are collected and responded to on an “ad-hoc” basis which is dependent, amongst other things, on the substance of the allegation of misconduct. [JK: My emphasis] The Compliance Group received input from the community calling for the consistent and independent review of allegations. The Compliance Group determined that it would be appropriate for the Sheriff to explore [JK: My emphasis] the feasibility of creating a separate position or group within the Sheriff’s Office that would be given responsibility and autonomy to investigate complaints, review policies and audit agency performance.

Committee Recommendations To Board of Supervisors

The committee’s recommendation based on their observation was:

Encourage [JK: my emphasis] the Sheriff consult with the Board of Supervisors and its Public Safety Committee in exploring [JK: my emphasis] the feasibility of creation of a Professional Standards position or group within the Sheriff’s Office to collect and investigating complaints, review and update policy and audit agency performance.

Committee Recommendations To Board of Supervisors

The other “recommendations” are similarly tepid and qualified. As far as I can tell, nothing was set up by the Board of Supervisors at their meeting of February 23 to pursue any further “exploration” of the committee’s “recommendations.”

Supervisor Tara Gaston was the lone voice expressing her concerns about the poverty of the work done by the committee. Here is the relevant excerpt from the minutes of the February 23, 2021 Board of Supervisors meeting:

Ms. Gaston said she asked for a separate vote because she has concerns that there are not actually recommendations that the language is quite soft. She said at a minimum, she would like the Compliance Group to consider reevaluating that language before it’s brought forward again for a final vote. She believes the purpose is for the Board to actually make recommendations to the body not make recommendations to make recommendations to consider something. And, she believes that the Board as a body should take a stronger stance.

Minutes of Board of Supervisors February 23, 2021

I have captured some episodes from the March 3, 2021, public forum held by the Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force. The purpose of the event was to provide the public an opportunity to share their thoughts on the draft of the Task Force’s recommendations to the City Council.

My selection was meant to share both some of the interesting suggestions made by the public and provide some sense of the Task Force.

It became apparent that some people who addressed the Task Force assumed that the Task Force had some sort of investigative powers. The co-chairs, Camille Daniels and Jason Golub, showed considerable skill and patience in addressing the frustration sometimes directed to the Task Force.

The following videos are not in any kind of order.

Jason Golub Discusses The Mission Of The Task Force

Some Express Frustration With Task Force

Task Force Members Camille Daniels, Cecilia Hayes, and Andrew Sephas respond to Barbara Trypalik and Lexus Figuereo.

Local attorney Ed Lindner discusses how a citizen review board might function here in Saratoga Springs

Lexus Figuereo from the Black Live Matter group All of Us challenges the Task Force

Attorney Kim Galvin Discusses Her Vote on the Community Centered Reinvention Part of the Recommendations

Chief Shane Crooks Explains His Vote On the Community Centered Reinvention Part of the Recommendations

A Nice Moment At The End Of the Event Between Camille Daniels and Kim Galvin.

The Times Union published a news story written by Wendy Liberatore on March 12, regarding the findings of a survey done by John Schroeder on behalf of the Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force.

In an earlier post I reported on the glaring problems with the survey. Regrettably, Ms. Liberatore was apparently uninterested in critically examining the survey and wrote about it as though the numbers presented to her by Mr. Schroeder were an accurate representation of the opinions of the citizens of Saratoga Springs.

The story extensively interviewed Mr. Schroeder. The article highlighted statistics from the survey that purported to support allegations regarding racism and excessive force by the Saratoga Springs Police Department. It included very disturbing narratives offered by persons who participated in the surveys. It finished with the following quote from Mr. Schroeder:

“Data drives out opinions,” Schroeder said. “City councils and politicians tend to listen to whoever shouts last loudest. … But they can’t argue with the data.”

Times Union March 12, 2021

With respect to Mr. Schroeder, data can drive out opinion but only if the data is accurate and reliable.

The survey results are available here.

Some Background Thoughts On The Task Force

I took the time to watch the February 24, 2021, meeting of the Task Force. This is a link to the video. I came away from the experience impressed by the performances of its co-chairs Jason Golub and Camille Daniels and the committee. The Task Force is quite diverse but it was clear that respect for each other was the order of the day. The discussions were substantive. It was apparent that the members of the task force were dedicated to both social justice and to developing policies that they believe would enhance the work of the city’s police department.

The work of the Task Force has been particularly challenging in that they had no funding for professional support and were attempting to take on some very difficult issues within a very limited time period.

With that in mind I would urge the readers of the blog to distinguish between the work of the Task Force and the problematic character of the survey.

Mr. Schroeder is not a member of the Task Force and developed the survey as a volunteer. As far as I can tell, he has no expertise in polling. During the last few years Mr. Schroeder has been an aggressive critic of the Saratoga Springs Police Force. He has extensively FOILed the city for police department documents and recently won a suit against the city for failing to provide some documents within the time restraints of the Open Meetings Law.

The “Survey”: Beyond Flawed

There is a science to polling (flawed as that science may be). Social scientists who do polling direct great resources to selecting participants who will be representative of the group they seek to understand.

Mr. Schroeder published his analysis of the survey results with the following caveat about the participants in his survey:

While selection bias is always a concern for open surveys, the demographics are very close to our overall population. 

Introduction To Survey Report

The results that follow are statistically significant and broadly representative of the overall City of Saratoga Springs Community. 

Introduction To Survey

Mr. Schroeder is referring to the fact that the breakdown of gender and some other characteristics of who took the survey were similar to the demographics of the city.

Mr. Schroeder asserts that because some of the self identified characteristics of those who took the survey are similar to the demographics of the city, that this somehow establishes that the survey results are a valid reflection of what the residents of Saratoga Springs think. Aside from the fact that the only characteristic that even is close to correlating with the city’s population is the number of persons who self identified as being White, without proper modeling, any similarity between the self identified characteristics (age, gender, race, etc. ) of the participants of his survey and the actual population of our city is simply coincidental.

It is disturbing that he is trying to reassure us that the survey is “statistically significant ” and that it is “representative of the overall City of Saratoga Springs” simply because those who took the survey in some cases resemble the population of the city.

It is particularly problematic that he thinks his survey’s results indicate what the city of Saratoga Springs thinks of its police department given that a significant number of people who took the survey do not even live in Saratoga Springs.

The survey asked the participants where they lived. Here is one of the tables:

So only 57.9% of those taking the survey identified themselves as actual residents of Saratoga Springs. The notes at the bottom of the graph assert that the people who live outside of the city but live in Saratoga County are “stakeholders” so, the argument goes, they should be included. Maybe, and some people may find this nit-picking, but Mr. Schroeder asserts that the survey results are “representative of the overall City of Saratoga Springs” when roughly forty percent of the participants were self described as living outside the city. This kind of sloppy, indifference to his own statistics is antithetical to the kind of rigor required in proper polling.

Participants in Mr. Schroeder’s survey were “self selected” which is to say that the participants were whoever was motivated to take the poll. It was not a sampling that necessarily represented the city’s population.

Also troubling was that there were no controls to keep participants from taking the survey more than once. I know that after doing the survey once I was able to log on to do it again if I had wanted to without a problem. I did not repeat the survey.

This is no minor technical problem. It strikes at the very integrity of the results.

With respect to Mr. Schroeder, I cannot understand how he can can describe a self-selecting survey (no modeling or randomization) as “representative of of the overall City of Saratoga Springs.”

In addition to the unscientific sampling techniques used, individual questions in the survey also violate the fundamentals of sound polling. I explored that in some detail in an earlier post but I will revisit one example.

The survey asked the participants:

Please indicate which of the following changes to policing you support:

Participants in the survey were limited to the following responses:

Support – Don’t Support – Not Sure

One of the statements asks whether the person being surveyed supports/doesn’t support/is not sure about Ending profiling, “Stop and Frisk”, and policing of minor issues

First of all, a proper polling question does not include three items as is done here. What if the respondent supports or doesn’t support or is not sure of only one or two of the three items? How can a response like that be registered?

The question also implies that the city currently employs all three of these items by asking about “changes to police policy” . This is similar to the classic question, “when did you stop beating your wife?” Where is Mr. Schroeder’s data supporting the allegation of profiling or Stop and Search in the city? And what does “policing of minor issues” mean?

As the question asks simply about police rather than the Saratoga Springs police, the question invites confusion. When I answered this question I assumed I was being asked about our local police. This is another example of how poorly this survey was crafted.

If you want to improve service delivery, or anything else for that matter, one of the first steps is to understand where you are today. Without that baseline,it’s hard to tell if things are improving or getting worse over time. This survey is intended to provide that quantitative understanding of how our entire community views the Saratoga Springs Police Department (SSPD). Our hope is that this becomes an annual exercise that can chart the progress we make together.

Introduction To Survey

Unfortunately without a scientific sample and carefully crafted questions, there is no baseline.

While the previous “up and to the right chart” showing overall satisfaction is visually appealing, it is equally true that nearly 1 in 4 people in our community are dissatisfied with the SSPD

Introduction To Survey

The assertion that nearly “… 1 in 4 of the people in our community are dissatisfied with the SSPD” is simply not an established fact. It is only accurate to say that 1 in 4 of the people who took this survey are dissatisfied.

Trying To Unspin The Spin

Question #8 in the survey asks:

“Have you or someone you know experienced physical mistreatment, harassment or intimidation by a police officer?”

So this is a strangely global question for a survey trying to get information about the Saratoga Springs Police Department. There is no limit as to when (1969? last month?)or where (Guatemala? California?) an incident could have occurred. It isn’t even simply about whether the person taking the survey has had a bad experience with the police anywhere at any time. It could be the person answering or anyone one they have ever known. I have to admit, given how broad the question is, I am surprised that only a third of those surveyed said yes.

So Mr. Schroeder then correlated the number of people who answered yes to the police experience question with how satisfied those persons were with the Saratoga Springs Police Department. According to the two charts above, if you answered Yes to the bad police experience question you were much more likely to be dissatisfied with the Saratoga Springs Police Department. If you answered Yes and you “considered yourself a member of an historically excluded group (e.g. person of color, LBGTQ)” the rate of dissatisfaction increased.

So what does this mean? As far as I can tell it means that if you or someone you know had a bad experience with the police somewhere and at sometime, then you will tend to look unfavorably on the Saratoga Springs Police Department. How is this correlation meaningful?

At the risk of appearing cynical, I think Mr. Schroeder wanted to have another chart that presented an image of people unhappy with our local police in order to compensate for the responses that pretty uniformly show that overall people of all races who took the survey had a favorable view of the local police (see chart below). The rate of satisfaction for people who self identified as “Black/African American” was pretty much the same as those who self-described as “White.”

Some Final Thoughts

The analysis had two appendices. One involved comments from people elaborating on their, or someone they know’s, bad experiences with the police in general (any police not just the local police). The other appendix involved suggestions on how to improve our local police department.

In both cases the appendices had literally hundreds of entries. Granted the allegations against the police are anonymous, but however true or accurate they are, they are a reminder of America’s troubling history of racism.

I find these appendices the most interesting and the most encouraging elements of the survey.

It makes one really proud to be a member of the Saratoga Springs community that so many people are civically involved and care so deeply about both our city and the need to bring social justice to our country that they not only took the survey but had the initiative to offer their insights to the task force.

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This is the first of seventeen pages in the appendix on police abuse.