Following the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd in May of 2020, several U.S. governors ordered their state's police departments to put into place a review policy concerning police standards.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York did the same.  His executive order told the communities that they must come up with a best practices policy keeping in mind the communities in which they serve.  The Oneonta Police Department constructed a new review policy and submitted it to the city government for approval.

According to AllOtsego.com, the Community Advisory Board met at Oneonta City Hall on Tuesday July 13, 2021 to follow up on the new policy document.  The committee approved final changes to the Community Advisory Board police review document, which will sent back to the original CAB members followed by a public hearing.

The process should take about a month to complete, according to city officials.

Several members who attended the review spoke about the impact of the new policy including Oneonta City Mayor Gary Herzig, Mark Drnek, a candidate for Oneonta mayor and chairman of the committee, Oneonta city attorney David Merzig, Oneonta Councilman Luke Murphy, and others.  Acting Oneonta Police Chief Lt. Chris Witzenberg spoke at a previous meeting, and it should be noted that Len Carson is also on the committee and is also running for the mayor of Oneonta in the upcoming election.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, July 27, which may include members of the original review committee.

For more details on the latest involving the new police review policy, including quotes from several of the attendees mentioned above, please visit our publishing partner at AllOtsego.com

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