Stacey Abrams reacts: ‘Sleeping in a drive-thru must not end in death’
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he will require counties and cities to go through a process of redesigning their police force and passing it into law by April 1.
If the process is not undertaken, they will not receive state funding, Cuomo said.
Cuomo said he is calling on “county by county, city by city” to sort over the next 9 months what policing looks like in 2020.
“At the table, activists stake holders police government officials you design your police force and you do it now,” he said at his daily news briefing on Saturday.
“If you don’t do it, local government, you won’t get any state funding, period,” he added.
The state will not tell jurisdictions what to do, but will require them to go through the process and pass a law, he said.
“Demonstration, legislation, reconciliation,” is the “formula” for change, Cuomo said.
“Now is the time for every community to put pen to paper and enact systemic reform,” he added.
Cuomo said there will be no state governmental office or commissioner oversight of the police force redesign process, adding the only requirement is that local governments pass the law.
The state will not second guess the local law, Cuomo said, adding that state laws stay in effect. The state troopers are going through their own process, Cuomo said. “That we will do ourselves,” he said.
The governor also touted the package of sweeping police reform bills he signed this week.
“We heard you…we agree with you protesters.. now tell us what the police force should look like,” he said.
“It takes 9 months to give birth, and we’re going to birth a new vision for a police force, community by community because there is no one size fits all, it’s what that community wants,” Cuomo added.
