Tioga County Police Reform and the Community Conversation

As directed by Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order of June 12, 2020, all local governments are required to participate, adopt a policing reform plan and submit to the State by April 1. Tioga County has been working on the plan since September and has since completed Phase 1. Next, is Phase 2 and is a Community Conversation between the Tioga County Sheriff’s Department and Tioga County community members. 

As part of the Phase 1 Plan, in November, an online / mail-in survey was created and made available to all of Tioga County citizens. Community response was good with over 575 respondents and comments from the community. Surveys were submitted via the Internet and by hard copy.

Phase 2 of the plan is to host a community wide conversation with citizens from all parts of Tioga County. The conversation will be centered on policies and procedures of the Sheriff’s Department and will address questions and comments received from the recent Community-Wide Survey.  

Panel members on the call will include the Tioga County Sheriff, District Attorney, Public Defender, and County Mental Hygiene and Probation. Community members from around the county will be asked to participate, as will the media. They have reached out to all Tioga County Municipalities for suggestions of participants from their community as well.

The meeting will be held sometime during the last week in January and will not be in person, but virtually via zoom. More information will be shared as soon as final decisions are made.