TUPPER LAKE — The sole public hearing on Tupper Lake’s police review committee report Wednesday was lightly attended and uncontroversial, compared to hearings in surrounding communities.

Some members of the public asked for language changes, some of which will be implemented, and others suggested specific officer training programs, which Tupper Lake police Chief Eric Proulx said he is considering.

Village Mayor Paul Maroun said he is adjusting language, punctuation and spelling in the report and plans for the village board to ratify it Monday to be sent to Albany before the April 1 deadline.

All New York communities with police departments are going through a review and revision process of their police force policies and practices, required by an executive order Gov. Andrew Cuomo made last year amid several well-documented killings of Black people by police.

Maroun said if a municipality misses that deadline, New York will cut off state aid for its police and local government.

Tupper Lake’s committee report focuses more on improving rather than overhauling Tupper Lake Police Department policies and practices.

The report the committee drafted recommends increasing officer training, specifically in deescalation, use of force and diversity; adopting an anti-discrimination policy; establishing an annual review committee to assess department policies; and getting mental health professionals involved in more drug- and mental health-related calls.

Proulx said he received little public input throughout the process, wondering if that was a good or bad sign. He said he heard nothing negative about his department from the public who spoke with him or submitted comments.

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Public comment

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Ellen Maroun of Tupper Lake suggested changing the wording of a sentence describing a proposed discrimination policy. She said the overall policy was “terrific” but felt the last sentence describing it had a “negative, defensive feel.”

“The Tupper Lake Police Department does not (d)iscriminate, period,” the statement says.

Ellen suggested adding more language.

“The demographics of the Tupper Lake community has been relatively stable,” her statement says. “This statistic has changed minimally. To date, Tupper Lake and its police force takes pride in its history of inclusion and no discrimination. However, recognizing that national issues bringing discriminatory practices to the forefront, we welcome the opportunity to address this most serious matter.”

Paul Maroun said he is incorporating some of this language in the final draft.

Ellen also suggested adding “economic status” to the list of groups of people the department should not discriminate against, which Paul said has been added.

Ellen also later said she would like someone of color to be on the proposed citizens committee.

Andrea Audi of Saranac Lake said Cuomo’s executive order also asked departments to look at inclusion. She said racism is not just about using derogatory language. It could also mean excluding or not interacting with people living in a community who look different.

Audi asked Proulx how he feels about the Adirondack Diversity Initiative offering to provide cultural consciousness training through RENZ Consulting to officers.

Proulx said his hand is always up first for more training for his officers.

“That’s how you learn the job. That’s how you stay afloat,” he said.

Last summer, before Cuomo’s executive order, he said he sent his officers to 16 hours each of racial bias, use-of-force and deescalation trainings.

Though he is open to ADI training, the village board has to approve more funding for training, he said, and there are other mandatory trainings they have to attend, including defensive tactics.

“My officers work alone. It’s not like you see on TV where 10 officers show up and deal with someone that’s irate,” Proulx said. “Defensive tactics is a big thing for me. I don’t want my people getting hurt, and I don’t want the people they’re dealing with to get hurt.”

Paul Maroun said he is in favor of ADI funding, if possible, but Audi said training would be free, paid for by the ADI.

She also asked about Tupper Lake’s unique position of having Sunmount, an Office for People with Developmental Disabilities facility, in its jurisdiction.

“One of the benefits that we have here … is that when we go to calls with special needs, we also have a number of caregivers that work in this field,” Proulx said. “So when we’re dealing with people, we have caregivers readily available or very easily attainable to help us through these situations.”

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Committee members speak

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Franklin County Community Services and Mental Health Director Suzanne Lavigne, a committee member, said she wants to bring local and county leaders together to discuss improvements for working with people in crisis situations.

She said in the summer the county will offer crisis intervention training for law enforcement, specifically on nonviolent therapeutic crisis and deescalation training.

Lavigne also said if a Counselor and Law Enforcement Partnership pilot program in Saranac Lake is successful she plans to roll out similar partnerships with other jurisdictions, including Tupper Lake.

Franklin County District Attorney Craig Carriero said the police review and revision process has strengthened communication between county and local organizations, departments and officials.

SROs and tickets

In 2019 Tupper Lake started a school resource officer program, embedding a TLPD officer in both the elementary and middle-high schools for security and violence prevention. The governor’s executive order advises against these programs “because it brings kids into contact with law enforcement in a negative way,” Proulx said.

But he said Tupper Lake’s SRO program is focused on interaction and safety, not disciplinary enforcement, and that he has heard positive responses from the school, families and his officers.

He said the information SRO Sgt. Geoffrey Carmichael, a member of the review committee, brings the department about families officers might interact with helps them perform a more social role than a disciplinary one at times.

Proulx said his officers do not ticket everyone they pull over. He said he encourages warnings instead.

“Getting a traffic ticket is very expensive. Just the fines and surcharges alone for a simple speeding ticket is in the hundreds of dollars, not to mention what it’s going to do to somebody’s insurance,” Proulx said. “The days of getting a speeding ticket and it costing someone 20 bucks are long gone.”

His officers use discretion, and he said he trusts them to treat everyone with respect.

This is something he said he emphasizes strongly for his new officers.

“I remember being a new officer 27 years ago,” Proulx said. “There’s nothing a new cop likes better than to go out and pull cars over. That is like the fun aspect of being a cop when you come out of police school. You get to drive the police car. You get to turn the lights and sirens on. You get to pull somebody over.

“It takes the people like myself and the sergeants who have been there for a while to inflict on them, ‘You need to use your head.'”