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Ithaca and Tompkins County Looks to Diversify Police Force The Community Justice Center announced a new effort yesterday to recruit and retain a diverse pool of police officers and sheriff’s deputies. Monalita Smiley is the director of the center which is charged with implementing Tompkins County and City of Ithaca’s joint Reimagining Public Safety Initiative.…
Read MoreNew York Says More Must be Done to Protect Bees A state audit of the 2016 Pollination Protection Plan found that more action is needed to protect bees and other pollinators from disease, parasites, and pesticides. The plan, created in 2016 by the joint efforts of the Department of Agriculture and Markets, and the DEC,…
Read MoreWRFI is your hyper-local, community news source for Tompkins and Schuyler counties. George Christopher, Lucas Santiago, and Felix Teitelbaum report.
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While the most ambitions Reimagination of Public Safety in New York might be happening in Ithaca, the surrounding college’s police and safety departments will be continuing as they were. This Episode of Which Way Forward is all about that dynamic. This story comes to us from Ithaca Park Scholars Maia Noah and Lauren Leone. The…
In this Episode of Which Way Forward, we hear from a student activist and professor from Ithaca College reflect on a year since Black Lives Matter protests swept across the United States. This piece comes to us from Ithaca College Park Scholars Jess Moskowitz and Syd Pierre. The music in this piece is from BlueDotSession.…
On this episode of Which Way Forward, we explore many, many opinions and views on the Reimagining Public Safety process. All these comments and thoughts are from the public feedback period of the Reimagining Public Safety Draft Report. This ranged from early February 2021, to March 31st 2021. In that fast-moving span of time, community…
On April 1st, Ithaca and Tompkins County submitted their plans for reforming public safety. Although the Common Council and the County Legislature have committed to the points of their plans, they still have a long way to go before they’re realized. The recommendations don’t have the mechanics and power of policy behind them yet, and…
This is the last episode of part one of the Which Way Forward: Redefining Public Safety series. WRFI News Contributor Fred Balfour lays out how Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order for every municipality with a police department to reimagine its public safety practices will play out in Tompkins County. Ithaca Voice intern James Baratta walks…