Ah ha. Here we go. Flipping this Letter To The Editor around to be Letter From The Editor.
Last Sunday, we published the article “Arrest Made On Main Street Evaluated For Use Of Force - Video Footage With Audio.” Some people on Facebook had some feelings about the article. Some people felt that the headline should have praised the Beacon Police Department for successfully completing a training drill in real life. Where the police were called about a man threatening people with a gun, swiftly getting to the scene, down the street a bit because the man had walked a few blocks by then, and then took him down without incident, to get him into the car to be taken to the station. Charges were pending. We never learned what the charges were, or his identity.
I emailed Lt. Figlia to ask if they were going to release the identity, and he never responded. Before that email, he did, however, call me kindly asking me for my video footage of the arrest, so that they could use it in their self-evaluation of the arrest that involved Use of Force. He also emailed me back saying he received the video. Maybe he didn’t get my email asking him if the Beacon PD were going to release the identity of the man arrested.
[UPDATE! Lt. Figlia responded yesterday afternoon at 4:45pm but the email came in at 10pm because cyberspace and Mercury in Retrograde not being over yet). He said information will be forthcoming.]
[UPDATE 4/26/2024: The Beacon Police Department has issued an update of what led to the circumstance of this arrest. Click here to read it.]
Years ago, after ALBB published an article about implied racism in the Highway Department when they hired their first HR director who resigned after a year, City Administrator Chris White instructed all department heads and employees not to answer any questions from me at A Little Beacon Blog. Yet he would talk to me as Spirit of Beacon Chair. Which I have since stepped down from. Partly for this reason. Too frustrating to change hats and be disrespected like that. They are selective about what questions from me they will answer. My faith is in you, Citizen Reporters, to get information as we all search for public documents.
Some people felt that the arrest article was bashing the police. The article was what it was. It provided video of an arrest made where Use of Force was used. How do we know that? Because one of the four officers who was involved in the physical encounter came over and told those of us who witnessed it in real life, as he wanted to interview us about what we thought about the Use of Force. Why did he want to know what we thought? Because it is standard procedure for the Beacon Police, he said, for them to evaluate themselves and hold themselves “accountable,” which was his word choice. Seemed a perfectly respectable thing to seek.
Learned something new about policing on a Sunday morning at 9:30am! But, some people on Facebook also had a problem with us describing the surroundings of a Sunday morning in Beacon. Some people made ominous threats or ill-wishes, like “I hope you never need the police to help you!” or “This is a pot you never should have stirred!” So. You shall have this explainer Letter From The Editor on why this was our angle, rather than republishing a press release and stating only a press release. For this situation, we happened to have been right there to see the arrest in real life.
I also want to state that Beacon has a community of mentally delicate people walking around on these streets each morning, for those of us who are out early, as I am. There is a community of people who live in unusual places, like the woods, or boarding houses, or a bench, or a curb. They get their coffee, or a beer, and begin their day. Some have been here for years, some drift in and and become members of the community.
But sometimes, they act out of the norm. Sometimes they yell curse words. Or claim they are billionaires. Or are rude when you don’t want to or don’t have change to give them. If one of these people threatened to shoot people, a tourist or a person not familiar with these members of the community might be frightened, and call the police. A citizen of Beacon might get really irritated, and call the police knowing what might happen to them. A person who makes threats of shooting people will get a rifle to the head, and their head pressed into the ground until handcuffs are on.
In the aftermath of the article, more than one person alluded that the man might be a certain one of these individuals, and several used the word “psycho” to describe the man. One of the arresting officers said that the person should be “going to the psych ward.” While the officer said he’d never seen the man before, a reader of A Little Beacon Blog, Jim Naruta, commented that he had, stating: “This guy threatened to stab and shoot me and others on Main last week. We dismissed it as some guy off his meds.”
In a time when Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White denied NAMI Mid Hudson the privilege of hanging their Mental Health Awareness ribbons last year and again this year because he was preserving the cleanliness of the lamp posts that he had City of Beacon employees clean in a multi-year cleaning campaign, it appears awareness of mental health issues and how to treat them will continue to be stigmatized.
Here’s what I originally published on Facebook in response to the article upset:
“One last thing about this Police article, and then we're moving on to the next articles. Reporting on small city/town news (Beacon is a city but has "small-town" feels) when you live in the place is very difficult. As is being a Police officer who has to police their neighbors sometimes. While out at events, ALBB has been approached by the public to do more stories on issues that deal with injustices to anyone. Death. Police issues. Unpleasantries. Not because they are unpleasant, but because they are real. Usually here at Facebook, people sometimes say: "Oh, that's bad for tourism!! That's why it doesn't make the news! They don't want people to know!" And that's not the case here at ALBB at least. Sometimes it's uncomfortable. Sometimes it takes days or weeks or months to get all of the information. Sometimes we just have client work we need to complete. In terms of my (Katie's) personal needs from the Police. Yes, I was there 2x this month to deal with harassment letters being sent about me and my business. Because of our coverage of other global events. The officers I spoke with were as helpful as they could be with me - within their power or jurisdiction. It is understandable you will not like a headline. Or a description of a Sunday morning. But these things are as they are. Clearly, the Police demonstrated several things:
1. They are well trained.
2. They need some new body cameras. Sometimes items in their budget are disputed by City Council. This would be an example of why new body cameras are a line item.
3. They value holding themselves accountable. That should be seen as a commendable thing. The event itself triggered its own process that they followed. Also, there is no AI at ALBB. LOL. We much prefer torturing ourselves writing. And enduring your Grammar Violation Finds, as we like to see if you're actually reading. Glad that you are. See you in the next article.”
