City Of Beacon To Publish Police Blotter Online To Increase Transparency And Address Governor Cuomo's Policing Review Executive Order

In their first joint announcement since Beacon’s former Police Chief Kevin Junjulas retired and Acting Chief of Police William Cornett was appointed last week, the City of Beacon announced Monday evening that “the Beacon Police Department will begin publishing online its daily police blotter, as part of a broader process of increasing policing transparency,” according to their press release.

Normally found printed in the Beacon Free Press and the Highlands Current, the police blotter is often a source for newspapers to be picked up so that citizens can get a read on what kind of activity is going on around them. Police calls can include a noise disturbance, or a person being picked up for a warrant out for their arrest for any reason - like an overly expired license - during a routine traffic stop. Normally in the newspapers, only a select handful of these calls are published.

According to the press release, this move has been made in response to what the public asked for during the first public forum on policing held in mid-June after the first protest in Beacon. “The police blotter constitutes the basic raw data for activity statistics and other data,” says the city. On a subsequent City Council Workshop meeting on 6/29/2020, where three representatives from the Police Department (then Chief Junjulas, then Captain Fredericks and current Lieutenant Figlia) the department was asked by the Mayor to provide data as to the types of calls. The City Council was then able to get an idea about the types of police calls that are made 24/7, as well as the strategy that goes into categorizing them. Now, the public will get faster and more comprehensive access to the types of calls as well.

Mayor Kyriacou stated in the press release, “This is a first step of making policing information readily available, to both inform the public, and to increase transparency and build trust. This follows the socially-distanced public forum the City recently organized, attended virtually by 200 listeners and viewers. We are also beginning to organize a comprehensive policing review and plan process, consistent with the Governor’s Executive Order on the topic.”

Acting Chief of Police William Cornett added, “Transparency is a top priority for the Beacon Police Department. The public is welcome to visit our website anytime to view the daily blotter. We are working on and will be making more information available to our residents.”

The daily blotter will be available at www.cityofbeacon.org on the Beacon Police Department page.