The Jamestown City Council is set to vote next week on the Police Reform and Reinvention Plan.

On Monday prior to a council work session meeting, the Public Safety Committee presented the plan to the full council and the public during an online meeting.

Brent Sheldon, Ward 1 councilman and Public Safety Committee chairman, outlined the several month process that has been ongoing since Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved Executive Order 203 last June. Cuomo’s order required each local government in the state to adopt a New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative plan by April 1. The order authorizes the director of the state Division of the Budget to condition state aid to localities based on the adoption of such a plan.

The draft plan has information on the police department, crime statistics, a summary of feedback received by the community through the stakeholder meetings the task force held over the past few months and goals and objectives for the Jamestown Police Department to reach in the short, medium and long term.

Earlier this month, city officials announced the draft plan was available for public review on the city’s website at jamestownny.gov. The public comment period was open until March 12.

On Monday, Jennifer Williams, city clerk, announced the city received no correspondence from the public on the draft plan during the open public comment period.

Jeff Russell, At-Large councilman, discussed how the Public Safety Committee held several stakeholder meetings with groups and residents in the city. He said these meetings included the Hispanic/Latino community; Faith-based community; Jamestown Public Schools teachers, staff and students; African American community, nonprofit organizations; businesses; police and fire departments; district attorney; city residents; senior citizens; probation; and mental health and hospital professionals.

Tamu Graham-Reinhardt, At-Large councilwoman, said some of the goals in the plan includes increase the recruitment efforts of minority candidates to the Jamestown Police Department; the city’s police department receiving a New York State accreditation; creation of a community relations program for the police department; develop mentoring programs between youth and police; and exploring relationships with local nonprofits and businesses to enhance collaboration with the police department.

Sheldon said the plan also includes additional goals of providing additional funding for various police department programs; exploring options regarding response to mental health calls; ensuring officers have access and encouraging the use of mental and physical health resources and increase quality of life for officers; ensure that all officers are trained and knowledgeable about the impacts of implicit bias and have an understanding of the communities they serve; establish a citizen’s police academy; and increase transparency and communication throughout the police department.

Graham-Reinhardt said during the process of creating the plan that she learned a lot about how the police department operates.

“It gave me a new level of understanding about what law enforcement is like,” she said.

Vickye James, Ward 3 councilwoman, believes the creation of the plan with city residents meeting with members of the police department allowed citizens to gain new respect for the Jamestown Police Department.

“The community also has more trust with the police department because of these interactions,” she said. “We’re all people. We’re all in this together and we can all fix this together.”

Graham-Reinhardt said the council will receive a final draft of the plan by Thursday and is slated to approve it Monday. The state’s deadline for approval is April 1.