Feb. 01: BLM Saratoga calls for SSPD abolition, more action. Gaming company looking for space in Saratoga County. Jill Biden visits Ft. Drum. Limo safety.
Executive Summary: A regional run-down of today's top business news.
TU, DG, FBD: BLM Saratoga calls for more action or police abolition
In the wake of the police beating and killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Saratoga Black Lives Matter called for Saratoga Springs to abolish the police department or take more action soon, especially implementing the 50 point plan that came from the 2020-2021 Police Reform Task Force including the implementation of the Civilian Review Board.
They called for the changes during a press conference Jan. 31, on the steps of City Hall with a number other groups represented including the Capital Region Democratic Socialists of America, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Saratoga Springs and others.
Lexis Figuereo, the leader of BLM Saratoga, in the Times Union story, said that police reform is not working and that if police do not use guns, they will turn to batons and tasers as they did against Nichols in Memphis.
He said if needed, the BLM movement will return to Saratoga Springs City Council meetings and disrupt them as they had through much of 2021 until some change is seen, and, as Figuereo said, to make sure that the sort of beating and tragedy in Memphis does not happen here.
Editor’s note: Once again, we are stymied by the Daily Gazette website and could not read the story they ran even though we pay full price for an auto-renewing subscription. It’s here, if you can get in.
[We have reaction from city leaders Montagnino and Kim, and more from BLM’s Figuereo inside. They talk about police, the NYS DA investigation of the SSPD, a new chief and what an abolished police force would mean…take a subscription to learn more…
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