Ithaca, NY resident Richard Rivera sits on a committee called “Re-Imagining Public Safety,” which is responsible for suggesting reforms to the Ithaca Police Department. Mandated by New York State governor Andrew Cuomo, all 500 police agencies throughout N.Y. were tasked with holding public meetings in order to gather input about how best to operate. The participants in the Ithaca initiative chose to basically disband the police department and replace it with a hybrid group of armed and unarmed de-escalation people who would replace the traditional way of policing.
