Lake Placid police officers are pictured here at work at their desk in 2018 at their station in the North Elba Town Hall. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid’s police reform plan was adopted during a special meeting on Monday.

The Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees voted to adopt the plan more than nine months after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order requiring local law enforcement agencies to review their use-of-force policies and develop a plan to improve them, and two days before the state-mandated deadline to submit that plan to the state Division of the Budget.

Under the plan, the village police department will continue to contract with Lexipol, and implement a new policy manual drafted by the national law enforcement consulting firm. Lake Placid police have been working with Lexipol for more than three years.

The plan also requires more staff training on a number of topics: on the new policy manual, on diversity, de-escalation and mental health. It also calls for increasing officer involvement within the community in official capacities, completing safety planning for the 2023 Winter World University Games and increasing use of social media to notify the community of possible health or safety concerns.

The option for officers to implement any use of force that restricts airflow, in the department’s use of force policy, has been eliminated in this plan. New York state banned police from using choke holds in June 2020.

Lake Placid’s police reform plan says “there is a high level of mutual trust and openness between the village officials, police department and the community.”

“The village did experience small groups of activists in support of the Black Lives Matter movement,” it reads, referring to a large rally last June at which more than 300 people marched up and down Main Street to protest racial injustice following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. “These groups did not notify the municipality of their protest plans, but the police department and village officials worked quickly to ensure everyone’s safety.”

The rally was planned by a group of Lake Placid residents and led by Alex Medina, a New York City native who has lived in Lake Placid since 2011.

The village was notified about the event ahead of time. A few days prior to the rally, Randall said at the time that the village had been notified and that although the organizers didn’t explicitly ask for permission to host the event, he didn’t expect the village to interfere with them practicing their civil rights. One of the organizers of the event, Lake Placid resident Sierra Brewster, said at the time that she hadn’t heard back from village officials or the police department after contacting them about the event.

The reform plan goes on to say that since the death of Floyd last May, members of the community have been “willing to approach village officials regarding how these movements are impacting the village of Lake Placid.”

“The village officials and police department understand how police policies, practices and procedures can impact different members of their community in different ways,” the report reads. “Through open and honest dialogue, the community continued to establish and strengthen their trust in not only the village officials but the police department as well.”

Lake Placid’s police reform plan was developed by a consultant, Theresa Wilson of Olio Consulting, with Lake Placid Police Chief William Moore, Assistant Chief Charles Dobson and village trustees.

Lake Placid’s review process started late last year. Unlike other neighboring villages such as Saranac Lake, which put together a citizen committee that held numerous public meetings, Lake Placid’s review process has happened behind closed doors. The village hired Olio Consulting in October to guide the review process, spearheaded by company CEO Theresa Wilson. In her proposal, Wilson suggested public forums be held in November and December. Ultimately the village decided to host one “community listening session” in February, when nothing was known publicly about the plan’s direction. No one, apart from village staff, attended the session. The public comment period was held open until March 20, but few reached out with comments. This stands in contrast to other communities — such as Malone, in Franklin County — where police reform plans have been controversial and drawn much more input.

Mayor Craig Randall acknowledged this small amount of input during the trustees’ meeting on Monday. He noted that he only received input from three people on the subject, and two of those were not related to the reform plan, but the police department’s budget and the size of the department.

“The comments from the public have been very limited,” he said.

Randall thanked Moore, Dobson and village Trustee Scott Monroe, a former police chief, for their work on the police reform plan.