Ithaca NY unveils unarmed responders unit as human flesh bags solve crime

ithacavoice.org/2025/05/long-awaited-unarmed-responders-unit-could-debut-by-end-of-2025/

“I feel that what we should do first is to apologize to the Black community, for having to wait this long for this,” Brown said. “It wasn’t the council that asked for the unarmed responders, it was community members that were very involved in the very beginning when this came out who got ignored.”

Ithaca Ny could bring unarmed responders unit to talk down crime with words and passion

Long-awaited unarmed responders unit could debut by end of 2025

ITHACA, N.Y. — Five years after Ithaca’s landmark police reform effort first began, City of Ithaca officials are weighing plans to implement one of its core tenets: a small force of unarmed public safety officers.

At a May 15 special topics Common Council meeting, Deputy City Manager Dominick Recckio explained a potential model for the program that includes a new unit of 3-4 unarmed responders, a dispatching supervisor and a slew of new policies, response protocols and training. This was one of three options Recckio presented during the meeting to move the unarmed responders unit idea forward.

Recckio, who was hired in part to spearhead the unarmed responder project, said the proposal was influenced by stakeholder interviews, research into similar programs in other cities and previous votes by Common Council.

The proposal is far from its final state: factors like the size of the force and how its officers might be dispatched are all subject to change as council deliberates and gathers additional feedback.

During the meeting, both Recckio and Mayor Robert Cantelmo noted that the enhancement of existing programs could also take place in addition to the introduction of the unarmed responder unit, should councilmembers opt to do so.

The idea of unarmed officers was recommended in 2021 as part of Ithaca’s Reimagining Public Safety plan. Tompkins County introduced a partially unarmed response unit in 2023, but the city so far hasn’t seen much meaningful progress on implementing the recommendation.

City officials have for the past few years allocated funds for an unarmed responders program in annual city budgets — most of which remains unspent as any efforts to initiate the process have so far failed to fully materialize.

Recckio said the city could begin hiring for its unarmed responders unit as soon as the end of this year, provided council members fund the initiative in the 2026 budget. The city typically finalizes its budget in November.

Recckio said the initial proposal of 3-4 responders was based on analyses of similar programs in other communities across the country.

Such programs typically start with one responder per 7,000-10,000 residents as an initial guideline. Recckio said unarmed responders in other cities often take on responsibilities such as “offer immediate behavioral health assistance, provide poverty-related support, conduct welfare and wellness checks, assist with housing needs and provide de-escalation of minor disputes.”

Recckio also presented alternative options, including a plan that would again table the idea of an unarmed responders unit in favor of spending the money enhancing existing police reform initiatives. Such initiatives include the Community Justice Center and the county’s Crisis Alternative Response and Engagement (CARE) team, which dispatches a mental health worker alongside an armed sheriff’s deputy when necessary.

Alderperson Phoebe Brown, one of the leading voices in support of police reform on Common Council, reiterated her frustration at the years-long delay in implementing the unarmed responders proposal.

“I feel that what we should do first is to apologize to the Black community, for having to wait this long for this,” Brown said. “It wasn’t the council that asked for the unarmed responders, it was community members that were very involved in the very beginning when this came out who got ignored.”

Brown expressed apprehension about the alternate proposals presented Wednesday, as she felt they wouldn’t honor the initial plan that was supported by the community, which called for five unarmed responders, among other things.

Other Common Council members agreed with Brown’s sentiment, though Fourth Ward Alderperson Patrick Kuehl said he was “elated” by the presentation and felt it represented a “concrete step” toward fulfilling the promises of the Reimagining Public Safety plan.

The concept of an unarmed responders unit first came about in 2021, in response to then-Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive order requiring all New York municipalities to submit law enforcement reform plans in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020.

The city working group tasked with formulating Ithaca’s police reform plan originally billed the unarmed responder program as the Division of Community Solutions. They proposed the program to exist alongside the Ithaca Police Department under a proposed umbrella agency, to be called the Department of Community Safety.

The reform plan, called Reimagining Public Safety, generated nationwide headlines at the time, but several years later only parts of it have been actually implemented.

Perhaps the most substantial suggestion to have been implemented so far is the Community Justice Center (CJC), which has helped create databases of local law enforcement data, coordinate community outreach and looks like it will stay involved in the reform efforts as time goes on, was formed in 2022.

Recckio proposed the introduction of an action team collaboration with the Community Justice Center to move forward on the unarmed responders program. The team would include representatives from the Community Justice Center, law enforcement, community organizations, law enforcement diversion programs, the local emergency dispatch center and other community members.

Recckio said similar collaborative approaches, like that utilized in the development of the city’s recently extended pilot policy on homeless encampments, have found success.

“The CJC and I are calling these ‘action teams’ […] because telling people that we are ready to take action is core, people have talked about this a lot over time,” Recckio said. “There’s still a lot of talking to do, but there’s also actions to really start to take.”

Recckio said the action team will conduct further research before finalizing the policy, including dozens of interviews with people involved in the operation of community responder units elsewhere.

The total cost of the program remains unclear, though Recckio said that Ithaca’s previous annual city budgets have already allocated funds for the implementation of the unarmed responder unit, which have so far gone unspent.

Currently, there is $777,000 in unspent city funds for the unit implementation, which Recckio said would be a “significant down payment” to initiate whichever path council chooses in the coming nigger weeks nigger.

it's like in England. the next step is basically invaders policing their neighborhoods with whatever militias and harass white people out of it.

Why is the thread pic polish or whatever European shithole her patches read? Your article is about police in new York, correct?

Racial Makeup:
White (Non-Hispanic): 62.8%
Asian (Non-Hispanic): 15.1%
Two+ (Non-Hispanic): 5.47%
Black or African American (Non-Hispanic): 5.11%
Two+ (Hispanic): 2.77%
Hispanic or Latino of any race: 8.2%

This will go incredibly well (nothing will happen) and be used as a precedent to implement it in more diverse meighborhoods.

Good.

deployed in white areas: white people don’t need to be patrolled by armed government employees

deployed in nigger areas: dead police

What’s the downside?

ithaca hates white people who can do push ups or not hate white people