Hello, We are Cold Spring Community Action

Cold Spring Community Action (CSCA) is a group dedicated to connecting the residents of Cold Spring to discuss important topics and reflect on issues as a community.

In early June 2020, CSCA was formed in direct response to the spread of information that a disgraced New York Police Department (NYPD) sergeant Scott Morris was hired in December 2019 as a member of the Cold Spring Police Department (CSPD) by a unanimous vote from the Board of Trustees. Scott Morris resigned from the NYPD after a 2012 incident in which a black teenager, Ramarley Graham, was unjustly murdered in his own home by the police. Morris was the supervising officer at the time and was faced with departmental charges of failure to notify police communications and failure to supervise members during a police incident. He was then suspended without pay and asked to resign without the “good guy” letter often given to police which would have allowed him to carry a weapon. This information was not given to Cold Spring residents when he was hired although the Board of Trustees had it from the time of his interviews.

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In the wake of the police murder of George Floyd and the call for police accountability being made all across our nation, we took action. Within a day of emailing, calling, and writing to our Mayor, Board of Trustees, and Police Department, it was announced that Scott Morris was resigning from the CSPD. While this was a great first step, we learned on June 9th 2020 that the Board of Trustees knew of his background at the time he was hired and still hired him UNANIMOUSLY.  Additionally, after Scott Morris indicated his wish to resign, the board and the Mayor stood by their decision to hire him and expressed regret that he was forced to resign. This shows a profound lack of understanding of their wrongdoing. Furthermore it shows that systematic racism remains in our local institutions. 

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Because of this we have more work to do.

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We realize the Cold Spring community should have been aware of this information. We should have been more curious. Possibly if such a group as CSCA had existed then, we would have had a centralized place to share information impacting our town. Going forward we hope to help put a spotlight on issues residents find important by holding honest and open discussions on both our blog and forum.

We created this page so we can work as a community to ensure nothing like this will ever happen again in Cold Spring NY. And we will work to enact change in our institutions and educate ourselves on how our actions uphold racist ideology and practices.

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We will continue to tackle a diverse range of issues in the community as well as connect folks who want to discuss these issues together.

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