Email Campaign Calling for Scott Morris's Dismissal.
This email template was made by Cassandra Traina, based on the email she sent to Mayor Dave Merandy via the Mayor's direct message form provided on the official Cold Spring Government website. This template was widely circulated and an email campaign began calling for Officer Scott Morris's dismissal from the Cold Spring Police Department among other demands.
In his opening remarks during the Board of Trustees meeting on June 9, 2020, Mayor Merandy directly referenced this email campaign and the initial flyer which inspired the template stating, "There have been some nasty posts that have shown up on Facebook, I understand or in some of the emails regarding Mr. Morris. I don't know how much research everyone's done, if they're just cutting and pasting." He went on to say "I think there's a few ways you can deal with things and one of them I think, is not making demands and uh forcing something. It's first getting information and, and you know, and asking, actually, the people who were involved, you know, what was going on and how things were handled. Unfortunately, that's not how this happened. Unfortunately, leaflets are passed out, this is taken as gospel and we run with it. It's kind of a mob mentality as far as I'm concerned type of a way to deal with it."
It can be understood from these remarks that Mayor Merandy has a negative view of the email campaign.
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The following is a copy/paste version that was circulated.
Dear Mayor Dave Merandy,
The hiring of officer Scott Morris to the Cold Spring Police Department is unacceptable to the residents of Cold Spring NY.
Scott Morris is a disgraced NYPD sergeant who was forced to resign from the NYPD after the murder of innocent teen Ramarley Graham under his supervision in the Bronx.
Graham, 18, was unarmed when shot and killed in his home.
Scott Morris 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 then asked to resign without the “good guy” letter often given to police which would have allowed him to carry a weapon.
The gross negligence of Scott Morris was not good enough for the NYPD. What makes it good enough for the Cold Spring Police Department?
While I am for abolishing the police in this country, I’m writing more immediately to demand that Scott Morris is
immediately dismissed from the Cold Spring Police Department,
that the village issue a statement illuminating its citizens of it’s screening and hiring process for its Police Department/change this process,
and issue an apology to its residents and make a donation to an anti-racism organization as amends for the harm we have caused.
Thank you.
Sincerely, XXXXXXXX