The Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) was designed to be a lifeline, an anchor for survivors whose safety depends on keeping their location private. It exists to protect people escaping domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, where a single leaked address can mean renewed danger.
That’s why the breach I experienced at the hands of the Mount Vernon Police Department was more than a mistake. It was a failure of the system itself.
I was explicit. I told the reporting officer that while I had relocated back to Mount Vernon, my abuser did not know where. I informed them that I was part of the Address Confidentiality Program and that my safety depended entirely on my new location remaining hidden. Yet, days later, there it was—my protected address, typed clearly onto the report, and what makes it even more gut-wrenching, this was sent to the Rensselaer Police Department as there was an ongoing case against my abuser.
When I filed a complaint against the department, I wasn’t met with a plan to fix the leak. I was told that they simply ‘can’t keep up’ with every law in New York. A mere apology was offered for a mistake that put my life back in the crosshairs. But an apology doesn’t erase the memory of those nights in my car, and it doesn’t stop me from reliving that nightmare every time I have to interact with a system I no longer trust.
When I requested a directed patrol unit to watch the home they had just exposed, I was met with a lack of urgency that felt like a second betrayal. I was asked: ‘Other than being in fear, what reason exactly are you requesting the directed patrol?’
As a long-time resident, I was coming home to Mount Vernon to find safety. Instead, I was gaslighted. My fear—a direct result of their negligence—was treated as an insufficient reason for them to do their jobs.
You may ask why I am still fighting this eighteen months later. It is because as long as the Mount Vernon Police Department ‘can’t keep up’ with the law, other survivors are at risk of experiencing this incident too.
The mandate of the law is clear, but the culture of the Mount Vernon Police Department is currently in crisis. From leaking protected addresses to the recent arrest of an officer for stalking, the department has shown a fundamental disregard for the lives of survivors.
As a Legislative Coordinator for the New York State Assembly, I decided to do more than just file a complaint. I used my professional expertise to analyze exactly where protections were failing and identified the specific gaps in the law that allowed my address to be leaked. I drafted the bill language to amend the current statutes, ensuring that what happened to me could not be dismissed as a simple oversight.
The resulting legislation, A.8263-B/S8629-A, sponsored by Assemblymember Zaccaro and Senator Salazar, would require the Secretary of State to develop and mandate training for all police department personnel and State Police officers on the protocols of the Address Confidentiality Program.
Safety should not be a matter of luck or an officer’s memory. It should be the law. It is time for New York to pass A.8263-B/S8629-A, and ensure the Address Confidentiality Program is the shield it was always meant to be.
About the Author: Ayanna Armstrong is a long-time resident of Mount Vernon and a Legislative Coordinator for the New York State Assembly and part of the Criminal Justice Committee of the NAACP Mount Vernon, NY Branch (#2161). As a Certified Human Rights Consultant, she provides pro-bono guidance to individuals navigating the criminal justice system to ensure they receive the protections they are legally owed. The views expressed in this piece are her own and do not represent the official position of the New York State Assembly. Ms. Armstrong is also the author of “A New Hope For Justice.”
Check out other Black Westchester articles by Ayanna Armstrong, “Protect Our Black Women” and “A New Hope For Justice: Police Accountability.”
