The Westchester Coalition for Police Reform (WCPR) is deeply concerned about June 20 reports in the Journal News of a Westchester County police chaplain’s arrest on federal charges, exposing “a cozy relationship in which police favors were traded for more than $100,000 in gifts and trips”. We have learned that the suspended chaplain Jeremy Reichberg was named a Westchester County police chaplain in 2013, and that days later Reichberg’s company donated $15,000 to the re-election campaign of County Executive Rob Astorino.
WCPR would like to know:
Who chooses the Westchester County police chaplain?
What are the criteria used for this selection process?
How much was Reichberg paid in his position?
What police favors were traded in Westchester County?
Moving forward, what will be the process to select a new Westchester County police chaplain?
The Westchester public has the right to know the answers to these questions in the spirit of accountability and transparency.
WCPR consists of concerned community organizations, religious institutions and individuals who share a vision to help build safe communities, with improved community-police relations and greater police accountability and transparency. This coalition is working for:
- Increased trust and better relationships between police and communities, especially communities of color
- Independent oversight of police departments in Westchester and beyond
- Improved training and resources for police in crisis situations
- Justice in all alleged cases of police misconduct and abuses of power
- Transparency in police policies and practices
We meet once a month at the Thomas H. Slater Center and we welcome participation from the broader public. To learn more about the coalition, please visit https://policereformny.wordpress.com/ or call our convener, the Westchester Martin Luther King Institute for Nonviolence at (914) 949-6555.
