Binghamton Mayor Richard David is taking the issue of reforming the City Police Department out of the realm of public debate and Council approval.

The Republican yesterday signed an executive order that establishes more diversity training, data collection and the purchase of more body cameras if Council approves funding.

David says the controversy over the Police Modernization Act caused too much concern about police second-guessing their work in protecting the public.

David also wants to look into developing a clear recruitment and retention policy for women and minorities.

The debate over the Police Modernization Act has been going on for months and the legislation has been revised as concerns were raised about whether police would be able to stop someone for probable cause and whether too much information about a person’s lifestyle would be collected during police stops and investigations.

The new order, effective immediately, requires officers to fill out data forms for every vehicle and pedestrian stop, which conforms to an order handed down at the beginning of the year by the Police Chief.  The mayoral directive also calls for the annual in-service training of officers to include bumped up diversity training, dependent on funding.

Those who want legislative action say they are glad to see support toward revisions to the department but still plan to work on legislation that they say would provide a more permanent fix than an executive order.

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