The Village of Walden’s September 19 board meeting featured in-depth public comments regarding the village’s police department, including criticism of the department’s enforcement and suggestions that could improve the community’s safety.

Ellen Hudson, a Walden resident with family roots in NYPD, spoke about her experiences with the village’s police and their treatment of her. In March of 2021, Hudson was involved in a domestic violence incident and received a temporary order of protection (TOP) from Fearless! Hudson Valley, but when she sought assistance from the police department, no officers helped her.

“It was an issue. I had false calls made that were retaliatory after I had this issue through Fearless. The calls were made to 311 and they reported to me as being an emotionally disturbed person. I was emotionally disturbed because the police wouldn’t acknowledge my TOP through Fearless,” she said.

Hudson suggested that the village’s police department not only lacks sufficient training to handle domestic violence cases but will selectively enforce the law.

“If you happen to know somebody, or if somebody has a rumor of you that’s in law enforcement, there could be what’s considered profiling, implicit bias. I don’t feel like the law enforcement officers that I’ve interacted with have proper domestic violence training,” she said.

Hudson then described her interactions with a particular Walden officer, who was not referred to by name, and shared her research concerning his salary from last year.

“I had a domestic violence issue in October of 2022. I had to leave my home, I was injured. When I called the police department, the officer hung up on me. I had to go stay in a motel for my court date the next day. I’ve still had no follow-ups from this officer,” Hudson said, adding that she reached out to the village board several times about this incident but never heard back from them.

“When I did some research, I was told that he was a part-time officer. And then when I did other research, I found out that in 2022, he made over $167,000 in one year…in the Village of Walden, having a police officer make over $167,000 as a part-time, and he’s the one that’s hanging up on me during domestic violence clause,” she continued.

John Revella, the village manager, clarified that this officer works for several agencies outside of Walden’s, but asserted that this does not justify his behavior.

Hudson also referred to Greg Anderson, a resident who shared similar experiences at Walden’s last meeting, and stated that racism should not be overlooked in the village.

“Since you can’t get a TOP enforced, when someone comes up here and makes the accusation of racism, it’s very, very, very important. Because it affects our property values, it affects our quality of life and it affects the response of the police that they should have,” she said.

Following Hudson was Greg Anderson, a fellow resident, a former NYPD investigator and a veteran. During Walden’s September 5 meeting, Anderson spoke about getting unwarranted calls based on his race and how the police department treated him as a result of them.

“Twenty years ago, I spoke to the chief, prior to this chief, and I asked him ‘What’s up with the numbers of persons of color on your police department?’...and he mentioned ‘the list’ and ‘we don’t control the list.’ And 20 years later, can you tell me you have an officer of African descent or a black officer in this department?” he said.

“When young people see people who look like them in any genre of employment, whether that’s in education, in construction, they want to aspire to it. If young people see drug dealers in their neighborhood and that’s all they see, they’re going to aspire to it by default,” he continued.

Anderson also supported the police chief’s proposal for a village camera system, an earlier talking point in the meeting, explaining that, while cameras may not stop crime, they would be highly useful assets regardless.

“You won’t be able to stop crime, but when people report crime, you have a system in place to monitor and reflect on all that footage. You see cars going down streets, you see people walking down the street with a certain description that met the complainants…I think it’s something that you guys should consider,” he said.

In response, Trustee Chris Batson explained how he handles emails and encouraged residents to speak openly and honestly to the board if there are issues in the village.

“I want to encourage everyone to come to the meetings, and I want to encourage you to be as emotional, as raw, as unfettered as possible as you can…I will openly admit that perhaps I don’t do the best with following up with emails, to whom they send or when they send it to me, but I do follow up with those emails to the person that I think can actually solve the problem,” Batson said.

Deputy Supervisor Willie Carley mentioned that he’s been out of the loop of village news due to travel but wants to look deeper into the complaints with the board.

“If there’s a perception out there, we gotta make sure people really understand, whatever the history of Walden was and is, that we are willing to make a change…there needs to be some transparency in some other areas,” Carley said.

In a post-meeting conversation, Chief William Herlihy said Anderson had a meeting with the police department on September 27 and that the department is currently investigating its officers with the office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James.