HAMBURG, N.Y. – Dr. Martin Floss, Director of the Institute for Law and Justice at Hilbert College, has been named to the Erie County Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Task Force by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Floss joins 12 others on the task force, which will examine police reform in response to NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order 203. The announcement from County Executive Poloncarz and full list of task force members is available here.
Floss, who has served in national law enforcement review efforts including as a reviewer on a U.S. Justice Department examination of use of force practices in the Buffalo Police Department, has dedicated his career to examining the ways that law enforcement reacts to and interacts with many societal issues.
“It is an honor to be included on this task force,” Dr. Floss said. “The Institute for Law and Justice looks for opportunities to expand police reform research and support systemic changes to improve law enforcement and community relationships.”
Floss served as an evaluator for several juvenile, family, and adult drug courts, and helped plan and write the grant that led to the first Erie County Juvenile Treatment Court. He was later asked to be a faculty consultant for the National Drug Court Institute. Floss also worked with the 8th Judicial District to implement the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative to help reduce juvenile detention rates in Erie County. He serves on the board of the Erie County Law Enforcement Foundation, Inc. Floss earned a doctorate in criminal justice from Rutgers University, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice from Buffalo State College, and an associate’s degree in police science from SUNY Erie (ECC).
The Task Force, which is expected to meet for the first time later in September, is charged with creating a plan to adopt and implement the recommendations resulting from their policy and procedural review.
Signed in June following the death of George Floyd, Executive Order 203 mandates local governments to, among other items, “perform a comprehensive review of current police force deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices, and develop a plan to improve such deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices, for the purposes of addressing the particular needs of the communities served by such police agency and promote community engagement to foster trust, fairness, and legitimacy, and to address any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color.” The Task Force will review the Erie County Sheriff’s Office’s Police Services division.
Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With over 800 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs in criminal justice administration and public administration, including a track in health administration.