With the community breathing down Newburgh city officials’ necks demanding police reform, Mayor Torrance Harvey is drawing on his creativity in an effort to put more people of color in police leadership positions.

What You Need To Know


  • Mayor Harvey originally proposed hiring a full-time police commissioner who Harvey hoped would be a person of color, but the plan was rejected
  • Harvey is now working on a compromise that would create a part-time executive advisor to reimagine the department
  • Montgomery Police Chief Arnold “Butch” Amthor is considered a front runner for the Newburgh police chief position

Due to rigid experience requirements and a mandatory police chief’s civil service exam that has been postponed until 2021 by COVID-19, the city does not have a diverse pool of candidates to fill the chief’s position vacated by Doug Solomon in mid-May.

During a tense budget session last year, Mayor Harvey proposed a change in dynamics at the department.

He wanted to reduce the police chief position to part-time, and hire a full-time police commissioner who would oversee and reimagine the department.

Harvey said the move would have immediately brought a new, big-picture perspective to police leadership while administrators would not be handcuffed by rigid civil service requirements for more traditional positions.

“I thought it was time to have an African American, or even a Latino, heading up that department,” he said during a FaceTime interview Thursday. “We can be a part of writing the job description and be a part of the recruitment, and have someone of color be that police commissioner.”

His colleagues on city council blocked that proposal mostly out of concerns over the cost of a creating new position.

Harvey said Thursday he has been working with administrators on a compromise: hiring a part-time executive advisor to work with a full-time police chief.

“There are a lot of moving parts to that very, very challenging work in how to reimagine police departments,” he said. “We’re needing leadership and also needing that second voice to help advise on that.”

Harvey added that city officials are planning community meetings with administrators’ top choice, Montgomery Police Chief Arnold “Butch” Amthor, who used to be a Newburgh Police deputy chief.

City officials have not said who might be the reformer tasked with racial bias training, diversification, and accountability.

City Manager Joe Donat, who ultimately makes all hiring decisions, would not confirm who his top choice is, only saying he has spoken with some candidates, and Amthor is one of them.

There is added urgency to get leaders in place, because of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s order that municipalities present community-approved plans to reinvent and modernize their police policies.

Those plans must be submitted by April 2021, or else municipalities may lose state funding.