FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Blacks in Law Enforcement of America is deeply concerned by the latest reporting surrounding former Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Jennifer Lackard and, specifically, the explanation reportedly provided by the Mount Vernon Mayor’s Office regarding who was responsible for bringing Lackard into the Police Department’s leadership.
According to the New York Post, when the Mayor’s Office was asked who hired Jennifer Lackard, the administration reportedly placed responsibility on former Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Glenn Scott.
That statement is false. Commissioner Glenn Scott did not hire Jennifer Lackard.
Let’s make something else very clear.
Former Commissioner Glenn Scott was a policeman’s policeman. He understood policing, police leadership, command responsibility, and the importance of having qualified and experienced law enforcement professionals in positions of authority.
Our organization knew Glenn Scott personally and professionally. Commissioner Scott was a former member of our organization when we operated under the National Black Police Association. We knew the kind of law enforcement professional he was, the standards he represented, and the respect he had for the profession.
That history matters.
Glenn Scott would never have recommended placing an individual with no policing background or police experience into the position of Deputy Police Commissioner.
That is not speculation. We knew Glenn Scott, we knew his professional standards, and we knew what he expected from those entrusted with police leadership.
Attempting to place responsibility for Jennifer Lackard’s appointment at the feet of Glenn Scott is not only false—it is an affront to the professional reputation and legacy of a man who dedicated his career to law enforcement.
Commissioner Scott has passed away. He cannot hold a press conference. He cannot issue a statement. He cannot call the New York Post and correct the record. He cannot defend his name.
The Mayor’s Office should not use a dead man as a shield from accountability.
The Mayor’s Office reportedly told the New York Post that Glenn Scott hired Jennifer Lackard. He did not. The administration owes the Scott family, the law enforcement community, and the people of Mount Vernon an immediate correction and explanation.
The Mayor Cannot Shift Responsibility for Commissioner Appointments
Mount Vernon operates under what is commonly referred to as a strong-mayor form of government, where executive authority rests with the Mayor. Commissioners serve under the authority of the Mayor and do not independently possess the power to appoint or remove another commissioner. That distinction is critical in the Jennifer Lackard controversy. If Lackard was appointed to serve as a Deputy Police Commissioner, responsibility for that executive appointment cannot simply be shifted to another commissioner as though that commissioner independently controlled the appointment process. Commissioners work at the will of the Mayor; they do not hire and fire one another. Ultimately, City Hall must be transparent about who formally appointed Lackard, who authorized her elevation to that position, and who was accountable for keeping her there
This is bigger than Jennifer Lackard. This is about government accountability, transparency, credibility, and integrity.
When serious questions arise concerning the appointment and oversight of a high-ranking public safety official, taxpayers deserve a straightforward answer about who recruited that person, who authorized the appointment, who approved it, and who was responsible for supervising that official.
The public deserves documentation establishing the actual chain of events surrounding Lackard’s appointment: Who initially brought her into city government? Who recommended her? Who approved her appointment? Who determined that she was qualified? Who authorized her elevation into police leadership?
Those are not political questions. Those are basic questions of government accountability.
Police officers understand that credibility matters. An officer who knowingly provides false information can face serious professional consequences because the entire justice system depends upon truthfulness and integrity.
Government officials should be held to the same standard.
When a Mayor’s Office provides false information concerning something as basic and verifiable as who hired a high-ranking police official, it damages the credibility of the administration. It raises legitimate questions about the accuracy of other information being provided to the public.
THIS ADMINISTRATION HAS FAILED MOUNT VERNON’S HARD-WORKING POLICE OFFICERS
There is another part of this conversation that cannot be ignored.
The men and women of the Mount Vernon Police Department deserve better than the leadership they have received from City Hall.
Every day, rank-and-file officers put on a uniform and go into Mount Vernon’s neighborhoods to protect residents, respond to emergencies, make arrests, deal with people experiencing crises, investigate crimes and perform one of the most difficult jobs in public service.
They should not have to carry the burden of poor decisions made above their pay grade.
When political leadership makes questionable appointments, fails to establish professional standards, creates instability within police management and then refuses to accept responsibility when those decisions come under scrutiny, it is the hardworking officers on the street whose badges and reputations are damaged along with the department.
That is unfair to them.
It is also particularly painful because Mount Vernon is a predominantly Black city with a majority-Black Police Department. This should be an opportunity to demonstrate what professional Black leadership, accountable government and effective community-based policing can look like.
Instead, the failures coming from City Hall and police leadership have repeatedly embarrassed the department and overshadowed the work of the many dedicated officers who continue to serve the community professionally.
We must also be willing to address the uncomfortable racial consequences of that failure.
For generations, Black law enforcement professionals have fought against racist assumptions that questioned our intelligence, competence and ability to lead police agencies, municipalities and major institutions. Black officers and executives have had to work twice as hard to prove that leadership, professionalism and excellence have no color.
We reject those racist stereotypes completely.
But when a predominantly Black city with Black political leadership and a majority-Black Police Department allows dysfunction, questionable appointments and failures of accountability to continue, it provides ammunition to people who already want to use the failures of individuals as an indictment of Black leadership itself.
That should anger every one of us.
The problem is not that Black people cannot lead. The problem is that bad leadership, regardless of race, has consequences.
Black leadership does not mean lowering standards. It does not mean protecting incompetence. It does not mean refusing to hold Black officials accountable because they are Black.
In fact, communities like Mount Vernon should demand higher standards, because generations of Black law enforcement professionals fought for the opportunity to sit in positions from which we were once excluded.
Those positions must be filled by people who are qualified, experienced, competent and prepared to lead.
The dedicated officers of the Mount Vernon Police Department should not have their professionalism questioned because of decisions made by politicians and senior administrators.
They deserve competent leadership. They deserve stability. They deserve professionalism. And most importantly, they deserve a City Hall that does not make their jobs harder through poor management and failed leadership.
Mount Vernon should have a Police Department that Black communities across this nation can point to as an example of professional policing and effective Black leadership.
Instead, this administration has allowed controversy after controversy to damage the reputation of the department and the officers who serve within it.
That is a failure of leadership—not a failure of the hardworking police officers of Mount Vernon.
Blacks in Law Enforcement of America calls upon the Mayor’s Office to immediately correct the public record, provide the documentation surrounding Jennifer Lackard’s hiring and appointment, accept responsibility for the decisions made under this administration, and stop shifting responsibility to someone who is no longer alive to defend himself.
Mount Vernon deserves better.
Its residents deserve better.
And the hardworking men and women of the Mount Vernon Police Department deserve better.
Mount Vernon deserves leadership that accepts responsibility—not leadership that rewrites history.
And Commissioner Glenn Scott’s name and legacy should never be used to protect anyone from accountability.
Damon K. Jones
New York Representative
Blacks in Law Enforcement of America
