Rita Santo, a member of Montgomery’s Police Community Advisory Board, gave a presentation at at a recent town board meeting, informing the public about the committee’s goals and encouraging new volunteers to join them.

The PCAB, as Santo explained, is a volunteer group with a core mission: to strengthen communication and relations between residents and the Montgomery Police Department. The committee acts as a mediator between both parties, advises the department’s officers, and helps residents fill out complaint forms.

“We are a board that is on a mission to promote more trust in the police department,” she said. “We’re a board that hopes to open lines of communication with the community and the police so that they can know what each other are doing and feel better about each other.

“We try to assist community members with making complaints or communicating with the police if they have a concern and they’re nervous about filing a complaint,” she continued. “So far, we get reports every time we meet with the chief, and all the complaints against the police force have been resolved. That seems to be the case every time.”

Santo noted that the committee has no authority over the police department and its decisions, but rather, its members are just everyday citizens looking to help officers and residents however they can.

“We do not have the authority to decide anything; we’re just simply advisers, and that’s what it says right in our title here,” she said.

The committee’s latest project is a town-wide survey that would help collect even more input and better gauge how the public feels about its police department.

“One of the things that we’ve been trying to do is come up with a survey of people’s feelings, take the pulse of the community, and find out how they feel about their police department here,” Santo said. “We’re in the process of doing that.”

At the time of February 7’s meeting, the PCAB comprised three members: Santo, Margaret Bussigel, and Ronnie Galletly. Santo requested that the town board assist the three in expanding their committee with new volunteers and making the group more known within the community. Steve Brescia, the town supervisor, stated that he and the board will see what they can do to help.

“It’s just the three of us. That’s why we’re here today, asking you to help us find more members for the board,” Santo said. “We’d like to have a diversified group and be able to get things done. It’s very hard as (we have only) three people to do that.”

For more information on the PCAB, email pcab@townofmontgomery.com.