CHENANGO COUNTY – As tensions rise over law enforcement in other parts of the United States, local leaders are discussing the future of policing in Chenango County.

When asked about the potential for racial bias and mistreatment in Chenango County, Sheriff Ernest Cutting said neither race nor politics plays a factor when law enforcement receives a call for help.

Cutting said law enforcement needs to continue to improve with the support of its community, and that the vast majority of police around the U.S. are doing the right thing.

Cutting and sheriff’s from Broome, Tioga, Cortland, and Delaware counties spoke at a press conference earlier this month, where recommendations for new laws were made. Many of the ideas were aimed at protecting police officers and increasing the penalties for interfering with police.

Those remarks prompted a response from some community groups who plan on holding a series of marches in different counties, including Chenango, to protest the proposals. A march is planned in Norwich for Wednesday afternoon.

The recommendations the sheriffs had discussed included making resisting arrest a class E felony, which could allow judges to set bail.

The creation ‘a failure to retreat law’ where any person who approaches or remains within 25 feet of a police officer engaged in the performance of his or her duties when such person is ordered by a police officer to halt or retreat and such person fails to immediately do so could be charged with a class D felony.