“Hang his ass,” said by Rush Volunteer Firefighter Doug Watson about Rochester City Councilmember Adam McFadden; community members voice concern/anger via press release
On February 23 screenshots of Doug Watson’s social media posts came to the attention of people of color and anti-racist activists in Rochester, NY. Rush volunteer firefighter Doug Watson made the public comment “Hang his ass” during a live streamed press conference of prosecutors laying our their criminal complaint against Rochester City Councilmember Adam McFadden.
Many people sent emails, letters, Facebook messages and posts calling for accountability. Christopher Coles sent this letter demanding an explanation and was responded to after a lengthy delay:
Attached is Rochester City Council's Rochester Police Accountability Board proposed legislation. It very closely mirrors the language of the negotiated ordinance with the exception of two areas:
1. Composition. Instead of an 11 member board with 6 members selected by the Police Accountability Board Alliance, 4 by City Council and 1 from the Mayor, the proposed board would be a 9 member board with 4 from the Alliance, 4 from each district of Council, and one appointee from the Mayor.
Attached is a PDF of the negotiated Police Accountability Board proposed legislation. This legislation was developed in concert with the Public Safety Committee of the Rochester City Council, the Police Accountabiity Board Alliance, the United Christian Leadership Ministry of Western, NY, and the Genesee Valley Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union. This legislation was not formally introduced by City Council but is very close to the legislation Council released.
Attached is a PDF of Mayor Lovely Warren's Police Accountability Board proposed legislation. According to the Police Accountability Board Alliance, who has been working with City Council to draft meaningful legislation, the Mayor's proposal is a failure. Specifically, the legislation:
The Police Accountability Board Alliance made the statement below on September 17, 2018 after reviewing the draft ordinance released by Rochester City Council:
Rochester City Council shared a draft of legislation for a Rochester Police Accountability Board with the Alliance recently. However, City Council’s draft fails to establish the five essential pillars of accountability that the Alliance has been demanding. The five essential pillars for an effective Police Accountability Board are:
The PDFs below represent Rochester City Councuil's first drafts of a Police Accountability Board ordinance as well as the Rules and Procedures governing such an ordinance.
The Way Forward: Police Accountability in Rochester (August 1, 2018) published by the Police Accountability Board Alliance (see PDF link below) is their response and way forward to the City establishing a Police Accountability Board. The document reviews the recent history, offers a legal analysis of the both the Harris Beach legal opinion on the question of discipline and the Rebuttal from the City's attorney.
Rochester Indymedia is now requiring editor approval for account creation.
We came to this decision after we had repeated spam posted to our website that caused difficulty with the website's functioning. We will still have open publishing and keep our site as nonrestrictive and accessible as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. As before, we will continue to be Rochester's grassroots news and education site. Thank you for your continued support and remember, "Don't hate the media, be the media!"
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The Rochester Independent Media Center (R-IMC) is no longer meeting regularly. We will set up meetings by necessity and appointment. Please contact us at rochesterindymedia@rocus.org. Our home is still the Flying Squirrel Community Space at 285 Clarissa St. Occasionally, we hold meetings at RCTV located at 21 Gorham Street.
