RPD Civilian Review Board Should Have Investigative Power and Authority
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original article: http://www.minorityreporter.net/fullstory/fullstory.php?id=2110
Wed, May 28, 2014
As I stood at the podium, in the third-floor chambers of City Hall during a May 20 Rochester City Council meeting, I thought about how amazing it was that I had stood in the exact same spot 25 years earlier, with men and women such as Minister Franklin Florence Sr., the Late Rev. Raymond Graves, Minister Lewis Stewart, Rev. Dr. John Walker, Rev. Willie Harvey, Sister Grace Miller, Sister Rita, Ms. Gwen Byrd, and many others.
Three of those people were also present May 20.
Amazingly, we had been there 25 years ago for the same purpose that we attended the May 20 meeting, i.e., to impress upon city leaders the importance of implementing an independent, civilian review process regarding brutal behavior by some members of the Rochester Police Department (RPD) .
We were there in order to bring those whom Rev. Graves was fond of identifying as "abusive, rogue cops" under control.
It is even more amazing that some of the people referenced above had organized, and pushed for, an independent, civilian review process at least 20 years before I was involved.
So, on May 20, there we were; at least 45 years after the very first efforts, still raising the same crystal-clear need.
For well over two decades, Rochester has had a watered-down, toothless-tiger, form of civilian review for the RPD. We know that the current process is fundamentally lacking, and flawed, in the sense that the existing, so-called Civilian Review Board has no investigative, nor subpoena, power or authority.
In fact, it has no real power or authority at all. That is, once the current board completes investigations, no matter what they find or recommend, their recommendations can be, and routinely are, overruled by the police chief, the latter of whom has the final, exclusive say regarding decisions.
This represents the mechanism by which rogue officers are almost always exonerated, relative to abusive, and, in some cases, criminal behavior.
When, for example, a racist, rogue cop is video recorded beating a pregnant black woman, as officer Lucas Krull did in the case of Brenda Hardaway, and is not only exonerated, but also conspires with Monroe County's district attorney to put Hardaway in jail for six months; we know that the current system of so-called civilian review is flawed and ineffective.
When a disabled man, like Benny Warr, can be flipped over in his wheel chair by a rogue cop, while several other so-called "peace officers" stand around watching, and everyone in blue is investigated and exonerated by the police chief; it is clear that we definitely need a new system of civilian review concerning abusive, rogue RPD officers.
The examples above are just two of the most recent. There have been many such cases through the years, which is why grassroots, community leaders have been working to bring about an independent civilian review process for at least 45 years, which needs to include full investigative and subpoena power and authority.
This is why we were at the City Council meeting on May 20. It's why we attended such meetings 25 years earlier, and why some of our elders had worked on this issue at least two decades prior to our efforts during the 1980s.
During my speech on May 20, I had mentioned to city leaders that it is important for them, indeed for all of us, to pay close attention to, and learn from history. It is very important for leaders to consider that, in July of 1964, almost 50 years ago, when Rochester became the first northern city to experience a major uprising or rebellion (not riot); overall socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and sociocultural conditions were nearly perfectly parallel to current overall conditions.
This includes super-high unemployment (according to Mayor Warren, higher in some neighborhoods than at any time since the Great Depression); drastically poor housing conditions; and a lack of access to quality health care and quality education for huge numbers of people.
And then, of course, there is absolutely no denying the fact that one of the most pivotal issues relative to igniting the explosion of July 1964 was ongoing, rampant police brutality, and abuse of power and authority; which is why there were calls for an independent civilian review process, with full investigative and subpoena power, actually as early as the late 1950s.
As I’ve said to city leaders, this is not an issue of attempting to be alarmist or inflammatory, but we know that history does have a knack for repeating itself; especially when socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and sociocultural conditions, such as those listed above, remain stagnant, or grow worse.
I sincerely hope that we never have to say to city leaders, 'We told you so.'
In any case, Rev. Lewis Stewart, United Christian Leadership Ministries (UCLM), and others have launched yet another effort to produce long overdue, independent civilian review and oversight of the RPD, particularly as it relates to those among them who are intent on disrespecting and abusing people they've sworn to serve and protect.
For more information, contact Rev. Lewis Stewart at lwsmidnight1946@aol.com, (585) 454-0077, and/or drop by UCLM's Office, located in the Downtown United Presbyterian Church at 121 N. Fitzhugh Street.
