"Advisory Board Denies Cops Used 'Extra Force'," Democrat & Chronicle, October 12, 1964
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Below is a scanned image of a newspaper clipping regarding patrolmen Vito D'Ambrosia and Michael Rotolo who were cleared by the Police Advisory Board of using excessive force in an arrest. The board stated in their report that the officers “used no more force than necessary,” as was quoted in a Democrat & Chronicle article from October 12, 1965.The clipping can be found at the Local History Department of the Monroe County Library Downtown Branch. "Advisory Board Denies Cops Used 'Extra Force'," has no by-line. It was published in the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper on October 12, 1965.
While the Police Advisory Board became law in 1963 to address complaints against officers who complainants said used "excessive and unnecessary force" against them, the Locust Club police union did everything in its power to thwart it from actually accomplishing anything. Two federal injunctions were slapped on it by the court preventing it from conducting investigations and forwarding recommendations to the chief of police--it's primary functions. By the mid-1960s, new appointments to the board were needed to meet quorum in order for it to do its work. But neither Democrats nor Republicans appointed anyone to the board after it was found constitutional by the courts in 1969. It was then defunded and abolished in 1970 by the new Republican Party-lead Rochester city government.
