Against the Police Advisory Board, editorials & letters, Times-Union, January 1965
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The year 1965 had by far the most column space with regards to the Police Advisory Board in both the Democrat & Chronicle and the Times-Union newspapers. For 1965, articles critical of the PAB from the Times-Union have been combined into single Rochester Indymedia articles divided by month. This is January 1965. The clippings can be found at the Local History Department of the Monroe County Library Downtown Branch.
While the Police Advisory Board became law on March 26, 1963 to address complaints against officers who used "excessive and unnecessary force" against civilians, the Locust Club police union did everything in its power to thwart it from actually accomplishing anything. Two injunctions were slapped on it by the court preventing it from conducting independent 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.
"Police Advisory Board Should Be Abolished," is an editorial from the Times-Union dated January 11, 1965. The editorial stated that the PAB "has caused deep damage to community well-being."
"Police Board Hurts Crime Fight," has no author listed. It (might be an editorial) from the Times-Union dated January 15, 1965. In it, the article states, "...police will not admit publicly that their fear of being hauled on the advisory board carpet restricts their work in non-white areas."
The letter to the editor below, "Feels Advisory Board Hampers Police," written by Mrs. Albert Gordon from the city, was published in the Times-Union on January 22, 1965. She wrote that the board hampered police and was created over a "howl" of alleged police brutality. She worried that the police had their "hands tied behind their backs" because of the PAB.
The letter to the editor below, "Raps Police Review Board," written by J. I. McLain from the city, was published in the Times-Union on January 25, 1965. In the letter, Mr. McLain agreed with the FBI report calling the PAB and other boards like it, "'...a backward step for enforcement toward ineptness and mediocrity.'"
