Against the Police Advisory Board, editorial & letters, Times-Union, June 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 June 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.
The letter to the editor below, "Supports Abolition Of Police Review Board," written by Ann Celento from the city, was published in the Times-Union on June 5, 1965. She finds it "gratifying" that a citizen's group exists with the purpose of abolishing the PAB. "The civil rights of policemen are certainly a good cause to become associated with," she writes. She also notes that "experts" like J. Edgar Hoover don't "favor" such boards.
The letter to the editor below, "Police Board 'Fundamentally Unfair'," written by Daniel J. Murphy, president of the Police Locust Club, from the city, was published in the Times-Union on June 5, 1965. As the police union president, he makes the dubious argument that all people have the right to confront their accuser. However, all people are not endowed with a gun, club, the ability to arrest and/or murder civilians, and be endowed with a truthfulness that no one else is given access to in a court of law.
"Abolish Police Advisory Board," is a Times-Union editorial published on June 10, 1965. The editorial claims that the board has "split the community," that people have many other ways to address abusive police that are "quicker" and more "effective, and that it puts "policemen under a constant cloud of suspicion" and thus should be abolished.
