"'Advisory Board Unnecessary'," Democrat & Chronicle, February 9, 1965
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"'Advisory Board Unnecessary'" is a letter to the editor written by Daniel J. Murphy, president of the Rochester Police Locust Club. It was published in the Democrat & Chronicle on February 9, 1965. Murphy asks that the board be abolished and offers 9 ways a complainant can get (no) justice. The clipping can be found at the Local History Department of the Monroe County Library Downtown Branch.
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. In 1969, it was found constitutional by the courts, but to no avail. It was defunded and abolished in 1970 by the new Republican Party-lead Rochester city government.
