Community demands Police Accountability Board with discipline

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Submitted by Rochester Indymedia (feature photo: RYAN WILLIAMSON/City Newspaper) on Sun, 2018-02-25 07:36

Enough Is Enough held a press conference on Tuesday, February 20, 2018 to once again call on the City of Rochester to pass the Police Accountability Board and end a 50-year demand for community control and give civilians the power to independently investigate, adjudicate, and discipline Rochester Police Department officers for misconduct.

EIE press conf.: Community demands independent Police Accountability Board with disciplinary power

Press conference at Downtown United Presbyterian Church, Feb. 20, 2018

Jessenia Edgeston and Scean Gordon, both members of the organization, gave their stories of how police violence has directly affected them. Pastor Wanda Wilson from Open Arms Christian Fellowship Ministries listed the names of people affected and types of violence inflicted against them by Rochester Police Department officers. She called for the creation of a Police Accountability Board that would have 5 main powers:

Independent investigative authority as an agency of city government independent from the RPD;
Subpoena power to compel the production of evidence and witnesses;
The authority to conduct misconduct hearings;
Disciplinary authority; and
The power to evaluate systemic patterns, practices, policies, and procedures of the RPD to recommend changes and prevent misconduct.

According to public statements, Enough Is Enough does two primary things: "First, we accompany people going through the criminal justice system that have experienced police brutality, racial profiling, and harassment by the Rochester Police Department. We offer emotional and tactical support, demystify the law, attend court proceedings, and provide direct support e.g. rides to meetings with lawyers or court appearances; and secondly, we work toward systemic change in law enforcement through policy recommendations supported by aggregate data and personal testimonies of police violence in our community."

Barbara Lacker-Ware, a member of Enough Is Enough, introduced those at the table including Sharlene and Frank Simmons and Pastor Nina Warr. Pastor Warr's husban Benny was terribly assaulted by three Rochester police officers (Joseph Ferrigno, Anthony Liberatore, and Mitchell Stewart) and Silvon Simmons, Frank and Sharlene's son was shot and nearly killed by officer Joseph Ferrigno after mis-identifying his vehicle, racially profiling Silvon, and then shooting him in the back three times. Simmons was indicted on charges of attempting to murder a police officer; the jury refused to believe Ferrigno's (or his partner, Sam Giancursio) story and acquitted him of the attempted murder charges. (Ferrigno has 23 excessive use of force complaints against him.)

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photo: RYAN WILLIAMSON/City Newspaper

Lacker-Ware went on to explicate the problems with the Center for Governmental Research's paper looking at the process of civilian review of police misconduct in Rochester.

Enough Is Enough drafted a rebuttal to the CGR paper titled Achieving Police Accountability in Rochester: Clarifying misconceptions and adding commentary to the report on police oversight commissioned by City Council. Specificallty, the rebuttal looked at four concerns:

Contrary to common misconceptions, state law does not preclude the proposed Police Accountability Board from disciplining officers.
Analysis of the data concerning the current civilian review process needs to focus specifically on the most serious allegations: those filed by civilians concerning use of force.
The relevant outcomes must go beyond sustain rates and include whether al- legations of misconduct ultimately result in discipline for the officers involved. Presently, civilian-initiated allegations of force rarely result in discipline (only 13 instances over the period 2002-16). Disciplinary power needs to be an essential feature of the proposed PAB.  
The Syracuse Citizen Review Board, which has independent power of investi- gation, sustained significantly more civilian-initiated allegations of force than Rochester’s CRB (four times more often over the period 2013-16). Independent investigatory authority needs to be an essential feature of the proposed PAB.  E

Enough Is Enough said it's hopeful that City Council will evaluate and prioritize these concerns in the legislation that is ultimately enacted. Lacker-Ware said the group and its allies would attend City Council sessions until the Police Accountability Board was passed.