Police Accountability Board Alliance Responds to Mayor’s Police Accountability Proposal (January 8, 2019)

Police Accountability Board Alliance Responds to Mayor’s Police Accountability Proposal

Press Statement

January 8, 2019

The Police Accountability Board Alliance strongly opposes the Mayor’s police accountability proposal sent to Rochester City Council on December 27, 2018. The Mayor’s proposal is unacceptable and undermines the work done by City Council and the Police Accountability Board Alliance to draft an ordinance that includes all five pillars necessary to effectively ensure true accountability as well as appropriate funding:

1.    An independent agency of city government, separate from RPD

2.    The power to independently investigate complaints of police misconduct

3.    Subpoena power to compel the production of evidence and witnesses

4.    Disciplinary power using a disciplinary matrix

5.    The power to review and assess RPD patterns, practices, policies and procedures to recommend systemic changes in order to prevent future misconduct.

The Mayor’s proposal differs significantly from the negotiated ordinance between the Alliance and City Council. Specifically, the Mayor’s proposal: 

• Lacks disciplinary power; the board is advisory only and the Chief of Police retains final disciplinary authority. This is unacceptable.
• Solely focuses on allegations of excessive use of force
• Dramatically curtails investigative power; PSS must finish its investigation first and then the board may only “investigate matters not addressed” by PSS
• Review of RPD policies and procedures is limited to matters of excessive use of force only
• Fails to give majority community representation on the board; the proposal does not ensure community control over complaints of misconduct, thus limiting its independence. The Mayor is calling for a 9 member board with 3 appointments from her, 3 appointments from City Council, and 3 appointments from the Alliance.
• All board member nominations must be approved by the Mayor first before they can be confirmed by City Council
• Former law enforcement officers can be appointed to the board three years after their service ends; this is likely to cause conflicts of interest and delays in investigations because of recusals, delegitimates the board in the eyes of the community, and could cause the board to become biased toward accused officers instead of reviewing each complaint critically.
• No input from advocates or the community
• Significantly under-funds the board and does not include any investigative staff
• Prioritizes the labor contract between the City and the Police at the expense of the community
• Undercuts the democratic process by ignoring the work completed by the Alliance and Rochester City Council

The Mayor’s proposal is similar to the ordinance drafted by City Council in the fall of 2018, despite the fact that City Council met with the Alliance and, after four months of extensive negotiations, agreed to an ordinance which includes all five pillars and is moderately funded. The Mayor’s proposal ignores this extensive community input.

We call on City Council to reject the Mayor’s proposal and to pass the legislation negotiated by the Alliance and City Council.

We call on Mayor Warren to withdraw her proposed legislation.

City Council will discuss the Mayor’s proposal at the next Public Safety Committee meeting on Thursday January 10, 4:00pm at City Hall, 30 Church Street. The Alliance calls on PAB supporters and Alliance members to attend this committee meeting and to voice their opposition to the Mayor’s proposal.

Overall, the mayor’s proposal is under-powered, underfunded, and an underhanded and attempt to undermine the demands of the community.

The Alliance invites all those who support true police accountability to attend City Council’s “Speak to Council” session and the following Council meeting on Tuesday, January 15, 6:30pm, at City Hall, in order to show that the Rochester community cares about this issue, and that we will not be silenced or thwarted from achieving a Police Accountability Board with substantive powers to hold officers and the department accountable.

Thank you.