Rochester Community Exhibits Strong Show of Support for City Councilman Adam McFadden

In response to an invitation from City Councilman Adam McFadden, well over 100 vocal citizens packed Rochester City Council Chambers on November 9, 2004.

Well over one hundred people packed a standing room only, community meeting held in the City Council Chambers at Rochester City Hall on November 9, 2004. The meeting centered on public safety issues. Local residents, including well known activists, leaders and members of grassroots organizations, businesses, social and governmental agencies turned out in response to an invitation from Rochester City Councilman Adam McFadden. In addition to the general citizenry, McFadden had invited Rochester Police Chief Robert Duffy to respond to questions and concerns from city residents, including 24 recommendations for improving public safety, which were generated by a Community Policing Advisory Committee formed by the Councilman in May, 2004. (See copy of the 24 recommendations below, which were released to the public in October 2004). 

Dear Committee members. The following is a list of the recommendations for improved public safety drawn from the conversations and meetings we have had since May of this year. These recommendations were released to the media this morning and it is my charge to find ways to implement as many as possible. Thank you for your time and your tireless efforts. Please watch for an official announcement of our November 9th meeting at 7 PM in City Hall.

Recommendations from the Community Policing Advisory Committee Prepared by Councilmember Adam McFadden, October 21, 2004

* More police for foot and bike patrols

* Policing contracts between community groups and the RPD

* Community generated agendas for PCIC meetings

 * Police and Citizens walking PAC-TAC together

 * Improve collection of homicide statistics

 * A greater voice for groups addressing domestic violence

 * Drug-free zone legislation strongly sponsored by City Council

* Quarterly meetings of community groups with City attorneys

* The assignment of one full-time City attorney to City Council working with community groups

* A strong Certificate of Use program with an appeals process for businesses

* City coordination of business regulators through NET offices

 * Zoning changes to address businesses in residential neighborhoods

* More police training on community profiles and perspectives

* An increase in diversity training for rookies and those police who are experiencing substantially different service populations because of the RPD’s reorganization. Police training should also reteach patrol areas for the sake of the RPD members’ own personal safety.

 * The implementation of the recommendations of the Mayor’s Entertainment Task Force 2000 study and the creation of a new entertainment task force.

* Endorse and fund Court Watch programs as City sponsored!

* Secure vacant buildings more thoroughly

* Make demolition strategies open to community input

 * Develop customer satisfaction surveys for all City agencies

* Re-emphasize proactive neighborhood policing especially to be carried out in areas dominated by drug markets

* Adopt an aggressive "No bust too small. Make the arrest" policing policy. Let the Court system sort out the arrests.

* More minority police hires from the community

* A quicker RPD recruitment process

* Training for RPD from the District Attorney’s office on writing accusatory instruments

Respectfully submitted, Councilman Adam C. McFadden

Police Chief Robert Duffy will attend our next Community Policing meeting on Tuesday, November 9th at 7 PM at City Council Chambers. This meeting represents the results of our work on public safety issues since May of this year. It is our most important meeting to date and your presence is crucial to its success. Please attend and please bring others who are concerned about the state of our neighborhoods and communities. Thank you. Adam McFadden. City Councilmember. South District.

During the November 9th meeting, Rochester’s Police Chief was called upon by participants to answer numerous important, and in some cases inciting questions. The following represents a sampling of issues that were raised, and the Chief’s responses.

One resident wanted to know “why are children scared of police?” Chief Duffy’s response was that often --- in the process of disciplining young children --- parents threaten that if they don’t listen or behave, they (parents) will have police “take them to jail.” The chief said that because of this type of practice, “kids grow up with a negative view of cops.” While this is probably true in some cases, I contend that the issue is much more complex than Duffy’s simplistic explanation suggests.

Another participant raised a question about a recent Rochester case in which an African American man was convicted of murdering a white male, the latter of whom lived in the nearby suburban town of Irondequoit. After the apparent murder, the African American man had left Rochester, was caught in Ohio, extradited, tried and convicted in Rochester. The gentleman who raised this issue noted that it seems “easy” for the police to apprehend suspects when victims are young, white, males, but in instances of young African Americans killing each other locally, the police department doesn’t seem to have as much success relative to solving cases. The Chief’s response was that the police “solve homicides one way --- that’s with information, and if you think that we investigate cases differently --- I don’t agree with that.” Whether he agrees or not, this is a legitimate question and issue (based on the absolute, unequivocal fact that there is a well established, long-standing pattern of police departments throughout the United States having greater success rates relative to solving homicide cases that involve African American perpetrators and white victims vis-à-vis cases in which both the perpetrator and victim are African American).

When asked “what will it take for communities of color to achieve credibility with the police department,” Duffy responded that trust is a key issue. He noted that sometimes a high level of trust exists --- then something (an incident or situation) happens, and the trust level goes down. The Chief said that building trust is a “two-way street,” and is also the “community’s responsibility.” From his perspective, “a lot of mixed messages get sent to police on the streets, and a lot of stereotyping goes on both ways. A big part of the problem is communication.”

Indeed communication is very important. However, after all is said and done, the critical issue and questions of when and how we improve public safety for the people of Rochester still remain. With regard to the urgent need to produce definitive answers, I feel confident that we have not heard the last of Councilman McFadden and the Community Policing Advisory Committee. Additional information will be forthcoming as solutions unfold.