The City of Rochester fails to hold police officers accountable for misconduct and brutality. Between 2001 and 2016, citizens filed 923 allegations of excessive force against the RPD. The Chief of Police, who has the sole power to discipline officers, only sustained 16 of these allegations. The Chief of Police cannot be expected to investigate, evaluate, and discipline police officers. This is a clear conflict of interest. Between 2002 and 2016, only 13 allegations led to discipline. The harshest discipline was 6 suspensions for sustained allegations of use of force. None were fired. Police misconduct will continue unless this broken system is replaced with an independent system that serves the interests of the people of Rochester, not just the RPD.

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A coalition of community organizations came together in 2017 and proposed a Police Accountability Board (PAB) to replace the current broken system. The proposed PAB would be a civilian-led oversight board that is rooted in five essential pillars:

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• An independent agency of city government, separate from RPD

• The power to independently investigate complaints of police misconduct

• Subpoena power to compel the production of evidence and witnesses

• Disciplinary power

• The power to review and evaluate RPD patterns, practices, policies and procedures to recommend systemic changes and to prevent misconduct from happening in the first place.

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On Election Day, Tuesday, November 5th, 2019, the people of Rochester overwhelmingly voted to pass the Police Accountability Board (PAB) Referendum.

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But our work is not done. We need to continue to support and advocate for the PAB until it's an established body and a fixture in Rochester government.