Regular Board Meeting of December 1st, 2022
To see a recording of this meeting go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KifRdd0DUY8.The minutes for the previous meeting were amended to include votes taken in executive session regarding the termination of Conor Dwyer Reynolds’ employment with the PAB and the hiring of an interim Executive Director.
Larry Knox gave the staff reports.
- The Investigations Division reports that 232 reports have been received with 211 qualifying for investigation; 111 have been assigned to investigators. Nineteen cases were closed at the last meeting and 39 cases are in the process of closing for the next meeting. Forty-nine information requests were submitted to the Rochester Police Department (RPD) with 14 of those being second requests for additional information. None of the cases in the investigation phase are ready to be moved to the Board panel for a hearing.
- Sarah Jameson, a policy and data analyst in the Division of Policy and Oversight, presented information on a project involving police data transparency, which is a proposal for change. A proposal for change is the process by which PAB makes formal recommendations that may impact RPD policies. The current proposal involves the collection and reporting of information and what data the community would want to be public. RPD was scored on factors included in the Vera Institute of Justice Police Transparency framework in 10 categories including arrest data, use of firearms, etc. RPD did well on some topics and not others, averaging a score at the middle of the departments assessed to date. The scoring and recommendations report can be read on rocpab.org and the public is invited to submit comments on-line by the 31st of this month. In-person or virtual feedback sessions can be arranged for community groups as well. If interested, contact PAB by email at cityofrochester.gov or call 428-9627. The Board discussed various aspects of the report and encouraged wider release of the information using social media and other means.
- The Board has encouraged the Mayor and the City Council President to expedite the process of recognizing the union voted for by PAB staff.
- The Board is conducting a search for an interim Director and the goal is to fill the position by the end of the month. Staff input has been sought concerning their preferences. Duwaine Boscoe has stepped aside from the acting manager role, returning to the Deputy Chief of Investigations position.
- Education Committee: Training is held on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. Upcoming topics include review of disciplinary matrix, data transparency, policy and oversight research topics, closing cases and other mandated training. A seat is still vacant on the Board which impacts training and workload for the Board members.
Reported by Deborah Rice Gordon