Days after the Rochester Police Accountability Board laid off six investigators, City Council announced it will appeal a court ruling that stripped the oversight agency of its authority to investigate police misconduct.
The back-to-back announcements felt like whiplash to supporters of the PAB, who contend the layoffs were retaliatory and part of an ongoing effort to dismantle the police watchdog from the inside out.
“While I’m proud that Council is fighting to restore the investigative powers, I do find it deeply contradictory to remove investigators while we’re fighting to keep them,” City Councilmember Stanley Martin said at a news conference with PAB workers on April 21.
City Council is the parent body of the PAB, but the agency operates independently. Martin said councilmembers were not consulted before six PAB employees were let go April 17.
PAB Executive Director Lesli Myers-Small said the layoffs stemmed from a March 20 appellate court ruling that determined the board could not access police personnel files, subpoena officers or investigate community complaints. The ruling means the agency is left to review and issue recommendations on RPD policy.
Myers-Small said the PAB was forced to “take a thoughtful and responsible look” at the agency’s structure and use of resources.
“With respect to timing, it is important to note that while the City Council is pursuing an appeal, the current legal ruling remains in effect unless and until it is overturned,” she said in a statement.
PAB faced challenges from the start
Union representatives and supporters, however, called the layoffs “highly suspicious,” given news that City Council plans to take the case to the Court of Appeals. They gathered April 21 to demand the PAB reinstate the positions.
Since its inception in 2019, the oversight agency has been hampered by legal challenges and internal disarray. The PAB has clashed with city lawyers over access to information and policy decisions, while simultaneously fending off criticisms from the Rochester Police Locust Club. Workers complained of poor leadership within the PAB itself and struggled to unionize.
“We do not accept this as a sole budget decision,” Pastor Wanda Wilson said of the layoffs. “We see it as retaliation and as another attempt to dismantle the work that 75% of this community voted for.”
The six eliminated positions were already funded in the PAB’s $3.3 million budget, which expires June 30, supporters said. The workers were reassigned to policy investigations while court proceedings played out. And all six of the impacted employees were part of an improper practice charge filed against the city related to negotiations around benefits.
Over the last two years, the PAB Workers Union claims 20 employees were fired, laid off or had their positions eliminated. “That is instability by design and on purpose,” said Ashley Gantt, an organizer with Free The People ROC. “That is systemic hollowing of an institution meant to serve the public.”
Gantt said community members continue to file complaints of police misconduct with the PAB. Martin added that any changes to the oversight board should include robust community input because the agency was born by the will of Rochester voters.
“The need for oversight did not disappear because of one court decision,” Gantt said. “The pain people carry did not disappear. And the demand for accountability did not disappear. Let us be clear about who suffers most when the board is gutted: It’s the families harmed by police violence.”
We asked the Locust Club for comment but have not yet received a reply.
— Kayla Canne covers community safety for the Democrat and Chronicle with a focus on immigration, police accountability, government surveillance and how people are impacted by violence. Follow her on Instagram @bykaylacanne. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: PAB supporters worry city is dismantling police oversight in Rochester
Reporting by Kayla Canne, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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