Press Releases
Below you can find a copy of all our most recent press releases. Past press releases will be added to the website in the coming days.
Tracking Our Progress
The Police Accountability Board is currently focused on building the procedures and staffing capacity necessary to do our long-term work. This page is regularly updated to provide the public on our progress in building the PAB into the organization our community needs.
Recruiting & Training Staff
To execute our broad mission to bring accountability and transparency to the RPD’s work, we need staff with the energy, talent, and vision necessary to do the work. In the coming months, the PAB will be recruiting dozens of staffers to fill a host of entry-, mid-, and senior-level staff. We’re looking for attorneys, policy analysts, communications professionals, and people with a host of other backgrounds. If you want to learn more about joining the PAB, visit our Jobs page.
In addition to recruiting staff, the PAB is working to develop the training programs necessary to ensure all Board Members and staff have the knowledge necessary to understand and change policing in Rochester. This training includes, but is not limited to, subject areas like RPD policies and procedures, anti-racism, officer perspectives, and methods of holding police accountable. If you wish to partner with the PAB on a specific area of training, visit our Partner with Us page.
Building the Foundation for Investigating Potential Officer Wrongdoing
It takes a great deal to properly investigate potential instances of officer wrongdoing. It takes qualified investigators. It takes the training of those investigators. It takes policies and procedures for investigations. It takes the development of complaint intake processes and investigation databases. The PAB is gathering all of these resources as quickly as possible, with the goal of opening our doors for complaint investigation in early 2022. To learn about what you can do to address potential officer wrongdoing in the meantime, visit our Complaint & Addressing Officer Wrongdoing page.
Creating Procedures Regarding Access to City Records
To help PAB make RPD’s work transparent, the City Charter gives the PAB the power to access any source of information held by the City or the RPD. This power is located in Section 18-3(H) of the City Charter, which states:
The RPD and the City shall provide to the Board, as requested: access to all documents and evidence, including but not limited to RPD personnel files, IA Pro database, all other RPD databases, PSS investigative files, criminal and civil case files, disciplinary hearing records, video and audio recordings from body cameras or other sources, all RPD policies, procedures, and practices, the General Manual, and any other documents that pertain to policies, tactics, complaints, or charges against RPD officers and their subsequent investigation and adjudication, or other sources of information deemed appropriate by the Board.
To ensure that the City fulfills these information access duties, the PAB retained the law firm of Shearman & Sterling, LLP to negotiate with the City’s Law Department on the PAB’s behalf. The PAB’s lawyers are working diligently to ensure there are written rules that allow the PAB to obtain all needed information smoothly and securely.
