The Rochester Police Department has had its third leadership change in 12 months. Interim Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan announced Wednesday that she’ll be resigning in a week, to be replaced by Deputy Chief of Operations David Smith.
Herriott-Sullivan said in a news conference that she’ll be returning to her former job at the Rochester Housing Authority, having told Mayor Lovely Warren that she would take the job for a year. She was appointed in September of 2020 after the mayor fired Chief La’Ron Singletary.
Smith has 29 years with the RPD, and says he wants to see it return to the days of the 1990s when it had a reputation as one of the most progressive police agencies. He said “we’ve started on the track of getting back there, we have a ways to go but that is the goal.