Staff of Rochester’s new Police Advisory Board told City Council this week that it will be at least the end of May before they can begin accepting complaints against Rochester police officers for investigation.
Councilmembers including Michael Patterson pressed the PAB staff at a work session Wednesday afternoon on when they would be in business, investigating complaints of misuse of force by police and advising the city on procedures to avoid them. Patterson pressed PAB Executive Director Conor Dwyer Reynolds if it would be during May, and Reynolds said the goal was to be operating by the end of May.
PAB Operations Manager Rosabel Antonetti told council there are two major hurdles that have slowed down the process of gearing up the new agency. One is that staff hiring wasn’t authorized until February. The second, and greater, problem is that a key contract for establishment of a computerized case management system hasn’t been signed yet by the city. It was approved by City Council in March and is on Mayor Malik Evans’ desk awaiting his signature. Antonetti says that system is the key to logging in all cases for investigation, contacting witnesses, keeping information safe and making sure each complaint is investigated, and those bringing the complaints know when that will be done.
Reynolds says it will take six weeks to set that system up once the contract is signed. Responding to councilmembers, he said the PAB can’t go to work with a partial or haphazard system. Reynolds says the PAB has one chance to get this right. Should there be any breach of confidentiality with an informant or a case dropped, he says it would cost the board its entire credibility. And if there should be a security breach of confidential information, he says the board would be responsible for it, not the City Council.Â