New argument over the PAB

Rochester’s Police Accountability Board is seeking to reclaim the authority to subpoena and investigate officers. The agency lost much of its power in May, after a state Supreme Court ruling in favor of a complaint from the Locust Club, the Rochester police officers union.

It’s been an arduous road for the PAB since voters overwhelmingly supported the idea in 2019.

The board has faced significant legal hurdles that threatened its goals of providing civilian-led oversight and police accountability. Yet the agency has been dogged in its pursuit to restore its authority.

Civilian oversight agencies like the PAB have grown substantially since the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, according to a 2024 report by the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. What separates Rochester’s model from those across the state and nation, however, is its desire to directly investigate and discipline police officers. 

“While oversight agencies play a critical role in promoting accountability and transparency in law enforcement, they also face significant obstacles, including local political and resource constraints, and increasingly, state-level preemption and legislative restrictions,” the NACOLE report states. “Despite these challenges, efforts to adapt and uphold principles of effective oversight continue, highlighting the ongoing importance of civilian oversight in ensuring law enforcement accountability and community trust.”

The Rochester PAB has continued to provide oversight investigations and policy recommendations as it seeks to appeal previous court rulings in efforts to restore a statutory authority opponents say it never had. As arguments were heard this week in the Appellate Division of the state’s Supreme Court, Fourth Division—focused on the board’s investigatory powers and statutory authority—its members and supporters have continued to explore ways to push for police reform independent of the litigation’s outcome.

“Independent of how ongoing litigation is resolved, our work will continue. Oversight is broader than disciplinary power alone,” says PAB director Lesli Myers-Small. “We will continue to take community complaints, reviewing RPD policies, and producing research that helps the public and policymakers understand what’s working, and what isn’t. Our commitment to transparency does not depend on the outcome of any court case.”

A troubled past

City Council first passed legislation establishing the PAB in 2019. The body, comprised of nine city residents, was established with the ability to:

■ review and publicly recommend changes to Rochester Police Department policies, procedures, and trainings, including on issues of bias, use of force, de-escalation policies, and disability accommodations;

■ conduct community outreach, soliciting input from youth and publicizing complaint procedures;

■ conduct independent investigations of misconduct complaints, including through subpoenas and investigatory materials gathered by the RPD;

■ perform audits of investigations of civilian complaints and evaluate its own processes and outcomes on an annual basis;

■ establish a disciplinary standards in conjunction with the RPD chief and Locust Club; and

■ hold hearings, and should officers be found to have committed misconduct, they would be subject to discipline consistent with those standards.

Despite passing unanimously in Council, the legislation required a voter referendum due to an amendment to the city’s charter. It then met with challenges that sought first to block the referendum from appearing on voter ballots.

The Locust Club filed suit in September 2019 in Monroe County Supreme Court, arguing that the PAB legislation violated New York Civil Service Law by removing the authority of the chief of police to discipline officers through a transfer of power to the board, violating the union’s collective bargaining agreement.

While corporation counsel Patrick Beath and City Council argued the police union made an untimely and ineffective petition to block the referendum, a preliminary injunction was granted in favor of the Locust Club before being vacated by the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court.

The referendum’s passage that year did not resolve the challenges raised by the PAB’s opponents, however. Ongoing litigation argued that the board’s authority violated the Civil Service Law, the New York State Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act, and the state constitution.

After the Appellate Division in 2023 upheld previous rulings that the PAB could not lawfully implement and conduct disciplinary measures toward RPD officers, further litigation sought to prevent the board from subpoenaing officers, issuing disciplinary recommendations, and publicly releasing findings, under claims that the agency did not have the statutory authority to conduct investigations that could lead to disciplinary measures.

Oversight models

Research by the Urban Institute states civilian oversight agencies require three factors for success:

■ independence from local police departments;

■ adequate resources and funding to investigate complaints and issue reports; and

■ power to hold law enforcement accountable.

The PAB has differed from similar regional oversight boards with efforts to provide the agency with teeth that would place community voices at the forefront of police discipline. Where Rochester’s PAB appoints four members of its body from the Police Accountability Board Alliance, a coalition of community organizations and advocates, cities like Albany and Syracuse have member bodies appointed by either the mayor or respective city councils.

Those models have faced questions over the ability of their respective agencies to process investigations and complaints given concerns over quorum and independence from city agencies. Syracuse’s Civilian Oversight Board has been hobbled by resignations, work backlogs, and staffing issues, after opposition in early 2024 to a move that placed the board further under the jurisdiction of the city’s Common Council.

“One of the things we’ve learned is when police investigate themselves, the outcomes largely go in favor of police, right? They investigate through their own lens without consideration of the harms and experiences of the people who are reporting,” says Stanley Martin, a member of Rochester City Council. “The interesting thing and much-needed piece that civilian oversight presented was coming at the issue through a community lens. People who may have experienced police harm themselves or people who may call the police for help, they in effect would hold police accountable when they cause harm.”

While the PAB’s statutory authority has continually been challenged in court, the board has also faced concerns regarding its budget and staff. In 2022, the PAB saw the suspension of director Conor Dwyer Reynolds reportedly in response to personnel complaints. In addition, the agency endured an internal investigation, hiring freeze, and multiple board resignations. Rochester’s 2023-24 budget included a transfer of over $1 million in PAB funding to addiction and housing services, as the agency saw a reduction of 27 vacant positions.

Despite this, the agency has continued to work to make information accessible for community education on policing. The PAB announced Wednesday it was now recognized under American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1635, ending years-long efforts by civilian members to unionize.

“Even while our investigatory powers remain limited, we continue to move forward in educating the Greater Rochester community and advancing meaningful policy recommendations,” says Myers-Small. “Since May 2025, we have reached more than 3,500 community members and participated in over 130 community events. Collectively, these activities underscore the PAB’s commitment to being visible, accessible, and responsive in neighborhoods across Rochester.”

The Locust Club did not respond to a request for comment on its challenges to the PAB and perspective on citywide police reform.

PAB’s work continues

As the PAB appeals its setbacks in court, the board continues to release oversight investigations and policy recommendations. Its most recent report, released in August, highlights discrepancies in RPD response times based both on internal prioritization of service calls and geographical disparities in police intervention.

“What we found was clear: where you live in the city can determine how quickly your emergency is answered,” says Myers-Small. “As a public agency, RPD has an obligation to respond equitably, and the community entrusted the PAB to hold them accountable when that obligation falls short.”

For Martin and others, community-driven alternatives to policing have remained a core tenet. Hope First Roc, launched in July, seeks to mobilize trained peer responders to address mental health and related nonviolent crises to the city’s 14611 and 14619 ZIP codes.

What remains unclear, however, are the results of the ongoing appeal—and the powers the PAB will hold moving forward. Should the agency be unsuccessful, it would remain limited in a variety of capacities that supporters say are essential to continue progress on citywide police reform.

“The community is very interested in ensuring that we have a strong PAB that operates with the leadership of community members,” says Martin. “For us, I think (the next steps are) fighting in court, but also making sure that we are listening to community members, we’re listening to the alliance, we are listening to the board and what they want to see, and just figure out how we support ensuring that we keep the PAB intact.”

Myers-Small says the PAB remains committed to providing information and education for Rochester’s community.

“Every person in Rochester deserves timely emergency response, fair treatment, and a transparent public safety system. We remain committed to setting that standard, and to leading by example,” she says. “If we expect transparency from others, we must model it ourselves. That remains our promise to Rochester.”

Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s inaugural cohort.

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