At public hearing, speakers demand transparency and full investigative powers

Community members once again demanded a fully empowered Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) at the City Council’s September 10 public hearing on a proposal for a weak CCRB with no investigative or advisory authority. 

The current proposal, delivered to the Council in July by the Community-Police Partnership Board two years behind schedule, would create a CCRB empowered only to review investigations of citizens’ complaints conducted by the police themselves, and to express an opinion to the Police Commissioner only after the Commissioner has decided on disciplinary action.  The proposal also demands absolute secrecy and contains no requirement for public reporting about the CCRB’s activities.

Speaker after speaker at the hearing assailed this proposal for a weak CCRB and demanded an independent board with full investigative and subpoena powers that could provide a measure of real accountability. 

New Rochelle’s police have killed two Black men in the past four years under questionable circumstances, and a senior police officer was recently found to have planted evidence on an innocent Black man and had him arrested.  

The community first proposed an independent CCRB for New Rochelle during world-wide protests against police violence and racism in 2020, and residents have been demanding a fully empowered CCRB ever since.

Dr. Carla Woolbright called the current proposal “a CCRB in name only.”  “The proposed review model has no power,” she said, “does not give any investigative ability, and we have no confidence that justice will be served by [this] model. We do not need smokescreens, we need real change…. Let’s not rush to develop a useless CCRB.”

Dr. Carla Woolbright, Rodney Bynum

Rodney Bynum, a cousin of Jarrel Garris, who was killed by New Rochelle Detective Steven Conn on July 3, 2023, agreed, telling the Council that “Right now, New Rochelle has a chance to be the groundbreaking CCRB in this country, to finally reprimand some police for their actions, and we’re asking you to do that with your vote. And not give us this watered down CCRB that you have come up with.”

Maxine Golub, reading a statement by Bruce Soloway, said the current proposal “creates the form of a CCRB without the substance. It looks like it was drafted by an attorney for the Police Department, or perhaps the police union, with every single stipulation designed to maximally protect the police from meaningful public scrutiny.”

Maxine Golub, Lisa Burton

Several speakers urged the Council to create a CCRB for New Rochelle based on the model used in Albany, NY.  “We do not need to reinvent the wheel,” said Lisa Burton.  “We have the Albany Civilian Complaint Review Board that we need to adopt. It has transparency, it has a history, it has a budget, it tells us everything that we need to do to go forward.”  Calling the current proposal “performative politics,” Burton said, “If we want to check boxes, then then do nothing. That is at least not as offensive as doing the least that could possibly be done.  And still we have blood in our streets.”

Former County Legislator Damon Maher also recommended adoption of the Albany model, demanding “an immediate initial investigative authority” with “a guaranteed sufficient annual budget and subpoena power.”

Michael Cammer said the current proposal “betrays the police reform plan” passed by the Council in 2021.  “We worked very hard to formulate a plan accountable to all parties. Let’s make a strong CCRB work. I expect that a majority of the New Rochelle police will never encounter the CCRB. However, there’s a clear pattern and perhaps culture by some within the department that makes the CCRB essential.”

Damon Maher, Michael Cammer

Leah Nelson, speaking for the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform, noted that despite efforts at police reform, police killed more people in 2023 than any previous year on record. “Unchecked, unaccountable policing puts all of us in harm’s way,” she said. “Yet police continue to experience broad immunity and job security, even with a pattern of misconduct.”  “Police should not be above the law,” Nelson concluded. “There must be consequences for actions.  We want transparency in policing, we want to know that bad apples are being weeded out instead of being protected or transferred. We know that a strong CCRB can achieve these goals. The citizens deserve better.”

Eugene Tozzi said the video of the killing of Jarrell Garris in July 2023 “showed a marked contrast between two styles of policing, one of which was deadly.”  Tozzi said the CCRB “should have the goal of supporting officers who engage with respect and deescalate difficult situations, and weeding out those who seem to look at all young black men as a threat. We also need to weed out officers who see young black men as prey.”

Leah Nelson, Eugene Tozzi

Speaking at the CCRB hearing and the subsequent “Citizens To Be Heard” session, several speakers expressed concern that the recent revelation of a senior officer apparently planting evidence on Ivin Harper, an innocent Black man, suggests a deeply embedded culture of corruption and racism in the NRPD.

Eugene Tozzi read into the record the statement Ivin Harper made to the court when he had his case dismissed, describing the harm caused to him and other innocent Black citizens by unaccountable policing.  At the CCRB hearing, Tozzi had expressed doubt that this was NRPD Lieutenant Sean Kane’s first attempt to frame an innocent citizen.  “Is this an easier route to promotion than the footwork needed to actually investigate real crimes?” Tozzi asked.  “I hate to say it, “ he continued, “but it also defies belief that this behavior is limited to this one officer. This crime tarnishes the whole force. For the sake of many good officers, we need a city manager and a police commissioner that will be fully committed and competent in weeding out officers who are corrupt, racially prejudiced, and/or carry a chip on their shoulder.”

Dr. Daniel Miller, in a statement read by Lisa Burton, expressed similar doubts.  “This particular officer has been repeatedly promoted and celebrated by our Police Department,” Miller noted. “Clearly, whatever criteria are being used in our city to assess competence or excellence in policing are grossly inadequate. If our police leadership could not previously identify corruption or incompetence in this officer, we have to assume that they have not been able to identify corruption or incompetence in others. That leadership has failed in its most important duty and needs to be replaced.”

Michael Cammer acknowledged that “New Rochelle police officers have a difficult job and that most officers work diligently to serve us well.”  Then he asked “for metrics to reward these officers.”  “Number of arrests is an incredibly weak metric, especially in times when crime is down,” he noted. “But we also have a salient culture of police being intolerant and violent. We need to end this culture.”