Report finds police resistance to civilian oversight and suggests a CCRB without investigative or subpoena powers would be “least expensive.”

Public hearing scheduled for Thursday, November 2, at 7 pm at City Hall

The CGR consulting firm hired by the city to help design a civilian board to review complaints about police misconduct has issued a report proposing a “review-focused” board, the weakest possible form of civilian oversight.

A “review-focused” oversight board has no independent investigative or subpoena powers.  With this structure, all civilian complaints are investigated by the police department itself, and the oversight board is limited to reviewing the results of the police investigations. Although it noted that an “investigation-focused” board, with powers to conduct independent investigations and subpoena witnesses and evidence, would provide greater independence and be less prone to pro-police bias, the consultant did not recommend it for New Rochelle. 

The CGR report stresses that the “review-focused” board would be the least expensive police accountability model and suggests that despite its limitations, it could increase transparency and trust between the community and the NRPD.  It also suggests that the city could implement a “review-focused” board “immediately” and increase its independence and authority over time. 

What will the public say?

The city released the consultant report after 5:00 pm Wednesday, October 25, one day before the quarterly public meeting of the Community-Police Partnership Board (CPPB), which commissioned the study.  The CPPB meeting was listed on the city’s website, but no notice of the meeting was distributed, and only two members of the community attended.  At the meeting, CPPB Co-Chair and Deputy Police Commissioner Neil Reynolds presented the report and, acknowledging the short notice, announced that another public meeting would take place on Thursday, November 2, at 7:00 pm at City Hall, to hear further public comment.  According to Pastor David Holder, the Community Co-Chair of the CPPB, the CPPB plans to vote at the November 2 meeting on whether to accept and endorse the consultant report.  (Editor’s note: The CPPB meeting was originally scheduled for Wednesday, November 1, but has been rescheduled for Thursday, November 2.)

The creation of a police oversight board and the appropriation of funds to support it would need to be passed by the City Council.  The Council’s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 14, and will include a “Citizens To Be Heard” session in which members of the public can speak on any topic of their choosing.  At least three current members of the seven-member Council will be replaced in January based on the elections to be held on November 7.

A city roiled by police violence

Concern about police violence and accountability in New Rochelle has grown since the fatal shooting of Jarrell Garris by Detective Steven Conn on Lincoln Avenue on the afternoon of July 3, 2023.  That killing is currently under investigation by the office of the New York State Attorney General.

The CPPB was formed after the killing of another New Rochelle resident, Kamal Flowers, by Police Officer Alec McKenna in June 2020, a few days after the public strangulation of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.  Garris, Flowers, and Floyd were among dozens of Black men and women whose deaths at the hands of police have sparked outrage in recent years.  At the height of worldwide protests against racism and police brutality in the summer of 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered all police departments in the state to review their policies and procedures and formulate plans to “address any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color.”

As part of New Rochelle’s police reform plan, finalized in March 2021,the CPPB was ordered to recommend a structure for a Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) by the end of 2021, so a CCRB could be formed in 2022.  The CPPB hired CGR, a Rochester-based consulting firm, in late 2022 to study options and provide advice.  With the release of CGR’s report, the creation of New Rochelle’s CCRB is now two years behind schedule.

Community and police views differ

In its interviews in New Rochelle, CGR found that city and police officials and community stakeholders held very different views of police-community relations and the need for a CCRB.  “Most community stakeholders characterized community/police relations as mediocre or needing improvement,” the report found.  Some community members reported that “residents in low income and Black neighborhoods are often over policed while affluent and predominantly white neighborhoods are under policed,” and suggested that “the city’s most disenfranchised residents may desire to call the police, but they see law enforcement as a threat.”   Several interview participants also described “past and current harassment of Black males by NRPD.”  NRPD members, on the other hand, described their relationship with city residents as “good to great.”

Most community stakeholders told CGR they were in favor of a CCRB and felt that “an independent and unbiased group should be available to address police complaints.”  Many said they wanted CCRB members “to have real authority and official capacity to influence change.”

Some NRPD leaders and officers acknowledged that they needed to “rebuild trust with the community” following the killing of Kamal Flowers.  (The interviews took place before the killing of Jarrell Garris.)  But most NRPD leaders “did not see the need for a CCRB” and believed that the current review process was sufficient.  Some “did not believe that residents could be a fair judge of allegations without knowledge of police procedures,“ and some officers thought “the resident members of a CCRB would be driven by emotion and public perception.”

How independent should police oversight be?

In its conclusion, CGR advises that “model selection should be driven by community needs, socio-political context and readiness to plan, fund and implement a strategy.”  It suggests “the prompt adoption of a Review Model as an initial step that balances the community’s desire for an independent body to review civilian complaints of police misconduct with the administration’s concerns about cost and broad powers.”  But it acknowledges that “the CCRB will have limited power to determine police misconduct outcomes, and even this idea might be resisted by the NRPD and its police union “if they perceive that their annual budget is impacted by the CCRB’s implementation.”  And it acknowledges that a stronger “investigative model” would address “New Rochelle community stakeholder concerns about potential police bias that may exist in the review process.”  

In its report, CGR reviewed approaches to police oversight in several other communities in New York State.  Ossining and Schenectady both have “review-focused” oversight boards with no investigative power and no significant public funding.  Albany, on the other hand, has an “investigation-focused” review board with the power to conduct independent investigations and a budget of $770,000.  Ossining and Schenectady are smaller than New Rochelle, with populations of 28,000 and 67,000, respectively.  New Rochelle’s population is 81,000, and the population of Albany is 99,000.  A Google search by New RoAR News revealed no recent killings of civilians by police officers in Ossining, Schenectady, or Albany.  Two Black men have been killed by New Rochelle police in the past three years.

Albany’s Community Police Review Board (CPRB) consists of nine members appointed by the mayor and the city council.  City employees (including police officers) and their immediate families are ineligible to serve.  The staff includes a full-time program manager.  Most investigations of complaints are conducted by the Albany Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards, but the CPRB has the power to conduct independent investigations when warranted, to hire an independent monitor to oversee police investigations, and to issue subpoenas to compel testimony and production of evidence.  For findings requiring discipline, the police chief uses a discipline matrix, created with input from the CPRB, that provides a range of possible sanctions for each offense, also taking into account the officer’s prior record. 

What makes for a successful CCRB?

CGR ends its report with a list of criteria that should be met by any police oversight body.  “The successful implementation of a CCRB is predicated on several conditions,” it says, including:

•  Independence and freedom from external interference that would impact its work
•  Clear lines of authority that are understood by the CCRB and the community
• Open access to all documents, including video footage, without obstruction
• Access to and full cooperation of law enforcement leaders, officers, and investigators
• Adequate funding and operational resources
• Consistent public reporting and transparency

In community discussions about a CCRB, New Rochelle Against Racism (New RoAR) has shared its own list of criteria for a successful CCRB, including:

• Independence
• Transparency
• Full investigative powers, including subpoena powers
• Meaningful disciplinary power
• Broad scope, including minor as well as major infractions
• Adequate budget, indexed to the total NRPD budget

The city will decide on the form of a CCRB in the coming months.  Will concerns about cost win out over public safety, transparency, independence, and trust?  Will police resistance successfully limit civilian oversight?  Community input may greatly influence the outcome.