The City Council has appointed seven New Rochelle residents to serve on the newly-formed independent Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). The appointments were approved and announced on June 17. 

The CCRB was created earlier this year to increase accountability and transparency in the response of the New Rochelle Police Department (NRPD) to citizen complaints. 

In the past, allegations of police misconduct were investigated by the NRPD itself, with disciplinary decisions made by the Police Commissioner, with no civilian participation or review. 

The new CCRB will review all NRPD investigations of citizen complaints, recommend disciplinary action in each case to the Commissioner, and share its findings with the public.  The Commissioner will share his disciplinary decisions with the public, along with an explanation if his decision disagrees with the CCRB’s recommendations.

Creation of a CCRB was one of the main recommendations of the City Council in its Police Reform Plan of 2021.  All municipalities in New York State were required to review their policing policies and procedures and propose reforms after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.  New Rochelle’s draft plan did not initially include a CCRB, but it was added, over the objections of many NRPD officers and allies, in response to strenuous community demands in the wake of the 2020 killing of Kamal Flowers by NRPD Officer Alec McKenna. 

By law, all members of the CCRB must be civilians with no connections to the NRPD or other law-enforcement bodies.  Members will serve for staggered two- or three-year terms.

The Chair of the CCRB will be Natasha Fapohunda.  Fapohunda graduated from the  Georgetown University School of Law in 2003 and serves as Assistant General Counsel for Strategic Growth at Mastercard.  She was a member of the New Rochelle Community-Police Partnership Board, which proposed the structure of the new CCRB.  She was appointed to the CCRB by Councilmember Shane Osinloye of District 4.

The other members of the CCRB, along with photos and biographical information drawn from online public sources, are:

Julie L. Mercer.  Graduated Georgetown University School of Law.  Senior Corporate Counsel at Colliers, “a global diversified professional services and investment management company”.  (Appointed by Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert).

Luis Angel Ochoa.  Graduated John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2023 with a major in Criminology.  Currently serves as Constituent Services & Community Affairs Associate in the office of State Senator Shelley Mayer.  (Appointed by Martha Lopez, District 1). 

Donna O’Keeffe.  Graduated College of New Rochelle in 1998 with a major in Psychology.  Has served as “CEO of O’Keeffe Residence” for 27 years.  Worked as a teaching assistant at KIDS Base and The Little School in Scarsdale from 2015-2020.  (Appointed by Al Tarantino, District 2).

Damon Maher.  Graduated from Fordham Law School.  Principal attorney at Levy Davis & Maher LLP.  Served as Westchester County Legislator, 2017-2023.  Candidate for Mayor of New Rochelle, 2023.  (Appointed by David Peters, District 3)

Fabiola Brito-Briseno.  Ran for Presidential Delegate in Congressional District 16 in 2020.  (Appointed by Sara Kaye, District 5)

Renee M. Baron.  Earned a Masters degree from Yale and a Ph.D. from George Washington University.  Has served as Associate Professor of Liberal Arts and American Studies and Chair of Liberal Arts at The Julliard School since 2004.  (Appointed by Matt Stern, District 6)

New RoAR News asked three city offices for bios or resumes on the CCRB members but received no additional information.