The city of Rochester is appealing a court's ruling which stripped the Police Accountability Board of nearly all of its powers.
The appeal was filed Friday by Mancuso Brightman, the outside law firm representing the city in ongoing litigation related to the PAB. The Rochester City Council will also vote this month on extending its contract with Mancuso Brightman by an additional $20,000, bringing the total cost for legal representation to $75,000.
The city’s corporation counsel does not represent the city in the litigation due to a potential conflict of interest.
On Tuesday, PAB Executive Director Lesli Myers-Small and Board Chair Larry Knox appeared on WXXI's Connections, where Myers-Small announced the appeal.
The Rochester Police Locust Club, the police union for Rochester police officers, filed a complaint in state Supreme Court this past October over the PAB’s release of redacted investigations into claims of officer misconduct. Last week, Supreme Court Judge Joseph Waldorf ruled in favor of the Locust Club, stripping the PAB of its power to investigate officers, subpoena officers, access department databases and files, and create a disciplinary matrix to guide reprimands for officers.
Myers-Small stood by the decision to release the reports, which the PAB did against the advice of the city’s top lawyer.
“Based on the legal review that we received, based on the fact that we are about accountability and transparency, based on the fact 75% of our public through the referendum in 2019 said so, we felt we had legal standing to do so,” Myers-Small said.
The PAB's creation was overwhelmingly approved by city voters in a 2019 referendum. When it was established, the enabling law gave it the power to investigate and discipline Rochester police officers. Those disciplinary powers were later struck down in a 2020 court ruling. The city appealed but in 2023 suffered another defeat.
If the city loses the latest appeal, only two of the powers originally granted to the PAB under city law would remain. It would be able to exist, and it would be able to make recommendations on department policy.
