PAB investigates how the police department handles disciplining its officers

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A new report by Rochester’s Police Accountability Board (PAB) has uncovered gaps in the Rochester Police Department’s disciplinary policies and practices.

The report found that internal investigations into officer misconduct temporarily decreased, from a high of 39 cases in 2019 to zero cases in 2023.

RPD explains not having any findings in 2023 is partly due to police union leadership transitions. With new union leaders in place investigations could pick up again. Since that point, there have been seven sustained findings of misconduct as of June 2024.

Additionally, the PAB discovered that disciplinary files are not consistently uploaded to the public database.

Another issue highlighted in the report is the overuse of memos as a form of discipline. According to RPD’s own policies, memos are not an accepted form of discipline. However, the report found that too many cases ended with memos being issued instead of more appropriate disciplinary measures.

The full PAB report and a response to the report from RPD are available below.

RPD responds to PAB’s investigation

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