Rochester Locust Club president responds to City Hall’s allegation

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Rochester Locust Club President Michael Mazzeo released a statement in response to an email allegation from City Hall.

On Wednesday, Mayor Lovely Warren released a statement calling for Mazzeo’s resignation over the death of Daniel Prude.

“Mike Mazzeo and his ilk exist only to protect and serve themselves, and certainly not the people of the City of Rochester,” Warren said. “It is time for Mike Mazzeo to resign because his archaic ways of policing are no longer wanted in the City of Rochester."

Mazzeo’s full response has been included below:

“When requesting Body Worn Camera (BWC) videos after an incident, I am copied in those and all similar requests for information. This is done to acknowledge the designee requesting the videos or information is authorized to make the request on behalf of our organization. Our requests are sent to the BWC unit which follows their internal processes for releasing the videos to the union, per protocol.

If an internal investigation commences, a review of the videos will then be started in the course of our representative responsibilities for our members. The union had no information that there was any need for an internal investigation or that there were any concerns with the actions of our members. As I have stated before, we have no information relative to when, how, nor what, the Mayor was advised from the department regarding the Prude incident. The union is not a part of discussions between the Chief of Police and the Mayor.

For City Hall to suggest that the union is a part of some type of cover-up, with her own appointed Chief of Police, is absurd. The decision for the entire command staff of the RPD to relinquish their command on the actions and statements of the Mayor should be a concern of the leadership and the stability of Mayor Warren.

In order of complete transparency, I did not review the videos of the Prude incident on April 2, 2020 as no internal investigation had commenced. In fact, the first time I saw any video related to Mr. Prude was after the press conference which aired on September 2, 2020.”

Previously, Mazzeo claimed the command staff made difficult decisions, but he respects the decision they made.

The Rochester Police Locust Club is a union that represents 740 law enforcement officers who work for the City of Rochester.

For full coverage of the death of Daniel Prude, click here.