City Council President pushing PAB to make hires and start investigating complaints

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The Police Accountability Board (PAB) wants its independence, but Rochester City Council says the PAB is independent of the police department but it still has to answer to the City Council.

Its reasoning is that $5 million in city tax dollars fund the PAB, and because of that, legally, certain rules have to be followed.

Earlier this week, members of the PAB said the city was preventing it from filling positions and basically, it can’t get any work done because it’s too busy jumping through hoops.

Rochester City Council President Loretta Scott said: Too bad.

The PAB has to go through the same hiring process any other city department does, but Scott said other than that, it will have the independence it’s seeking.

"The thing I wanna be clear about… we [the council], are not gonna have any role in the investigatory process that is embedded, embodied and needs to be carried out with PAB, we want no part of that," Scott said. "We want to ensure that the administrative functions are handled in accordance with city policies, period."

Scott is encouraging them to get their job postings up and start the official hiring process so they can actually get to work investigating citizen complaints of police misconduct.