BILL NUMBER: S7249

SPONSOR: COONEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to direct the division of criminal justice services to study,
evaluate, and make recommendations concerning instances of police
brutality in the city of Rochester

 
PURPOSE:

This legislation directs the Division of Criminal Justice Services to
conduct an independent investigation and report concerning instances of
police brutality in :he city of Rochester occurring five years prior to
the effective date of this act.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Definitions. For the purposes of this act, the following
terms shall have the following meanings:(a) "Police brutality" means the
use of unwarranted or excessive force or abuse committed by a police
              

officer.(b) "Police officer" means an individual defined as a police
officer pursuant to section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law. c)
"Covered agency" means an agency of any political subdivision maintain-
ing a police force of police officers having jurisdiction within the
city of Rochester.

§ 2. Study. The division of criminal justice services is hereby author-
ized and directed to conduct a study of police brutality in the city of
Rochester. Such study shall examine, at a minimum, the following:(a) All
reported instances of police brutality in the city of Rochester occur-
ring in the five years prior to the effective date of this act, and the
nature of such instances of police brutality;(b) Trainings and other
education being provided by covered agencies to police officers employed
by such covered agencies on avoiding instances of police brutality; and
(c) Any other steps that may be taken to decrease the number of
instances of police brutality committed by police officers employed by
covered agencies.

§ 3. Powers. The division of criminal justice services may consult with
the law enforcement misconduct investigative office established pursuant
to section 75 of the executive law and any other state or local office,
agency, or department, and request information from any such entity that
is relevant and material to the completion of this study and report.

§ 4. Report. No later than one year after the effective date of this
act, the division of criminal justice services shall deliver a report of
the findings of the study conducted pursuant to section two of this act
to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker
of the assembly.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

On March 23, 2020 Daniel Prude was murdered by officers from the Roches-
ter Police Department after experiencing a mental health crisis. Offi-
cers handcuffed him without incident and then put a spit hood over his
head. Prude was forced to remain naked on the ground in the snow by
officers of the RPD who used excessive force to simultaneously pin down
him down by the back of his head, chest, and legs. Officers refused
Prude a blanket or a seat in the back of his car. No mental health
professional was on site. This resulted in Daniel Prude becoming brain
dead from asphyxiation and then pronounced dead in the hospital seven
days later.

On March 10, 2021 Tyshon Jones was fatally shot five times by the
Rochester Police Department officers after experiencing a mental health
crisis outside of the Open Door Mission. When officers approached, Jones
had appeared to be attempting to cut himself and self-harm. In the body-
worn camera footage, officers are heard identifying the action of Jones
tying to self-harm but had no tools for de-escalation. No mental health
professional was called to the scene, and Tyshon Jones received five
fatal shots to the body.

On the afternoon of January 29, 2021, officers from the Rochester Police
Department violently tackled, handcuffed, and pepper-sprayed a nine-
year-old Black girl under mental duress. While experiencing a mental
health emergency, officers on the scene displayed an extreme lack of
empathy and compassion for this child in crisis. Officers disregarded
this child's humanity while she screamed for help and her father. As
seen on bodycam footage, this young girl is overwhelmed, stressed, and
calling out for her parents. She presented no threat or harm to the
officers yet was pepper sprayed for not putting her feet in the police
vehicle.

On February 22, a male officer from the Rochester Police Department
violently tackled and pepper-sprayed a woman carrying her three-year-old
daughter. When another male officer pulled the child away from her moth-
er's arms, the mother and daughter linked hands, trying to hold onto
each other. Bystanders filming nearby were met with explicit language
and demands to vacate the scene. Officers separated their hands, and the
three-year-old child began crying inconsolably and calling out to her
mother. One officer persuaded another to use their police car to block
the crying child from public view.

On June 4, 2021, Rochester Police Department officers fatally shot and
killed Timothy Flowers on Hudson and Avenue D. There is no body-worn
camera footage to review. No other city footage has been released to the
public.

On June 5, 2021, officers were tapped, brutalizing a Black man on
Remington Avenue. Some RPD officers and investigators were seen brutally
punching and kicking this man on the ground, while others threatened to
pepper spray and brutalize any neighbor that intervened.

The city of Rochester has made national news time and time again due to
state-sanctioned violence disproportionately inflicted on Black and
Brown residents by the Rochester Police Department. Rochester has a
decades-long history of police brutality and incidents of Black people
being killed by the RPD without justice. This legislation will help us
to produce quantitative data that exhibits the frequency in which police
brutality occurs and how we can address and reduce police brutality in
the city of Rochester.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.