ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Police Accountability Board announced its selection of its first executive director Friday.

After a search that began in February and involved more than 150 candidates, the Police Accountability Board unanimously selected Conor Dwyer Reynolds as its inaugural executive director.

What You Need To Know

  • Conor Dwyer Reynolds was named the inaugural Rochester Police Accountability Board executive director

  • He will help with community outreach, developing a system for complaints, hire additional staff, and help the P.A.B. train members

  • Reynolds starts his role as executive director this upcoming Monday, but still requires a confirmation hearing from city council

“He’s proven in a diversity of contexts that his considerable talent is rooted in a keen interest and willingness to listen deeply, and learn with humility across lines of race, gender, ability, and socioeconomic conditions," Chairperson Shani Wilson said.

Reynolds is a Rochester native, and graduate of the University of Rochester, and most recently taught law at Yale. He also worked for President Barack Obama and clerked for a federal judge in Mississippi, where he helped handle cases of police misconduct and discrimination.

But he said he's been following what's happening in Rochester, and when the search opened up, he answered the call.

"This board is entirely equipped to do this job. They represent this community, and this community overwhelmingly voted to get this done," Reynolds said. "This is a historic moment for the city, and if I can help in any way, I'm here to do it."

As executive director, Reynolds will help the P.A.B. with training for its members, community outreach, develop a system for complaints, and hire additional staff. And after moving into city hall, he looks forward to immediately getting to work.

“I’m going to be contacting community leaders, asking them to sit down, and listen, listen, listen,” Reynolds said.

As another priority, he would also like to see the P.A.B. equipped with a bigger budget.

“To even come close to meeting the demands of the city charter and our community, we need dozens and dozens of full-time staffers, and serious funding for equipment, office space, and services,” Reynolds said.

Currently, the P.A.B.’s power to discipline police officers is being fought over in the courts. But he says regardless of the outcome, the board has an important role to play.

“We have many other powers including the subpoena power and the power to review policies and procedures. All those are moving forward no matter what," Reynolds said. "We’re still going to be preparing to get those disciplinary powers back, building the procedures we need to do, but we still have a lots of other work to do, so we’re going to be focusing on that.”

Reynolds starts his role as executive director this upcoming Monday, but still requires a confirmation hearing from city council, which will happen sometime before the council's November 10 meeting.