The Rochester Police Accountability Board is responding to claims by the city that the reports it published over the weekend contained confidential information.

The board released 31 reports covering incidents dating as far back as 2020. According to the PAB, more than half of those reports contained at least some finding of misconduct involving officers, including allegedly failing to turn on body cameras, falsifying information, using unnecessary force, making wrongful arrests and violations of the Fourth Amendment.

“Public reporting allows the party to bring transparency to a historically opaque process of officer accountability within RPD," said Lesli Myers-Small, the executive director of the Police Accountability Board. "The release of these and future reports by the PAB will provide a unique opportunity for the public to learn about misconduct complaints and other areas of RPD that serves the community.”

The reports are heavily redacted. Despite that, the union representing Rochester’s police officers is pushing back.

“Well certainly you know they did redact officers’ names, which is fine," Rochester Police Locust Club Vice President Paul Dondorfer said. "But, you know, the reality of it is, is if a civilian made that complaint and they read the reports and they realize that that's theirs, there's nothing stopping them from coming forward and, and putting out officers’ names if they happen to know it. There are ways that people can find out, you know, what officers were involved and of course, our main concern is, is the safety of our officers both on and off duty.”

"What we ask is is the PAB doing what 75% of community members voted for it to do?" asked Wanda Wilson of the Police Accountability Board Alliance during a news conference on Monday. "Are they making sure the city charter is being enforced? Transparency for the community provides insight into what RPD policing looks like in our community."

The PAB, which includes appointees from Rochester City Council and the mayor's office, is calling this release a significant milestone. At the same time, the city sent a letter to the board saying it does not have the authority to share internal investigative reports and says it is illegal.

In a statement, the city said in part:

"It remains the city’s legal position that the Police Accountability Board, per its charter, does not have the authority to publish internal investigative reports, and that publication of such reports, redacted or otherwise, violates local law, the automatic stay of the Fourth Department’s decision in the NYCLU matter, and the city’s own Code of Ethics.  

"The PAB’s charter clearly defines its ability to publish data on the receipt and disposition of complaints, and aggregated quarterly and annual reports setting forth that information. The information released on Sunday is neither of those things.

"The public release of allegations of wrongdoing that may be or have already been determined to be inaccurate is dangerous. Any attributions of an employee’s name to a report – whether that attribution is correct or incorrect – can have lasting impacts on that employee’s personal and professional lives."

The PAB says this follows a pattern of contention with the city and the police department that's been ongoing since it was established. According to the board, they've received more than 300 complaints, but haven't been able to reach conclusions on many of them due to a lack of information and cooperation from the police department.

“So this board, this agency and the Alliance want better for the citizens of this community when it comes to community and police relations," Wilson said. "And this will not happen if the city of Rochester continues to stand in the way and not let the board and the agency do what they were created to do.”

The city and the union are looking at options to have the reports removed from the PAB’s website and prevent the publication of future investigations.