Syracuse's Citizens Review Board is back in business, ending a four-month hiatus caused by an interpretation of a state appeals court ruling. The board voted unanimously — with several members absent — to resume its investigations of complaints about the Syracuse Police Department.
"Residents who file complaints are entitled to have them reviewed," the board's president, Don Johnson, said as he read a statement at the start of the brief meeting. His statement and the vote took less than five minutes, after which the board adjourned.
The hiatus stems from a decision in March from the state Appellate Division, the state's second-highest court, that ended the work of Rochester's Police Accountability Board. The Syracuse Corporation Counsel's Office, the city's in-house law agency, advised the board that the ruling applied to Syracuse's board, too.
Earlier this month, though, a civil rights lawyer and other members of the community told members of the Syracuse Common Council that the city's interpretation of the ruling was wrong. The court ruled that the Rochester board's ability to force officers to testify and to punish officers for alleged wrongdoing violated the police union's contract with the city. Syracuse's board does not have subpoena or punishment power. Syracuse Police officials are free to ignore the board's advisory rulings.
"I think that the council and the CRB have been hoodwinked and hornswoggled by your own corporation counsel," said civil rights lawyer Alan Rosenthal at that meeting.
Some members of the Citizens Review Board were concerned that they could be sued personally over their work. Johnson said in the statement that the board would seek liability insurance for its members. Several members of the board did not attend the special session and Johnson urged any member unwilling to continue to resign by Friday.
"Mission accomplished," said Gwen Muok, president of the Syracuse chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). "The CRB is a vital link for the community and without it operating, a lot of people have no alternative. They have no solutions. They have no options. By returning to what they should have been doing for the last several months, it will give our community some credibility, or give them an opportunity to voice what's happening in their lives and hopefully get resolutions to what's happening."
