2026-10-01 - Police Accountability Board

14:59g

14:59to get started. Are we good?

15:01Technology wise, are we all set?

15:04There. Great. Great. Thank you.

15:10All right. So welcome to the

15:12October 1st Police

15:13Accountability Board meeting.

15:15I'm going to start with just a

15:17roll call here and start over

15:20here.

15:25>> Keith Patterson, Alliance

15:27seat member.

15:28>> I'm AJ Derwin from the

15:30Northwest Council seat.

15:31>> I'm with the East District

15:33seat.

15:35>> Larry Knox northeast Council

15:36seat.

15:38>> William Clark, mayor's

15:39appointee.

15:40>> I'll just note for the

15:41record, Kathy Thomas is not

15:42able to join us tonight. And

15:44Council member Yvonne Wilson is

15:46also not here with us tonight.

15:50Okay. All right. So the first

15:53thing to do is approve the

15:56minutes from the last meeting.

15:59Do I have a motion to approve

16:01the minutes? All in favor? I

16:11appears to be unanimous.

16:13Minutes approved from the last

16:15meeting. Okay. Normally, there

16:19would be an executive

16:21director's report now, but

16:22Doctor Leslie Myers small is

16:25currently receiving an award

16:26from the city as a city

16:29employee award. I don't think

16:29we know the exact award she's

16:31receiving, but that's why she's

16:32not able to be here tonight.

16:34And I think that's also why

16:35some of our divisional leaders

16:37are also not here tonight.

16:39They're there at the Hochstein

16:41School or Hochstein School

16:43supporting Doctor Myers. So I

16:45just wanted to to note that

16:47recognition and they might be

16:50back later though. So we might

16:51get this update potentially

16:52later in the evening. But for

16:54now we can just skip over this

16:55along with the divisional

16:57updates. Next is the

17:02Chairperson's report. And then

17:04after that is the Legislative

17:06Affairs Committee. I'm going to

17:07sort of combine those into sort

17:09of one one thing here. So we

17:12the Legislative Affairs

17:13Committee was unable to meet

17:16this this past month. We there

17:17was an illness of a staff

17:19member that was helping us to

17:20organize that, I guess. So

17:22we're in. We need to schedule

17:23one for the upcoming month, so

17:25hopefully we can get dates on

17:27the calendar and hopefully

17:28schedule a bunch of them out

17:30pretty far so that we don't

17:31have to keep scheduling them on

17:32an ad hoc basis every month. Be

17:34nice to get some dates on the

17:36calendar to go, you know, out

17:37into the future so we can meet

17:39more regularly and continue to

17:42do this work. Nonetheless, work

17:44is still happening. Related to

17:46the legislation, there's been

17:48ongoing work to try to get City

17:51Council to adopt a resolution

17:54supporting the legislation to

17:56get the New York State

17:57Consortium to support a

17:58resolution or a letter in favor

18:00of the legislation. And to get

18:04members of the local delegation

18:06to support the legislation as

18:08well. So that work continues.

18:12Larry, do you have any other

18:14updates related to that?

18:17>> I would just encourage

18:18people to reach out to their

18:19state legislator and say that

18:21you want this legislation to

18:22move forward.

18:23>> Okay, great. Okay. Do we

18:28have any report back from the

18:30training committee?

18:32>> Yes, and I'll be brief. The

18:34training committee did a

18:36conduct its first training of

18:39the year, and we went through

18:41Nicole. And the topic of the

18:43training was effective board

18:46characteristics of an effective

18:47board. I'd like to thank

18:49everybody that joined us on

18:51that call. And and if you

18:53didn't have an opportunity, I

18:54think we indicated that you

18:56have ten business days in order

18:59to review the video, but I

19:00thought it was a very good

19:02training. And I know, AJ, you

19:04were there and the man was

19:05there. And if you guys have

19:07anything else you need to add

19:09to the report, just let me know.

19:11But I also want to thank

19:12Dolores for scheduling and

19:14setting up the training.

19:18>> Great. How about youth and

19:20community engagement?

19:22>> Before I give that update,

19:23I'm going to say I know there's

19:25been some complaints about

19:27being able to hear us on

19:28recordings. I know in the room

19:30everybody can hear us because

19:32it's, you know, it's an echoey

19:33room. But on the recording, if

19:35if you can't hear yourself on

19:36the mic, then they're not gonna

19:38hear you on the recording. So

19:40you really need to be as close

19:41as I am to this mic as soon as

19:44it seems, because I know

19:45everybody can hear us. There

19:47isn't any update there. I know

19:49we are actually having some

19:50tech issues. I know both me and

19:52boy Wilson Wilson are having

19:54issues with our email, so I've

19:55been trying to communicate to

19:57try to establish a, a calendar

19:59or a scheduled event via my

20:01personal email address, which

20:03has been a challenge because I

20:05think we have some firewalls

20:06that is preventing staff

20:07members from receiving my

20:08emails. So it's kind of a

20:10troublesome situation. But to

20:11your point, I think it, it, it

20:13will be wise given how many

20:14issues we've been having with

20:16scheduling alone to try to

20:18schedule for the whole year. I

20:21know we were originally

20:22considering the week before

20:23board member before board

20:25meeting, but I think that that

20:27legislative affairs committee

20:28is meeting that same week. So

20:29we'll be mindful of that. And

20:31also, we did have a question

20:33about open meeting laws,

20:35because I know it is difficult

20:37to have us meet in person,

20:40which is what our open meeting

20:41laws prescribe us to do. And,

20:46you know, I don't like calling

20:48it a closed meeting because it

20:49wouldn't be a closed meeting,

20:50but to allow at least virtual

20:53meetings was a question on if

20:55that is possible. If there's a

20:57way to do that again, it

20:58wouldn't be a closed meeting in

21:00actuality. But we're just

21:02sorting through that. And it

21:03was. Having that conversation

21:06with Doctor Myers small to see

21:09if we can get some input from

21:11Kevin Ramble on. You know what

21:14the implications are of that.

21:15But we would like to get

21:17started. And our first matter

21:19of business is to pull together

21:21definitions from our from our

21:24pace team to see, you know, if

21:27we have definitions to really

21:29think about what is what we're

21:32doing in the community and

21:33break out our community

21:34engagement in terms of what is

21:37considered passive versus

21:38active in terms of like tabling

21:40versus going out to a specific

21:42community, guest speaking,

21:45community outreach, and, and

21:46really flesh that out to have

21:48better metrics to move forward.

21:50And I shouldn't say better

21:51because it, it is information

21:53gathering at this stage, but

21:55that's, that's the non update

21:58update.

21:59>> Thank you. Thank you so much

22:00for that. Speaking as closely

22:02to the microphone as I can. One

22:07thought I actually had about

22:08the youth and community

22:10engagement that I think could

22:11be interesting to explore, is

22:12trying to combine some of that

22:14work with what the policy team

22:16is doing at the agency, and in

22:19particular, for example,

22:21advertising or like promoting

22:22some of that policy work on

22:23social media, whether that's,

22:26you know, talking about, say,

22:27the surveillance report and

22:29taking some highlights from

22:31that and putting it into sort

22:32of a social media friendly

22:34format, I feel like that might

22:35be something to help make sure

22:37that the messaging we're

22:38getting out isn't in just some

22:40dense, you know, long report on

22:41our website, you know, hidden

22:43behind, you know, a couple of

22:44drop down menus or what have

22:46you, but that we're actually

22:47reaching out to the community

22:49where they are, you know, on

22:50social media in a format that

22:52that is convenient for them. So

22:53just one thought for that

22:56committee to consider.

22:59>> I feel like I'm hearing some

23:00space for maybe a youth intern

23:04potentially.

23:05>> So I would say I agree, just

23:08having younger daughters with

23:10obviously my daughters are

23:10younger, but having some that

23:11are, you know, 13, 19 and then

23:13in their mid 20s, yeah, they my

23:15kids do read. So they'll do

23:17that, but they're odd. But you

23:18know, TikTok and Instagram and

23:19ten minute, ten second, 15

23:21second clips. This is a serious

23:23matter. So they can't be all,

23:24you know, have a same kind of

23:26attitude as a lot of that kind

23:28of work, a lot of that media

23:29that you see. But I think it is

23:31important that we figure out

23:33maybe from the youth, you know,

23:34this is something that I would

23:36like to see in this format that

23:38is informative but also not

23:39boring. Figuring out that I

23:41think it's important for that.

23:42Your committee and our public

23:43engagement department.

23:46>> Thank you both for that

23:47feedback. We'll definitely take

23:48that back.

23:51>> Okay. All right. Is there

23:53any old business anyone would

23:55like to discuss? Yes.

23:58>> Actually, kind of going back

24:00to the. I guess, your

24:03Chairperson's report and the

24:03legislative committee, just

24:04that obviously we're in a

24:07government building here, so I

24:08can't say who to vote for, but

24:10Election Day is coming up. So

24:11the importance of voting and

24:12just to do want to remind

24:14people that in Erie County and

24:15Buffalo, they do have on the

24:17ballot an initiative to have

24:18not what we have here, but

24:20something that is about police

24:22accountability. And hopefully

24:23they can build to what we have.

24:24But the fact that the

24:25importance of us preserving and

24:27actually getting back to what

24:29the people here voted for a few

24:30years ago and seeing other

24:33communities like Buffalo, and I

24:34know New York City, they're

24:36trying to strengthen what they

24:37have underneath the new

24:38leadership in that city. But

24:39just seeing that this is a

24:41continuing movement, you know,

24:42having the consortium is

24:43important. But the fact that

24:44Buffalo actually has the city

24:46of Buffalo has a referendum to

24:49do more engaging around police

24:51accountability, I think is a

24:52good sign. So if you know

24:54anybody in Buffalo, you

24:55encourage them to pay attention

24:56to that ballot measure.

24:58>> Great. Thank you. Any other

25:01old business? All right. How

25:06about new business? All right.

25:11Now regarding executive session

25:13I would actually move that we

25:14go into executive session to

25:17discuss a personnel matter. And

25:19in particular section 18-6C5 of

25:23the PAB section of the city

25:25charter that concerns the

25:26annual review of the executive

25:28director. Is there a second to

25:30that motion? Second. All in

25:33favor? Thank you. It's

25:36unanimous. So we're going to go

25:38into executive session right

25:39now, and we'll be back later.

1:02:38We're adjourned.

1:02:40>> Thank you.

```*