2026-10-06 - Citizen Review Board

00:53for legal representation. And I'm not

00:56sure what stage that is. Our our contact

01:00at New York Civil Liberties Union says

01:01they can't represent people like this

01:04CRB. They don't do representation. they

01:07do advocacy and other kind of work. Um,

01:11so our question is from our group of

01:14citizen advocates,

01:16uh, is the CRB actively pursuing getting

01:19their own legal representation

01:21so that they don't have a lawyer that

01:24has a conflict of interest by being in

01:25the same firm as the city corp council.

01:30>> We're anticipating doing that.

01:33>> Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Anyone

01:39else?

01:44>> I just have something short to say. Um,

01:48my name is Megan. I am a local resident

01:51and taxpayer of the city and I'm also a

01:53public defender operating under a legal

01:55practice order. But I want to be

01:57entirely clear that I'm here on my own

02:00strictly personal capacity as a citizen

02:02and my remarks do not reflect those of

02:05my office. Every single day in open

02:08court, we see immense saturation of

02:10public resources, time, and tax dollars

02:13dedicated to aggressive low-level

02:15enforcement like trespass, loitering,

02:18and open container charges. Yet, when it

02:20comes to serious or dangerous actionable

02:23crimes,

02:26there's a total failure of response.

02:28While the community frequently raises

02:30serious and documented complaints

02:33regarding excessive force, police

02:35aggression, those systematic issues are

02:38routinely ignored. I know that the

02:41breakdown I know about this breakdown in

02:43public safety firsthand as a crime

02:45victim myself. On September 7th, my car

02:48was stolen and then crashed directly

02:50into a person's front yard fence,

02:53completely totaling the vehicle. In the

02:55aftermath, the department refused to

02:58even open a case or look at the clear,

03:01actionable building security footage

03:04showing the thieves and their license

03:05plates. I called the police desk,

03:08evidence, compliance, traffic, and every

03:11administrative line day after day for 10

03:14days in a row, followed by sever

03:16followed by several more times in the

03:18week after. And I still have yet to be

03:21able to speak to any officer or

03:23supervisor on the phone. To simply find

03:26out where my vehicle was, I was forced

03:28to independently call each towyard in

03:31the city.

03:33More alarmingly, I know this as a

03:36professional working in the justice

03:38system when an individual threatened to

03:41pull a firearm on one of our attorneys

03:43working in our office last month, an

03:45incident that is a matter of public

03:47record and is and resulted in a court

03:50issued restraining order. It took the

03:53police department many hours to respond

03:56while we stood there making call after

03:58call to respond to that deadly threat.

04:01When an officer finally arrived, they

04:04express explicit reluctance to deal with

04:06the suspect, stating that he was too big

04:09and combative. Instead of securing the

04:12threat, they led us to they left us to

04:14continuously walk past this potentially

04:17armed and dangerous individual on our

04:19way to and from the courthouse. It's

04:22unexpectable for a police department to

04:24aggressively hunt down low-level

04:26offenders and vulnerable populations

04:29like our homeless people.

04:31yet back down completely and abandon

04:33residents in and public servants who

04:36face major active crimes and active

04:39violence. And I urge this citizen review

04:42panel to launch a formal investigation

04:45into the priorities and um the handling

04:50of citizen provided evidence and their

04:52systematic misallocation of enforcement

04:56resources. Thank you.

05:00Thank you. You said your name is Megan.

05:02Um, and giving us that that complaint

05:05based on what you experienced, I'm going

05:07to say this. Welcome to Syracuse and

05:08welcome to the lowle sides of town

05:11because it's something that happen all

05:12the time. What do you think will be a

05:15good uh what do you think should take

05:17place and should happen that would help

05:19us take it to the board? I mean, take it

05:22to the police department. Give us a

05:24suggestion so we can help help you. I

05:28think the thing that is most distressing

05:30to me is having a dozen or more open

05:34containers violations

05:37trespass every morning when I'm

05:39representing folks in court. And it's we

05:42deal with probably half of our clients

05:45are homeless. So, it's very frustrating

05:48to me to see lots of to see that getting

05:51prosecuted so much while serious crimes

05:55are are not being I think it would be um

05:58good to do some sort of accounting of

06:01what um hours are spent doing what how

06:04many loitering charges

06:07are being handed out on a daily basis

06:10versus um what calls are coming in that

06:14are not not getting priority. Okay.

06:16>> So, what do you want us to take to the

06:18police when we go in there? Because you

06:21said a mouthful in regards to lording

06:23and that's a big problem in our city,

06:25right? It

06:25>> is. Yes.

06:25>> And and those crimes you say they don't

06:29see them as seriously. So, let's let's

06:31come up with something that's rational

06:33because you're here each day. We come

06:35here and we listen, but we're going to

06:37take this back to the police and and

06:40Ruffen and whomever it is. And then that

06:42way we if you want answers, give us

06:44something to help you with that you

06:46think would be viable to help the

06:48citizens in regards to case like that.

06:51We know we got a lot of mental issue

06:53issues. We know that. And a lot of that

06:55stuff that you're seeing with the

06:56lottery and those people that are

06:57vagrant, a lot of it has mental issue,

07:00drugs, etc. What could help change the

07:04narrative for your situation?

07:07>> And I know I may be taking they may be

07:11ready to go. I apologize. Um,

07:16>> I think I fundamentally

07:20have a personal difference of opinions

07:22and just the way that the broken windows

07:25policing is kind of getting enforced

07:27downtown specifically. Um, I'll have,

07:30you know, the same repeat clients again

07:32and again and again because they're

07:34homeless. they have nowhere to sleep and

07:36so they're sleeping outside and then

07:38they get picked up and then they come

07:40back out and they're homeless and now

07:42they have a charge and it just goes

07:43around and around and around. There

07:45needs to be systematic intervention for

07:48what can

07:50probably two or three hundred

07:53individuals that make up such a heavy

07:57proportion of our services. I'm not

08:00saying that we're not happy to give them

08:02our services, but it it really does take

08:05up the bulk of what I do in a in a

08:08day-to-day as a lawyer.

08:09>> Okay. So, what you can do that will help

08:12us write the stuff reasoning say we

08:14write it down. Write something concrete

08:17down that you would want us to take.

08:19>> Okay.

08:19>> With

08:21a quick question.

08:22>> Now, when you called in these two

08:24different situations, where did you

08:26call?

08:28Did you call 911?

08:29>> 911?

08:30>> Yes.

08:31>> Okay.

08:32>> Let me make things perfectly clear. The

08:36CRB that that actually falls outside of

08:38the scope of what the CRB is here for.

08:41>> Unfortunately, you know, once a deal

08:43when you're talking about personnel

08:45issues and policemen not showing up,

08:47that falls within the jurisdiction of

08:49the mayor

08:50>> because the mayor handles that

08:52situation. Now, um what the board member

08:55Elise is talking about, we meet with the

08:57chief of police to uh talk about

09:00different issues issues that are coming

09:02up with the police. Uh we certainly can

09:04bring that up at that meeting. Uh but as

09:07far as the CRB, like I said, it falls

09:09outside of the scope of what we are here

09:11for. So, unfortunately, there's not a

09:13whole lot that we can do other than we

09:15can take it to our meeting when we have

09:16with with uh Chief Rustin.

09:19I guess I'm just looking at this section

09:21three of the local law establishing the

09:26citizens board review. Section three um

09:30uh subsection two is talks about passive

09:33misconduct which is a failure to

09:35intervene inappropriately.

09:38A a failure to intervene appropriately,

09:40pardon. um including an untimely

09:42response and refusal to take complaints

09:45which is I think pretty on on board

09:49right it's something that could be

09:51talked about

09:53I'll talk about it for you

09:55>> but yeah if you can send us that uh a

09:57write up on that that way we'll have it

09:59so we'll know exactly what you want to

10:01say to the chief okay thank

10:15Um, Amanda Benhart. Um, I think the

10:19second part of what she was saying is or

10:21trying to focus on is less so about the

10:24situation that I think was happening to

10:27them specifically and more on the

10:30picking and choosing of what situations

10:31the police are choosing to go after or

10:34enforce or focus on or not focus on. and

10:37focusing on things that could be better

10:41intervened with social care or those

10:44kind of programs and not pulling them

10:46through the police system, the judicial

10:48system, spending our tax dollars on that

10:50kind of stuff. Um, I was at a community

10:54meeting over in the southside, uh, TNT,

10:58and they had a police officer there. I

11:01learned a lot. I learned that they keep

11:03lists on people in our city most likely

11:07to commit crimes, domestic violence,

11:11use a gun, could recidivize again people

11:17with mental health issues, people with

11:18homelessness issues, children who get

11:22into problems.

11:24I also learned that they do a lot of

11:27what they call supportive and proactive

11:30things, but they're only supportive and

11:33proactive to the people they're deciding

11:34they can be for. And they're not very

11:38proactive in outreaching with those you.

11:41They multiple times the officer said,

11:44"Follow us on Facebook, reach out to us,

11:47come see us."

11:50But people are scared of the police.

11:53They don't want to go to the police.

11:54They're misreated by the police. Um,

12:01you guys have a connection into CR or

12:03the police system that's a little closer

12:07than citizens might have. stuff might

12:09not always fall in your jurisdiction,

12:12but if we're a system that is helping

12:16folks who are getting abused by the

12:18system, I think it would be helpful for

12:20us to also look and make sure the system

12:22is not being abused against it people.

12:28>> Thank you. [laughter]

12:30Most of the people that we represent are

12:32being abused by the police though and

12:35that's what that's what most of the

12:36representation is is in other words. But

12:39like I said, we can allow them to know

12:42and speak out. But you're in the public

12:44defenders office, so you should have

12:46some type of play down there. You have

12:48any play?

12:52No, I'm talking about being able to talk

12:54to them personally

12:56and downtown at the police department.

12:59And you can't get them on the phone.

13:03>> Well, I can give you a scenario. I got

13:05broken in. My house got broken in and I

13:07called them at 6:00 in the afternoon.

13:09They came at 12:19 in the morning. So,

13:14that's that's some of the stuff here in

13:16Syracuse. Yeah.

13:19Anyone else?

13:26I guess to uh kind of talk about and

13:28build on this discussion of what we're

13:30talking about with the the police and

13:31their sort of disproportionate

13:33enforcement. Um I also had an encounter

13:35with the the Syracuse police as some of

13:38you may know. Uh I was punched in the

13:40face on James and State Street uh by by

13:43a homeless guy. Um I called Syracuse

13:46police. I called Nolita. Um and the

13:49police were there within 45 minutes for

13:51me. They found the guy the next day. So

13:54the police clearly they can do what they

13:58need to do, but I think that at least

14:00with the anecdotal experiences here

14:02today, there's definitely a mismatch in

14:04what might be expected versus the

14:06reality. I think a stolen car in a

14:08shooting incident should receive a

14:09faster response than someone being

14:12punched in the face and not being like

14:15having any medical issues, you know?

14:17Like I was fine. I I was just slightly

14:19bruised in the face and that was it. Um,

14:21and they they found the guy and arrested

14:22him, which is great, but I think that

14:24that should be the experience that

14:25everyone has with the police,

14:27>> right?

14:38>> Kevin, uh, I'm just curious. So um like

14:41with uh me Megan's this kind of passive

14:44complaint so that would rise to the

14:47level where you could submit a complaint

14:50for that and that could become a case of

14:53its own. So I'm wondering is that what

14:56you end up seeing or is it

14:59not? Because it sounds like there'd be a

15:01lot more cases if maybe the public was

15:04more aware that this inaction could also

15:07be considered misconduct. because I

15:09didn't even realize that. So, I'm

15:11wondering if you see that in cases and

15:15if you're presenting that to the public.

15:24>> We have seen that. We have seen that

15:31>> failure to act uh which is what this

15:33kind of action would be called is one of

15:35the most common uh types of complaints

15:37that we do receive. Um, so I think on on

15:39our public end, we could probably do a

15:40little bit better communication about

15:42making that more public, but it is

15:43definitely a very very common complaint

15:45type that we get. And you're probably

15:46right, if we uh advertise that more, we

15:49probably would get a higher volume of

15:50complaints.

15:56Anyone else?

16:02And if you do have something that you

16:04find needs to go and we can speak about

16:07it for you, if you write it down, give

16:10it and I I will I will stand up and try

16:13to represent it once I get there. And if

16:15it's something they can do and I'll come

16:16back with an answer, I'll give it to Don

16:18or and then we'll we'll talk about it or

16:21let you know what's going on and what

16:23they say to us. Okay.

16:26Any

16:30more comments?

16:32If there's no more comments, can we have

16:34a motion to close

16:37>> to adjourn?

16:38Motion to adjurnn.

16:40>> We have a motion on the floor to

16:41adjurnn. Can we get a second?

16:43>> Second.

16:44>> Okay, it's been moved and second. All in

16:46favor?

16:48>> Those opposed?

16:50Motion carried. Meeting adjourned. Thank

16:54you.

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