The mayor of Rochester presents police reform proposals after a 9-year-old girl was handcuffed and sprayed with pepper spray

The mayor of Rochester presents police reform proposals after a 9-year-old girl was handcuffed and sprayed with pepper spray

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‘At its core, we need to put the sanctity of human life at the heart of RPDs. [Rochester Police Department] police philosophy, ”said Mayor Lovely Warren during a virtual press conference.

Warren did not specifically mention the January 29 incident involving the 9-year-old girl, but said it should be made clear that officers should not “handcuff” youths 12 years and younger unless they are a threatening pose a danger to themselves or others. “

“The current concept does not specify at hand, but my recommendation is to change it,” Warren said.

Two videos from the camera released by Rochester police show officers restraining the child, handcuffing her and trying to get her in the back of a police vehicle while she repeatedly cries and calls her father.

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After the girl did not follow the instructions to put her feet in the car, the officers are seen pepping her. According to Rochester police, the girl was transported to a local hospital where she was later released.

The officers involved were suspended pending the outcome of an internal police investigation, the city announced Monday.

Changing the culture of the police station

On Thursday. Warren set out the recommendations in ten categories: accountability, community involvement and programming, data, technology and transparency, fostering a community-oriented culture, officer well-being, police policy, strategies and practices, recruitment, police department size, response to mental health calls and training.

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One of Warren’s most important recommendations is that the federal court update the city’s consent decision, which limits minority representation in the police department to 25%. The decision on permission was introduced in the late 1970s, when the city’s color community made up only a quarter of the population, Warren said.

“As we said earlier, coloreds represent more than 50% of the city of Rochester, so our consent decision should reflect that,” Warren said, adding that 87% of officers in the city are white, while only 47% of residents of which is. population is white.

The mayor said she also supports the replacement of police by social workers to respond to crisis calls for mental health, a proposal made after the death of Daniel Prude in March last year. In the incident, Rochester police pinned Prude to the ground and put a hood over his head while he was experiencing a mental health episode. Prude stopped breathing and died a week later.
Warren eventually fired the Rochester police chief over Prude’s death and the subsequent delay by police and city officials in releasing footage of the body.

Warren also offered additional recommendations for police reform, such as urging the state to allow Rochester to terminate RPD personnel immediately due to malpractice, banning discriminatory enforcement patterns such as racial profiling, the scope of the department in the next 5-10 years reduce and allocate the means. to other programs and create a civilian public safety interview panel to evaluate candidates for the RPD.

Warren stressed that this is a first draft of the recommendations, which will now be examined by members of the city council and other community leaders for feedback. The council will vote on the measures at the end of March.

CNN’s Laura Ly, Eric Levenson and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.

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