Police union, City Hall still divided over reorg

Although City
Hall and the police union reached a deal that allows the police reorganization
to go forward, there is still a serious split over the plan and whether the
reorganization will achieve its goals.

The
Rochester Police Department is currently organized into two divisions — one on
each side of the river — and a smaller downtown section. But Mayor Lovely
Warren pledged to break the RPD up into smaller, neighborhood-based patrol
sections, with the goal of boosting police presence in city neighborhoods and
improving the strained relationship between the police and some segments of the
community.

The city
administration and the police department seemed to be in sync throughout most
of the reorganization planning, and why wouldn’t they be? The police union has
long advocated for a return to neighborhood divisions, claiming that the 2004
reorganization that consolidated the sections didn’t live up to its promises to
save money, reduce overtime, and other aims — although it’s difficult to prove what
it did or did not accomplish.

But then, in
February, the union tried to block the latest reorganization by filing a
complaint with the state Public Employee Relations Board.

The union
still wants the neighborhood patrol sections, says Mike Mazzeo, president of
the union, the Rochester Police Locust Club. But the union opposes the city’s
plan to hold off on leasing new buildings in favor of “reorganizing in place.”

The RPD
will continue to operate out of its east and west divisions, as well as its
smaller downtown station, when the reorganization kicks in on April 20. But
officers will have smaller patrol areas, says Police Chief Mike Ciminelli, and
each of the sections will have its own commanding officer, instead of two
commanding officers splitting the city between them.

There will
be an evaluation of the RPD’s building needs as well as a site-selection
process for the neighborhood sections during the next fiscal year, Ciminelli
says, which begins on July 1.

But Mazzeo
says that without new buildings, the city is essentially doing a pretend
reorganization on April 20 that will not result in better response times or
increased police-community interaction in the neighborhoods.

People are
being sold a fairy tale, he says, and when they realize that the reorganization
is not achieving its goals, it’s the police officers who will be blamed.

“I don’t
believe that there’s going to be the benefits they say in any way, shape, or
form until those physical locations are in those neighborhoods,” Mazzeo says.

Ciminelli
disagrees. He says that people should see some changes right away.

Mazzeo says that the union went to PERB because the city’s
team was not listening when the union said that some elements of the
reorganization plan violated the union’s contract. Ciminelli says that there
were no contract violations.

The sides
reached a deal last month on the contract issues, and the union withdrew its
PERB complaint. But the union still opposes the reorganization-in-place concept,
Mazzeo says.

“We made it
very, very clear in that agreement that we’re not changing our stance once
bit,” he says. “We’re continuing to advocate going forward to get these
physical sections. And the city’s not happy with that. But that’s the reality.”

Officers
will still have to travel from one of the three sections to the neighborhoods,
he says. And the problems associated with having two large, unwieldy sections
will continue, he says, including communication and supervision issues.

“I heard
the president of a neighborhood association say that ‘We’re going to have
police officers in our neighborhoods. They’re going to be interacting.’ How?”
Mazzeo says. “They’re going to see police officers in the Beechwood
neighborhood when the cars are speeding by them to get to a call. They’re not
going to see any difference.”

It’s clear
that Mazzeo suspects that the physical buildings may never enter the picture at
all, and that it will be because of money. Money is important, he says, but
public safety is worth the investment. Mazzeo also says that the city needs
more police officers.

Neighborhood
buildings become community centers, Mazzeo says. Groups hold meetings in them,
he says, and the offices often employ members of the community. That’s true
interaction, he says.

“They’re
going to click this switch on April 20 and who’s going to see the difference?”
Mazzeo says. “Who’s going to know it? And that’s sad because this interaction
has to come from the community and the police. Everybody’s got to buy into it.”

People will see a difference after the reorganization kicks in next
month, Chief Ciminelli says.

In addition
to the changes in command structure, he says, officers will be responsible for
much smaller beats — an average of 40 percent smaller. Reduced patrol areas
mean heightened attention, focus, and accountability, he says.

It will
also hopefully lead to better communication and better relationships with the
community, Ciminelli says.

Phasing in
the reorganization is smart and fiscally prudent, he says. The city still has
leases on its current police buildings, he says, and it invested money not long
ago in remodeling the west-side station. The cost is being amortized over the
course of the lease, he says.

Even though
new buildings are a part of the long-term plan, Ciminelli says, whether to fund
them will be up to City Council.

Where
officers are based is important, he says. But another essential ingredient, he
says, is changing the culture inside the police department.

The RPD has
become an organization too focused on statistics, Ciminelli says, and attention
needs to turn to reconnecting officers to the community. This process has
already begun, he says. Every officer and supervisor has been trained on the
reorganization, Ciminelli says: what’s happening, why, and what the city is
trying to accomplish.

“And that’s
only a first step,” he says.

Officers
will be encouraged to get out of their cars and walk their beats when time
permits, Ciminelli says. They will go into businesses, schools, recreation
centers, and playgrounds to interact with people, he says. And they will attend
more community and neighborhood meetings, he says.

“People
aren’t going to see this on April 20,” Ciminelli says. “But over time, this is
what we’re aiming for. People can have different views of this. I do think,
though, that people will see some changes sooner rather than later.”

This article appears in Mar 25-31, 2015.