UPDATE, DEC. 3: Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley has dropped the charges against the three young men arrested while waiting for a bus last week. Doorley released the following brief statement: “After reviewing the facts associated with these arrests, I have decided to dismiss the charges in the interest of justice.”
ORIGINAL BLOG:
I know Lovely Warren can’t really “do anything” until she’s actually sworn into the mayor’s office in January. We have a mayor and he is still proposing legislation, implementing programs, cutting ribbons, and the rest of it.
But from a public safety perspective, the city is beginning to feel a bit unstable to me. Both Mayor Richards and Police Chief James Sheppard are on their way out, and Warren hasn’t said much about a replacement for Sheppard except that she has a handful of possible candidates in mind.
Couple that with some high-profile shooting incidents, a police chase that ended in a crash that sent a Rochester deputy fire chief to the hospital, and the arrests of three young men for allegedly just waiting on the sidewalk to catch a bus, and it feels like things are unraveling and no one is in charge.
I have no idea how police-chief transitions are typically handled — former Mayor Bob Duffy replaced Chief David Moore with Sheppard almost overnight — but would it be unreasonable for the RPD’s number two or another high-ranking officer to take on a more public role during this uncertain time? Someone to lend some continuity and stability until Warren takes office and a new chief is named?
Who is the face of public safety in the city at this moment?
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2013.
I’m sorry, Chris, but I have to disagree. If anyone thinks things are unraveling NOW then they haven’t been paying attention. My two cents.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but, Lovely is not the mayor YET! That being said, she can’t make any appointments in the current police department. She can’t demand that anybody in the RPD take a more public role. Isn’t Sheppard still the police chief? It’s his job to make those type of decisions. He has to carry out his duties until the end of the year. According to you, Mayor Richards is still doing his mayoral duties (i.e. implementing programs and cutting ribbons). Why can’t Sheppard continue to do his job until the end of the year?
The face of Public Safety in Rochester is still the police Chief James Sheppard as it should be. Who ever is looking for accountability should go find him.
I believe that the problems we are facing in terms of crime and police actions have been brewing for a very long time. We’ve had many public acts of police officers arresting innocent bystanders: Emily Good, Benny Warr, the Edison Tech Trio, etc. and murders being left unsolved.
When you talk to the working poor of this city they feel beat down by a system that sees them as the criminal first and nothing second. That is a huge problem that no one in authority has addressed adequately.