Chief Herriott-Sullivan’s Brief

A Message to the Rochester community from Chief Herriott-Sullivan

When I accepted the role of Interim Police Chief, I did so knowing that we had a lot of work to do. Since
then, we’ve been making progress, but there is still much more to be done.

I want the Rochester community to know that we have been listening, and we hear you. Today we are
launching a small but important step towards building greater transparency and communication that is
needed as we work together to make real systemic change.

Every other week the Rochester Police Department will publish a briefing to share progress on key
initiatives, highlight important updates to process and policies, outline recently completed actions and
respond to common questions received since the last briefing.

- Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan, Chief of Police

Rochester Police Department

Recently Completed Actions

The Rochester Police Department Eviction Protocol
The Department has addressed the issue of illegal and legal evictions within the city of Rochester by
forming the Eviction Response Team. The Eviction Response Team falls under the Community Affairs
Bureau and in essence, responds to all illegal evictions within the city limits. The goal is to prevent illegal
eviction, mediate issues between landlords and tenants, and when needed, prosecute
violators. Another added benefit of the team is to provide access to a list of available services and
information to tenants who have either been legally or illegally evicted from their residence.

Prior to the formation of this unit, there was a void in service to both tenants illegally and legally evicted
and landlords who needed police assistance. In some instances, officers responding to calls for illegal
and legal evictions were sometimes less than fully prepared to mediate or prosecute when necessary.

Since the formation of the Eviction Response Team, we have had considerable success and, in most
cases, mediation has been able to alleviate the issue. There are times when an arrest has been made but
at the end of the day, the goal is to provide safe housing, fair treatment for all parties, and maintain
peace.

Community Engagement Activities

Due to COVID-19, we were unable to hold in-person community activities in 2020. So far in 2021 we
have conducted a blanket drive, food drive for veterans & military families as well as City of Rochester
residents in need. Details on recently held activities are posted to our social media platforms. As COVID-
19 restrictions lift, we look forward hosting even more community events in person or virtually
where/when appropriate. All events will be posted on the City of Rochester’s website once we’re able to
schedule in-person events (the link will be attached at that time).
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Progress on Key Initiatives:
Our goal is to improve the Department’s relationship with the Rochester community and restore trust.
This effort requires our entire department to look within and address our culture and accountability
through trainings, policy, and procedural updates.

Policy Changes: on March 15, 2021 we announced a series of new and revised policies will be released
to the public over the course of the next few weeks. These policy changes are part of Department’s
commitment to better serving our community and are the result of a careful and extensive review of the
existing policies.

Two policy updates have been completed, including Duty to Intervene and Chokeholds. These policies
were rolled out to officers on March 15, 2021 and took effect immediately. Next week, the Department
will release revised Mental Hygiene Detention and De-escalation policies. In the coming weeks we will
be releasing our new policies on Use of Force and Juvenile Detention. These policies will be released in
phases to allow for proper disseminating and implementation, while allowing time for all RPD members
to properly train on and acclimate to the changes.

- Duty to Intervene: This policy change includes a directive to all members that they have an
affirmative duty to intervene to prevent or stop any member from using unreasonable force or
otherwise acting contrary to law or RPD policy.
- Chokeholds: This will ban the use of chokeholds and neck restraints by RPD.
- Mental Hygiene Detention: This will focus on the decriminalization and stigma reduction
involving behavioral health matters. Police employees should understand that a Mental Hygiene
Detention is not an arrest. The term Mental Health Detention (MHD) will be utilized in all
documentation.
- Juvenile Detention Policy: This will address the handcuffing of children 12 years of age and
younger and the use of OC, or Pepper spray on children 12 years of age and younger.

The Department is also in the process of developing additional department-wide trainings. These
trainings will take place both in-person and virtually and will include keynote speakers as well as hands-
on learning. To ensure success of this initiative, we are first developing a formal trainings plan that
includes structure, formatting, cadence, and COVID safety measures. Once finalized, topics scheduled to
be covered include: Compassion Fatigue, De-Escalation, Mindset Training, Race Relations, Pediatrics,
Leadership Training, and Mental Health Training.

Ways to Connect with Us:

We encourage our community to share with us what information would be most important to them.
Please connect with us at CAB@CityofRochester.Gov to share your thoughts.

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