Okay, we'll do roll call.

And you know what?

Since uh desire is now the secretary, you can do roll call.

Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you.

But if I pronounce your ma'am, but don't get mad.

Okay, Erisubaker.

I'm here.

Not here.

Um she has an excuse absent.

Don Jonathan?

Yeah.

Mike Carwin?

Here.

Hi, Pran.

Here.

Beggy Chess.

Here.

Samiya Arifra.

Not here.

Uh oh.

You're not gonna ask any of us to pronounce it.

So yeah, that's that's it.

Okay.

So we have um two absence, one excuse member for the board for the day.

Um, so uh the next thing on the agenda is the approval of the October minutes.

Did everyone get a chance to review those minutes?

Okay.

Can we get a motion on the floor to accept the October minutes?

We have a motion and a second on the floor.

Uh, any discussion.

All those in favor?

I mean those opposed motion carries.

So the October uh minutes have been approved and um for the board.

So um the chairman report, uh, the items we have is the introduction of the new CRB staff members.

Okay.

Oh, two or three.

Three.

Investigators.

Right.

So um, we'd like to introduce um our newest member to the CRB office.

Um, his name is Chris.

Chris is going to be the new data analytic person who's going to be taking over the bit of the business.

Chris, could you stand for a few minutes and just say a few things?

Yeah.

Welcome, Chris.

Hi, Chris.

Hello, everyone.

Uh I appreciate the opportunity and I look forward to uh expanding the types of data that we collect to assist the operations here at the Citizen Review Board.

And again, uh I really appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Okay.

Um we also hired on a the uh investigator and his name is Nicholas Keys.

Nicholas Keys, he's not here tonight.

Um so that brings the CRB to a full staff now.

So yes.

Thank you.

Okay.

And then uh we also have two of the other staff members that are here.

Um Adonia.

Uh-huh.

And we have Julie, who is the executive secretary here tonight.

So we want to thank you guys for coming out to join up.

Okay.

Next thing on the agenda will be the um CRB administrator report.

Nalita.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Uh so our monthly report for October is as follows.

Um the CRB um received a total of 22 cases this month.

This included 12 cases from 2024, 10 cases from 2025.

Uh, correspondence were sent out um to our closed and unfounded cases.

Five cases will be presented tonight for review during our executive board meeting.

Uh, we also during the community engagement, community engagement specialists.

Adonia has been active in the community, making connections to tabling um and tabling to reintroduce the CRB while viewing video footage for cases files, and uh the key activities included attending the Focus and Peace community meeting on October the 1st, where she networked with um organizations and organizational leaders and citizens.

Um during this event, Adonia handed out brochure cards and flyers for upcoming events that were coming.

Um as you all know, we just had the Monster MASH, which was a success.

Um, and she scheduled a presentation for the Center of Community Alternatives.

Um she tabled at the SAT City Market on October the 8th, where she also handed out material for the CRB and also the information regarding the events and flyers and things that were going on that was coming up in the month of October.

Uh we also presented at the Center for Community Alternatives on October 27th.

Um Adonia and I went there and we gave them information regarding the CRB.

We distributed brochures and what to do if police stop you cards, followed by a question and answering session, which was very successful.

And lastly but not least, she did the Monster Mash, which included our board members, and we had children that come in from the community where they had games and they painted pumpkins and did all kind of fun sorts of things, um, which was a very success.

Uh Donald Johnson has been filling in for the positions throughout the month of October that were vacant.

He also helped conduct interviews for the vacant data and investigator um positions, and as he's already said, we have hired for them.

Um, and we are expected to be up and running fully by the end of this month.

Um Don has also attended several external events, including 100 men.

100 black men.

100 black men.

Um October the 8th, the NAACP Get Out to Vote, October the 9th, the Salvation Army Award Luncheon, October the 18th, KJ Angels, the 3K Walk, October the 18th, and the Monster MASH.

Um Julie, our secretary has been extremely busy.

She's maintained uh the office efficiently by ensuring cases um has their correspondence and the mail, they were mailed out.

Um she did intakes as well.

Julie has met with three clients in person and has handled several inquiries by phone.

She also created um an accessible digital folders for the office to view videos and complete um complaint forms.

During interviews, uh Julie ensures that the hiring committee, during our interview, she ensured that the hiring committee had all the necessary paperwork as far as a folder that was set before us with everything in it with uh their resumes and the questions and things like that that we would be asking.

She also made sure that the board members have gotten their teams um invites.

So for those that could not be in person, we did it online.

Um and she also attended the Monster MASH, which was great again event.

I'm gonna keep mentioning that because I thought it was a really really good event for us to be out in the community to show our face during Halloween.

So we made it a whole different feel on it.

Okay.

So our upcoming events is um we just recently or the meet and greet, which was November the 4th, which we will talk about next month, but it was a great meeting.

Um a training session called readiness is a mindset, not a moment, and that's scheduled for November the 18th.

And the office will continue to work on the caseloads, and we've already spoken, as you see lastly at the end, we've already spoken about our new hires.

So if you see them out in the community, um our new hires, please step in, stop in to see them to say hello, to welcome them aboard to the CRB.

I am excited that we are fully staffed now and we'll be able to start functioning a little bit better, a little bit easier.

Things are running a little bit better.

I can't wait to see how things are all gonna come together.

That's my report.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So the next item on the agenda is um some old business items for discussion.

One of the things that we need to do is that we need to get a set up a training schedule for the board members.

Um right now we're looking at November 18th, which is the following Saturday um from noon to two.

At that session, uh, we'll be talking about uh the responsibilities for the board on review case reviews and things of that nature.

Uh also bringing everyone up to board to make sure that they have their uh tokens and able to get into the uh website to review the information that we load out there uh for case reviews and um that's about it.

And then we also need to be looking at setting up some additional training uh with the Syracuse Police Department um on some of the uh training items that they have coming up for the board members.

Um one of the things that we want to make sure is that each and every last board members has an opportunity to get additional training uh with it within the police department and also uh board training to understand exactly what the responsibility and rules are uh with the CRB board.

Um with that um November 18th with oh I'm sorry, not it's November 15th.

I was listening to you.

So it's November 15th for the training at the um the office where we'll sit down, we'll sit down and um go over the procedure for the board.

So and if you uh can't make that date, uh we'll probably have a follow-up session, um a review set session for people who can't make it on the uh 15th, and that's gonna be from noon to uh Sundays here.

So we have to update that.

So we'll have to update that the attendance list.

I was just gonna mention I won't be able to make that date.

Okay.

So you want me to just get back to you, Row to setting up a time I can come and meet with you?

Um we can do it that way.

So if if you can't make it to the um event on the 15th at noon, um just give me a call and then we'll set up a time where we can meet in the office.

I can do it one-on-one or um depending on the number of people have the same amount of time to attend the seminar, we can do it that way.

But um, we definitely want to make sure that everyone uh sits in and uh gets um educated on what the CRBs are our goals and our objectives are.

Um so um we need to um set up uh next on our advisory board.

Um we had discussed that.

Um I don't know if anyone had any opportunities to uh come up with any ideas on who should sit on that board and um when we should be to uh establish that.

We remember we were gonna do a lot of that in that meeting we in that meeting that we was gonna have.

So maybe we still need to make sure that takes place so we can discuss it a little bit, and that way we can all talk into it and put our input in it.

Okay, so um Elise has made an suggestion that doing those um those educational meetings that uh we discuss the external advisory board on how we want to uh see how that's uh be formed and who's who's gonna be on that committee, and also look at some of the documentation that we're gonna need to have that taken care of.

So we'll we'll do that on the um the 15th, and then any follow-ups we'll we'll follow up with you on that also.

So yeah, I just want to add something about the education materials.

We need to think about the new American population when we are handling, we are handing out the education materials so they can be translated into us languages because not everybody understands English.

Right.

So we need to think about that.

Okay.

That's that's interesting since you brought that up.

Um Adonia uh civil engagement uh person and I had a discussion about that today.

Because right now on the website, the only um documents that we have out there is in English and Spanish.

So we're going to uh run an analysis and see what what's the next largest population in Syracuse, and then we'll convert that document to support those individuals and any other large groups that that are out there.

So we'll try to make sure that the new Americans have uh documents that they were able to fill out and read.

So the next thing is the um anybody has anything from old business that they would like to bring up.

If not, we're gonna move in to the uh committee reports.

The first committee report is the outreach and uh public education.

Um I do apologize.

Um what I what I need to do is to get a listing of all the members who are on each of the committees, and then I need to get a uh um an email out letting everyone know which committee they're on.

Um so if you remember which committee that you sign up for, if you could send me an email.

That was one of the other things that should was gonna be in that we was gonna work on because uh most of the people that were on certain committees are no longer here, and the ones that it has to be re-established and rebuilt based on um their ideals and what they think should go.

So that that was the meet and greeting thing, meeting that we had tried to set up.

Okay, that was supposed to be that stuff was supposed to be in there, remember?

Well, let's let's do it like this.

Um as you look through the committees, and you if there's a committee that you want to be on, if you can send me an email with your name on there, um, so then I can start formulating um the committees and the committee members.

Yeah.

And um, and if you can get that to me by next Monday, that'll be great.

Okay.

So you're saying if you want to be a part of a certain committee, just send that committee and their name to it and that you would like to be a part of.

That is correct.

And you and you can sit on more than one uh committee.

Oh, I was gonna I was about to ask you.

You sit on more than one committee.

Okay, so um I think the only committee that we have uh that's fully functioning now is the uh police relations committee.

Um that's uh Mike Kern, Elise, uh Linda, and um the administrator, uh Nalita and Adonia, but out of the board is just Mike, Linda Committee and Elise that are on that committee.

Um do you guys have a report?

Mike would have it.

Okay.

Sorry, Mike should do you under the price.

But that's correct.

And uh Elise Linda and I were on it since we formed them the last time.

I've added Nolita and um uh uh other staff members.

So anyway, we had our meeting on um the 6th of November at the police department.

Just some topic.

Um I reported to Chief Cecil.

Well, first things first.

Chief Cecil will be leaving at the end of the year.

So there's gonna be a change up at the top.

And the other thing is I I think first deputy chief Rich Schaff is leaving at the end of the year as well.

I think he indicated that.

Yep, he did.

Um and so just to give you a flavor for that, once once there's a change in City Hall, all those positions are uh employees at will.

So they're all up.

They they could be asked to stay, those that are still there, but they may be asked uh told told their services are no longer needed.

So even the the folks that we met that want to stay, that's a decision that the mayor makes, the mayor's office makes.

So that's what you're looking for.

I do expect several of the people to stay, uh, but I don't know how many or who will stay and what rank they will hold.

So the mayor's gonna fill fill the chief spot and the first deputy chief at the very least.

Anyway, um we had a terrific uh I explained to them um that we've had three different uh meetings in which we've reviewed cases uh with our director, average of like six cases per meeting.

Um so if that gets us up to 18, and I said as a result of those 18 reviews, hypothetically, 17 of the cases, and we vote after each case.

We've voted not to have hearing in those 17 cases, and we voted to have a hearing in one case, and I referenced that case, and I think the hearings are coming up later.

I think yeah, working on it.

Um what I did say though was that um uh the body cam footage, at least in my opinion, 90% of the cases maybe, or maybe all the ones we voted against having a hearing were all really determined by the body cam footage.

Uh that was it, it uh uh the allegations, a lot of them had to do with demeanor.

Uh something had to do with um allegations of not uh providing first aid, things like that.

But nevertheless, I could not emphasize any more how relevant the body cam footage is, and for the case that we are having a hearing, one of the issues for that case is the body cam footage was turned off.

And that's why that is an ingredient to the to the hearing that we're gonna have, among a couple other things.

Um that then led us into probably uh a ten of the discussion and explanation of the body cams themselves and how they work.

And their protocol relative to uh within the department, which they just revised of when you can turn the body cam off, under what uh situations occur, and they gave us some hypotheticals.

But by and large, um uh plus um one of the deputy chiefs gives us a presentation relative to uh these cameras are really um similar to your computer at home, which if you hit a key, it pops back on, you get your screen back.

The body cam is actually sleeping, it's not using up energy.

All you do is tap it twice, and it actually the camera itself, because it was resting, actually gives you 30 seconds of video from before you turned it on and then proceeds on until it's turned off again.

Um which it sounds sounds like somebody's taking a course in metaphysics.

Uh, but it really does uh do that, has that capability.

The reason they go that route, um the other thing is they're telling the officers that as soon as they are going on a call to turn the camera on in the car, not wait till they get to there, something occurs, they have to jump out quickly.

So they're all supposed to be turning it on as soon as they get the call, boom, tap it twice and the cameras rolling.

Um the only issue um technical issue that they talked in term was um battery power.

Uh because uh if the cameras are on for a lengthy period of time, I think see they're only the batteries good for maybe eight hours.

They I'm not sure of the hours itself, the amount of hours, but they said it would so they're um so they're they're constantly looking for updates.

Um it's just like uh the new uh EVs, electric vehicles.

The biggest issue with those is battery power, battery duration, battery, and the weight of the batteries on the cars.

That's not the case here, it's just duration.

Um also referenced that the um the current state of the art of uh uh body cams, uh I don't think this department uh uh involves actually uh coming up and speaking to someone who who is speaking a different language, actually uh uh they can activate a language translator on the body cam.

So it's actually the person is speaking into the body cam, and then the body cam, you hit another button, the body cam is actually reading out what they just said, and then the officer responds uh with an initial tap.

The body cam is translating that to give it back to the person they're talking to.

They're not they're they don't have these body cams, but that's how um that's the progression that we're at at this point in time, sophistication.

Did I mention any time um when that's gonna be taking place?

No, he was just talking um kind of what like uh talking about Star Wars type thing.

It's in the future.

Um I did post the question rather uh relative to the body cam footage uh to make sure that the body cam footage is foilable, just like a police report, and they explain that process.

Same general overall process, at least in New York State is if it's if it's um you order when you foil a police report, the three answers are here it is, or it's gonna take us a couple of days to get it, or you can't have it because it's an ongoing investigation.

Those are broad categories.

In the case with a cam body camera just like the police report they actually have a redaction system.

So you order you foil the body camera footage it's available to you you can have it and then they put it in the system and they are the the system itself is blocking out faces and even license places cars going by that have nothing to do with the investigation.

So the footage you're getting is is redacted in that fashion.

Anyway um I will submit a list of quarterly meetings for 2026 sometime in December we don't have the those meetings set and um I want to make sure that there were I wrote down a couple other things.

Training members yeah training um there have to trot on training uh us and uh then the community uh meetings came up relative to other groups that they're meeting with and we're we wanted to be included in those meetings as it relates to presenting CRB material.

Okay.

So there has to be a coordination between us and them for these community meetings and um and then anything we want to train with.

Okay.

Um now did they provide you with a training calendar?

No I we we we need to get back.

Um the presentation or the the the manner in which they spoke was fairly flexible.

Give us you know when do you want to do this?

When do you want to do this how we set up you know you've got to give them plenty of advanced notice.

Um but they were quite a great to hey uh you know call um what I'm sure um sure Nolita they want you to call say hey we're looking at these dates what can you do for us okay we've reached out already Adonia reached out today with uh a few dates to she Russell and we're just waiting to hear back so that we can actually get the the one thing I would like for you guys to do if you can uh request a training calendar of all the training events for the Syracuse police department so then that way um we can get that out to the board members and each board members can decide um when they're available to do those training um on even uh one of the deputy Stephen said as far as one of the topics was um call responses response times people complaining the police aren't coming or they're coming hours later and he said hey we can arrange a tour in 911 they'll explain to you their whole protocol as to what gets staggered what gets held up so you can go up there and see because these officers are dispatched by 911.

Okay.

So um you know at least made the point there I mean you could you're waiting for the police to come and you look over and there's three cars parked over here but they have no idea you're waiting because their calls are dispatched by the 911 system.

Okay now that that review with the 911 department is that for the board is able to so we need to schedule a time that the board can um do a visit to the uh 911 center so we can get some well we have the 911 representative come here before right oh we did yeah so that maybe we do uh a decision uh a choice of yep they would do it I'm I'm sure 911 would give us a chance to tour it on their own they we wouldn't have to work through the police department not so much as a tour but the training on how this calls are done they can come to us like before so one of our we can meet with them in some way full shape so we all can have the same trip to go up because it's an amazing setup the way that the whole thing works.

So if they would have us that would then you get the big picture of what's going on when they're fielding these calls.

Do you know how large the group can be for the 911 we have to call it set it up okay yeah so if you want to do that that'll be great.

Oh okay.

The the the only thing I want to uh piggyback on on on Mike on on the uh body camera uh one of the things I've noticed about the body cams there's always a 30 to 60 second delay on audio um did they happen to touch on that on why there's such a delay and on the audio um they they didn't say anything about a delay they did say that you can turn the audio off depending on the protocol.

So we need to get a copy of their protocol.

So for example if the video is there but you're not hearing the conversation it's because uh you're uh it might be several officers and a supervisor talking about what the nature of the call what they're gonna do and who's doing what which is all administrative.

Okay.

So I I'm just saying I'm not saying that what you're saying isn't accurate but it if it's not if the audio is not on it may not be that somebody forgot to turn it on it maybe the they deliberately turned it off given these administrative settings.

Okay but one of the things he said because about the 30 second delay that you're talking about and watching the videos that's a delay he said that the the videos can pick up from that point.

It's a 30 second even though it's a 30 second delay it can go back 30 seconds.

Oh we may not see it or hear it but it can go back if you have to foil it or go back and get the information it's in there.

Okay.

So and I and I take it in the police report, the documentation would have that verbiage or not.

I don't think it says that.

I think it's not.

What he said is it's a buffer.

So it's that 30-second delay where it is recording, but there is no audio, it's buffering.

Yes.

And it goes back from that time.

It goes back 30 seconds.

Yes.

And then you still see everything, but you don't hear anything until the 30 seconds is up, and it's the buffering from the video itself.

If I'm sitting in my car, John, I they dispatched the call, I tapped my thing, it went on.

You're watching the video, but you're not hearing anything.

Right.

Because it's gone back 30 seconds.

Oh, then it kicks in after 30 seconds.

Okay.

Oh, one of the things I want to thank the board for is that we now have evidence.com.

So we're able to log into uh the police system and live time and download videos instead of having to request the videos from the FPD.

So good job from the board to make that happen.

So any other committees?

I don't know if I'm gonna formulate it anymore.

Okay.

Um there's the committee on hearings, which I think I volunteered for.

So I I know I'm on it, but I don't think anybody else is still here that was on it.

I underwent.

I didn't know that.

Why why are you following me?

I following you out that I wanted to be on there.

You know you come every place I go, Mike.

Just a very simple question.

We're gonna redact that information.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um that sort of uh closes out our uh presentation.

So we're open for um citizens' questions and statements.

Uh five minutes per person.

Excuse me before you let me ask you a question about the presentation that you were supposed to talk to the guy today.

Oh, I think it'll well do that in close session.

Okay.

So I Barry Guwanter, I live on Ryder Avenue.

A couple of things.

One, please talk into the mic rather than hanging back.

I've got a slight hearing loss, and part of what people said was mumble mumble mumble mumble.

Okay.

So please use the microphones.

Um the administrator, you said something about a training and readiness as a mindset, and I really didn't get what that was or whether that was a board training or not.

So I just love some more info about that.

Um, as far as language translation, desire, that was a great statement.

You're actually required by New York State regs and by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act federally to have things available in the languages that people utilize every single day.

We have 80 languages in the school district.

We have a huge refugee community.

Um for finding out the top languages, contact the county office of social services, because they maintain that list.

Um, I would ask you to make sure that any translation or interpretation you get is with a qualified interpreter.

Because it's not just that you have to provide interpretation, but it has to be by somebody qualified in the terminology, in the language, in the dialect, in the gender dynamics in some cultures.

And that's one of the reasons I'm concerned about a body cam interpreting for an officer.

I was involved with the police in creating a system and a policy about providing interpretation.

And I happen to know a lot about this because I was Title VI, an ADA coordinator for the county.

And a body cam is not necessarily going to provide you with a qualified interpretation of what's being said.

So there may be some legitimate civil rights concerns about that.

There is a Title VI coordinator and ADA coordinator for the city as well as for the county.

So you may want to reach out to the Title VI coordinator, and having that relationship would be good.

Um I'm hoping that in part of the training that you're getting from the police, they're going to train you in how to look at a police resident encounter, because it's a very unique way of looking at things.

You have to look at it moment by moment from the point of view of the police officer, primarily to see if it's within policy and procedure or not.

And that's not a natural way of looking at things.

So I would suggest that you make sure that that's one of the things that you're trained in.

Um I'm hoping that you're urging the mayor elect when she chooses a new chief to replace Chief Cecil, that you urge her to pick a chief who is ready and willing to cooperate with the CRB from day one.

Um appointing a chief who has a resistance to that, I don't think is in the interest of any of the residents of our city, especially during these troubled times.

So I think you have a voice and I urge you to express that voice to the mayor elect.

Um if um I'm also looking to find out whether you have a plan to re-impoint or replace the two board members whose terms expire on December 25th.

I looked at the terms on your website and it looks like there's two.

Um lastly if uh if you discuss the advisory board, what its charge is, who may be appointed.

I believe that that's a matter for public meeting, not something that you should be discussing at a training that is not open to the public.

And frankly, that's something that I would like to be able to witness your discussion about that in a public meeting.

So I would ask you to check with the corporation council about that.

Okay.

Well one of the things is is that we're not actually setting uh discussing the setup.

We're just discussing um the oh, what's the word I'm looking for?

Whether or not the board is whether or not an advisory board is needed.

Um I think that's a matter for public discussion rather than private, in my opinion.

We voted to have it.

We actually took a vote.

So we voted in public to agree to establish the board.

So at least that step uh was done publicly.

Yes, I agree.

Okay.

Well, I all I can do is express my opinion and ask you to consider it.

And thank you.

Yeah, and we will definitely check with uh corporate counsel to make sure that we're following the rules and regulation uh to the T to the end.

So any other business?

Any other uh statements?

If not, um we need to uh have a motion to go into executive session.

I make that motion.

Well, motion been made for the board to go into executive session.

Is there a second?

It's been moved moved and seconded, uh that the board goes into executive session.

The uh the second was by uh by um Peggy Chase.

Um discussion.

If there's no discussion, let's take a vote.

All those in favor?

I those opposed, eyes carry.

Um meeting is um postponed until we come out of executive session.

We have a room on this floor now.

Uh I don't know.

Carter Yeah, we do.

Okay, great.

Perfect.