When peaceful protests turn violent, who is commanding the situation at the Buffalo Police Department?
Who determines when police tactics such as tear gas or pepper spray bullets are used?
What tactics are police officers trained to use for crowd control, and are they considered best practices?
Those are some of South Council Member Christopher P. Scanlon's concerns in light of recent protests and unrest in the city sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and local resentment about the way police treat black and brown residents.
Council members hope to get answers to such questions during an emergency meeting of the Police Oversight Committee at 11 a.m. Thursday with police leaders and other members of Mayor Byron W. Brown's administration.
The committee last met in January.
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"The public is demanding reform. They are demanding answers, and I believe during these times we have to shoulder that responsibility, ask those tough questions of the administration and assist in facilitating change," Scanlon said during a recent Council meeting.
Many of the local protests have been peaceful, but some have resulted in fires, looting and injuries, he said in calling for the emergency meeting.
Martin Gugino, a 75-year-old protester, ended up in intensive care after being shoved to the pavement by two members of the city’s Emergency Response Team. Gugino suffered a fractured skull and remains in Erie County Medical Center.
Officers Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe are seen on video pushing Gugino in the June 4 incident, which was recorded by a WBFO reporter. Torgalski and McCabe, part of an Emergency Response Team that responds to riots and other crowd control issues, were suspended and later charged with felony assault.
After the suspensions, all 57 members of the team resigned from the voluntary unit, but remain on the police force. Those moves came after John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, announced that the union would not cover legal defense costs for any team officers going forward.
In another incident, Deyanna Davis, a Buffalo woman, was charged June 1 with aggravated assault of a police officer. She is accused of driving an SUV through a line of riot police on Bailey Avenue outside the Northeast District Police Station.
Scanlon noted that two state troopers and a Buffalo police officer were hurt in the crash.
Scanlon said he believes a lack of leadership within the department led to many of the issues and that lawmakers seem to have only "a vague understanding" of the command structure and leadership makeup of the police department. As elected officials, Council members "must demand answers," he said.
The Council's emergency committee meeting will come after Brown announced a major shift in policing policies in the city on June 10 to respond to protesters' concerns, with some of the changes taking effect Wednesday. They range from issuing appearance tickets for low-level offenses to giving motorists a week instead of just 24 hours to fix broken tail lights or other vehicle defects if they want to avoid penalties.
The Police Oversight Committee meeting will stream live on the Council's Facebook page. The agenda can be found at buffalony.gov/meetings.
The deadline is today at noon to submit public questions and comments for Thursday's meeting. They can be emailed to councilstaff@city-buffalo.com or called in to 851-5105.
The Council's discussion about the need for the emergency meeting of the Police Oversight Committee begins below at about the 18-minute mark.
Posted by Buffalo Common Council on Tuesday, June 9, 2020
