Listen • 11:21
City Council candidate Stanley Martin stands in front of an informal memorial to Daniel Prude in Rochester, N.Y. Prude was a man with mental health and drug issues who died last year after being taken into police custody.
, on American democracy.
Stanley Martin was one of the Black Lives Matter activists who organized last year s protests in Rochester, N.Y. She pushed to change policing from outside the system.
This year, Martin is seeking change from the inside, running in the Rochester City Council primary on June 22. Her focus: reimagining public safety. To Martin, this means a radical new plan to abolish the police gradually.
May 4, 2021
NewsRadio WHAM 1180 Reporting: Mayor Lovely Warren and City Council Vice President Willie Lightfoot are announcing a community-based, neighborhood safety and violence reduction initiative.
Mayor Warren announced today the creation of the Office of Neighborhood Safety, saying action is needed.
She says the new initiative will help bring local organizations together and is being modeled after a similar program in Newark, NJ.
Vice President Lightfoot says the city of Rochester has a problem and is encouraged by this action.
The Office of Neighborhood Safety will be a part of the Department of Recreation and Human Services.
The search now begins for an office coordinator.
By Cherranda Smith
“Officer, please don’t do this to me.”
New footage has emerged of the January 29 incident in Rochester, New York that left a nine-year-old girl handcuffed and pepper sprayed as multiple police officers detained her.
Officials in Rochester released the extended body camera footage that captured more of the distressing event.
In between sobs, the child can be heard pleading with a female officer.
“Officer,” she says. “Please don’t do this to me.” The officer replies, “You did it yourself, hon.”
The new footage released on Thursday (February 11), is an hour and half long, according to a report by