Welcome to our November newsletter! In October of this year, the New York State Office of the Attorney General issued a letter letter addressing the alleged misconduct of Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) Detective Nicholas Gennaro. In the decision, Detective Gennaro’s use of pretext stops was noted. This matter came to the attention of the Attorney General’s Office through the mandated reporting required by Executive Law 75(5)(b). That statute set up the “Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office” (LEMIO). LEMIO’s mission is to: review, study, audit and make recommendations relating to the operations, policies, programs and practices, including ongoing partnerships with other law enforcement agencies, of state and local law enforcement agencies with the goal of enhancing the effectiveness of law enforcement, increasing public safety, protecting civil liberties and civil rights, ensuring compliance with constitutional protections and local, state and federal laws, and increasing the public's confidence in law enforcement. N.Y. Exec. Law §75(2)(d). This statute also requires reporting of police misconduct to LEMIO. As noted on the Attorney General’s website, Under Executive Law section 75(5)(b), covered law enforcement agencies are required to refer to the Office of the New York State Attorney General (OAG) instances in which the agency has: "receiv[ed] at least five complaints from five or more individuals relating to at least five separate instances involving a certain officer or employee within two years." Upon receiving such a referral, OAG is required to: "investigate [the] complaints to determine whether the subject officer or employee has engaged in a pattern or practice of misconduct, excessive force, or dishonesty." In reviewing Detective Gennaro’s conduct, the author of the LEMIO letter noted the racial disparities in the use of pretext stops in Suffolk County, stating, Finally, we note a concerning use of pretextual stops of Black men by Officer Gennaro and other members of the SCPD specialized gang or anticrime units. Although our office could not resolve all of the factual disputes presented in the nine referred complaints, most of the complaints stemmed from stops based on minor traffic infractions, such as turning without signaling, tailgating, or using a phone while driving, but did not result in the issuance of traffic summonses for those alleged violations. The drivers were Black men, some of whom had been repeatedly stopped by Officer Gennaro or other officers in the same units. Officer Gennaro’s stops appear consistent with a larger pattern documented by Suffolk County itself, where Black and Hispanic drivers have, at least since 2021, been stopped, searched, and detained more often than White drivers in Suffolk County based on traffic violations. While an analysis of recent Suffolk County stop data did not reveal definitive proof of bias, it noted that “searches of minority drivers were, on average, less likely to result in recovered evidence than those of White drivers” despite comprising a higher proportion of stops. The harms caused by repeated pretext stops can be significant, often are concentrated on minority drivers, and likely outweigh any benefits to public safety. This letter's footnotes refer to our report on Pretext Stops. The AG’s office publishes the names of officers who were referred under 75(5)(b) and whose cases have been closed. While the published report reflects numerous officers in numerous police departments including many from our neighbors Syracuse to the east, and Buffalo to the west, it does not seem to include any from the Rochester Police Department. Perhaps there are no officers who fit within the category of five complaints from five individuals within two years, or perhaps there is a failure to report. We will be submitting a Freedom of Information Law request for that information in the coming weeks. The need for collection of data, transparency, the end to these racially disparate stops, and a remedy for when police engage in misconduct are all made clear by the story of Detective Gennaro. Many of the solutions are contained in Senate Bill S3662A/Assembly Bill A6631. Sincerely, Jill Paperno | 
