BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Calls for police reform in Buffalo continue in the wake of last week's decision by a grand jury not to charge two police officers with felony assault in the June shoving incident of a protester in front of Buffalo City Hall.
When a grand jury did not charge police officers Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe in the June 4 shoving of 75-year-old Martin Gugino, it set off a flurry of criticism.
"It's upsetting," Christian Parra, a community organizer for Citizen Action NY and part of Mayor Byron Brown's police reform commission, said. "Once again there's no accountability. You see the one officer that actually tries to help Martin and the other officer didn't let him...I'm just angry at the fact that we have (Buffalo Police) Commissioner (Byron) Lockwood who has not done anything to keep police accountable. We have DA (John) Flynn who has not done anything to keep police accountable. It's just super upsetting for me that I'm on a commission under Mayor Brown and I don't know if I see any reform that puts police accountable for their jobs if they don't do it right."
Among the changes he would like to see is within the police union contract. He said the union has held back reforms and criticized it for a lack of diversity.
"We need to get people that have been impacted to be the people making decisions in order to make better decisions for the police department," Parra said. "There's no accountability for police to actually do their job correctly. They either get suspended and then get back on the force. It's just sad that the community has no voice to talk about what protection looks like for them. In urban areas, people are scared of the police. It's not something that protects the people."
There have been some efforts to reform the police department over the last several months. In October, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown signed "Cariol's Law" into effect, which requires officers to intervene when other officers are acting inappropriately. The city last year also purchased 85 stun guns for more than 500 officers. Buffalo is still also in a trial of BolaWrap, though Parra and others have spoken out against it's use.
"What's hopefully next is an independent oversight committee and not the public oversight committee that is overseen by the city council," Parra said. "We need an independent oversight committee that is overseeing the police and if there is any active racism, brutality, are able to have the subpoena power to take the police out."
Hear more from Parra below:
