We discuss the proposed budget of the Rochester Police Accountability Board (PAB). The proposed $5 million annual budget would dramatically expand funding for the PAB, creating three new PAB bureaus that, they claim, would help it do its duties: (1) the Bureau of Officer Accountability to investigate nearly 500 annual complaints against the RPD within 90 days, (2) the Bureau of Systemic Change to lead comprehensive community-driven policing changes, and (3) the Bureau of Administration to ensure the PAB's operations are accessible and functional. Were this budget to be approved, it would effectively mean that for every $20 the city spends on the RPD it would spend $1 on the PAB. You can learn more about the PAB's proposed budget here: https://www.cityofrochester.gov/pab/budget/?fbclid=IwAR1RlMuJIe8i3M1nehypArOcxIeeNsTFi5bC9lZoGVVp7Dfda-SjbgPaMCw (https://www.cityofrochester.gov/pab/budget/)

We also discuss the continued troubling rise of disinformation and susceptibility to misinformation through the lens of vaccine conspiracies. Many vaccine skeptics, conspiracy theorists, and right-wing trolls latched onto the federal government's halt of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine distribution this week. You would be surprised at the extent to which conspiracy theories have embedded into "normal" discourse and "normal" people. We need to take a deep breath and do better at not falling prey to peddlers of misinformation and disinformation.

Thanks for joining us.