NEW ROCHELLE, NY (May 17, 2026) — The New Rochelle Civilian Complaint Review Board, seated nearly a year ago, has never held a single meeting, and the primary training component required before members can begin reviewing police misconduct complaints has been delayed with no scheduled start date, a senior New Rochelle Police Department official has confirmed.
The official confirmed that the 2026 Citizens Police Academy — which accounts for 25 of approximately 37 total training hours required under city code before board members may review complaints — has not been held. “It was delayed and I do not know what date they are planning on starting it,” the official said. “It has been spoken about in meetings, but no hard date has been determined yet to my knowledge.”
The Citizens Police Academy is administered by the New Rochelle Police Department and has historically run once per year, typically between March and May. The 2025 session ended in mid-May — weeks before the seven-member board was constituted in July 2025 following the City Council’s unanimous adoption of CCRB legislation in October 2024. No 2026 session has been offered and there are currently no plans to schedule one.
The city’s position is that board members cannot review cases until training is complete. City code Section 9-118C states that in the absence of complaints to review, CCRB meetings shall be used for training and continuing education — a provision that suggests the board can convene before all training is complete. The board has not met for any purpose.
The police department the CCRB is designed to oversee controls the scheduling of the primary training component that determines when the CCRB can function.
Asked in mid-May whether CCRB agendas and minutes were publicly available, a city staff member confirmed the board had not yet met, citing required training. Assistant City Manager Todd Castaldo, the city’s designated liaison to the CCRB, has made no public statements about the board’s status.
The CCRB was established following years of community demand for independent civilian oversight of the New Rochelle Police Department, a demand that intensified following the June 2020 death of Kamal Flowers, a 24-year-old Black man shot and killed by NRPD Officer Alec McKenna. Since Flowers’ death, three additional major incidents involving NRPD officers have proceeded entirely without civilian oversight.
Talk of the Sound has sent inquiries to Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert, Police Commissioner Neil Reynolds, City Manager Wilfredo Melendez, Assistant City Manager Castaldo, CCRB Chairperson Natasha Fapohunda, and others. FOIL requests have been submitted to NRPD, the City of New Rochelle, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, and the New York State Office of the State Comptroller. No responses had been received as of publication.
This story is based on a comprehensive research report on the New Rochelle Civilian Complaint Review Board published by Talk of the Sound and Words in Edgewise. The full 14-section report is available to paid subscribers at Words in Edgewise.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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