The advisory body is made up of a diverse group of Buffalo residents including professors and lawyers, advocates and service providers, and youth representatives:

• Bobbie Brown, Resident Advisory Board member for the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority
• Erin Carman, assistant professor in Daemen College's Department of Social Work
• Danielle Johnson of Open Buffalo's Justice and Opportunity Table
• De'Jon Hall of the MOCHA Center
• Jonathan Manes, assistant clinical professor at the University at Buffalo's School of Law and director of UB's Law School Civil Liberties and Transparency Clinic
• Ari Moore of the WNY Anti-Violence Project
• Charles Morrison of My Brother's Keeper
• Benjamin Nelson of the National Lawyers Guild
• Steven Sanyu from Burmese Community Services
• Willie Smith from My Brother's Keeper
• Yasmin Young, 93.7 WBLK director of community outreach

Several members of the advisory body have played active roles in PPG and Open Buffalo's work for more community-oriented policing: Johnson serves as chair of the Open Buffalo Justice & Opportunity Coalition, Carman is a PPG policy fellow and author of our 2013 report on criminal justice disparities, and Sanyu is a member of the Language Access working group convened by PPG.

The advisory body will host meetings with the community and police leadership, propose research-based policy solutions to improve oversight, and work toward improved community-police relations in Buffalo. 

Join PPG and Open Buffalo at the next Police Oversight Committee meeting--when members of the advisory body will be introduced--on March 27 at 11am in Common Council Chambers (Buffalo City Hall, 13th Floor).

Read the Common Council resolution creating the advisory body and announcing its members here.