Some police reforms adopted
Protest ideas being considered
Faced with calls to defund police in the wake of George Floyd’s killing last month by a Minneapolis officer, some Massachusetts departments have begun to reform policies around use of force, but the American Civil Liberties Union says that does not go far enough.
Massachusetts is one of only a handful of states that does not license police officers, as it does for at least 50 other trades and professions, the ACLU said.
The group called for a statewide police certification system similar to ones that are overseen by a Peace Officer Standards and Training commission that has the ability to both license officers and decertify ones who are convicted of crimes or engage in a pattern of misconduct.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Charlie Baker said that, for several months, the state has been exploring implementing a POST system and expects to enact reforms “soon.”
Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes, president of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs Association, said such a certification system essentially would codify many standards already in place through the Municipal Police Training Committee, including graduating from the police academy, completing hundreds of hours of curriculum and passing several exams. The major city chiefs and other police groups are generally in favor of a licensing system, he said.
In the absence of one, the Arlington Police Department last week announced that it had updated its use-of-force policy to require officers to intervene in situations where another officer is using unreasonable force, bringing the department fully into line with all of the reforms proposed by the 8 Can’t Wait Campaign.
The campaign calls for police departments to adopt restrictive use-of-force policies, including banning chokeholds and strangleholds; requiring officers to de-escalate situations, exhaust all alternatives before shooting and give a verbal warning before opening fire; implementing a duty to intervene; banning shooting at moving vehicles; and requiring comprehensive reporting of all incidents that result in threat or use of force.
Since Floyd’s killing, Boston Police have said they intend to adopt the Ethical Policing is Courageous Peer Intervention Program developed by the New Orleans Police Department. The program authorizes police to intervene in another officer’s actions, regardless of his or her rank, and it protects officers when they do.
But some protesters in the demonstrations that have taken place across the country since Floyd’s death have called for defunding police altogether.
Lucy Lang, director of the Institute
for Innovation in Prosecution and a research professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the U.S. is likely a long way from abolishing police, prosecutors, courts and jails.
“But to me, this is an exciting emerging movement in support of diverting some traditional law enforcement resources towards … other agencies that may often be better suited to respond to particular community needs,” such as mental health crises, said Lang, who was an assistant district attorney in Manhattan for 12 years.
Change in police departments begins with screening of prospective officers, which often varies depending on the department, she said.
“I think it would be great if we looked for qualities in police officers that we look for in teachers and in social workers,” Lang said.
Police departments also should reflect and invest in the communities they serve, she said.
“People talk about training, and obviously, that’s critically important on issues like de-escalation, but alone, that is insufficient to create culture change,” Lang said. “… You find that when police are able to spend time tutoring, mentoring, coaching young people in the communities they serve that they have a very different view of communities.
“Of course, one of the challenges, especially in urban environments, is often that police officers don’t live in the communities where they serve,” Lang said. “So to the extent that departments can move resources away from traditional law enforcement means and more towards community connection over time, I think that does have the potential to move the needle.”