One big area of discussion with policing is qualified immunity. What is that? Qualified immunity is police protection from liability on the job if in some circumstances it is perceived that they violated a citizen's rights. This bill does not include significant change to police qualified immunity. What is included in the bill on this is as follows:

"A special legislative commission to investigate and study the impact to the

administration of justice of the qualified immunity doctrine in the commonwealth. Said

investigation and study shall include, without limitation, an analysis of the origins of qualified

immunity and its present interpretation by the courts of the commonwealth, and the legal and

policy rationale for, and the legal and policy impact of, the qualified immunity doctrine in the

commonwealth."

Police are overwhelmingly happy about this as it makes their job very difficult to do if they have a constant worry hanging over their shoulder that if I arrest this individual and they get hurt in the process if they resist arrest, they could sue me for doing my job. That's the thinking. Without qualified immunity in some fashion, you would see mass early retirements and a serious shortage in police because no one would want to be a police officer if they are sued for doing their job and they could lose everything. Obviously serious misconduct and gross negligence is not acceptable and upon evaluation will not be upheld under qualified immunity, that's why it's called "qualified". People act like police go around throwing people around and acting however they want because they can get away with it...that's not true. They do what they have to do and are allowed to do in the moment to uphold the law and do what is required of them.

Overall I think this new reform bill is a bit much in some areas but given the cries for social justice, something had to be done and it could be worse. Some might think it's a bit of nitpicking a problem that does not exist here in the northeast to the extend it might exist in other areas of the country and I can see that. I honestly do not think there was much change needed for policing here in the northeast. There are not nearly as many legitimate racial complaints or issues here as there are in other sections of America. Some of these policy changes are indeed good and appropriate such as a ban on chokeholds, although that was not a taught practice here in the academies of Massachusetts (to my knowledge of the teaching conducted at academies I am personally familiar with). From my understanding the only acceptance of a chokehold is literally in a life or death scenario when your life is being challenged by a crazed civilian. It is not a tactic used for detaining an individual during arrest. Furthermore, I do have some concerns with citizens abusing the commission as I feel like every arrestable incident across the state will be brought in front of it with people trying to claim racism as a way out of their faults. While it's good to have a commission in the event legitimate incidents happen where racism did occur, I fear people will abuse it. My hope is that the commission is thorough enough in investigating all the angles of each arrest and offense presented before them. I do have some confidence that the commission who is supposed to be mainly of a law enforcement and law background will judge each scenario or incident presented before them, fairly and thoroughly so hopefully that is the case. What are your thoughts on this new police reform bill that is being presented in front of the House and then the Senate?

You can read the full 129 page police reform bill filed, HERE.

-Producer Lightning

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