Lawmakers on Beacon Hill have come to an agreement about a new police reform bill in Massachusetts. This new police reform bill has been long anticipated and comes after a year of nationwide outcries for social justice and changes to policing. The name of the new bill is called "An Act Relative to Justice, Equity, and Accountability in Law Enforcement" and Senate President Karen Spilka and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo say this bill "lays a foundation to reshape policing in the Commonwealth and to "build toward racial justice and equity". Now that lawmakers finally met in the middle regarding this bill, the bill will be presented in front of the House today during a full formal session where the bill is expected to pass. Then the Senate is also due to meet in a formal session to vote on the bill sometime in the near future.
What is in this new police reform bill? What changes were made and what was introduced? The bill introduces a new commission called the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. This commission is responsible for setting police standards across the state, certifying law enforcement officers, and investigating potential wrongdoing by police. The commission would be comprised of 9 members. Three of them would hail from law enforcement backgrounds and 6 of them would be regular civilians. Who appoints these members of the commission? It's a combination of the governor and attorney general. The governor would appoint three on his own and they would include:
- One police Chief
- One retired Supreme Court justice
- One social worker nominated by the National Association of Social Workers' Massachusetts chapter
The attorney general would also appoint three members on her own and they would include:
- One police officer below the rank of sergeant
- One officer nominated by the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers
- One attorney nominated by the Massachusetts Bar Association's civil rights and social justice section council
Then the last remaining 3 seats on the commission would be jointly appointed by the governor and attorney general and one of those seats must be nominated by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Some of the changes that will be made regarding "misconduct" are as follows:
- Ban on chokeholds
- Limitations on no-knock warrants
- Required de-escalation for individual and crowd situations
- Revokes officers certifications for a variety of offenses that the commission will look into which could include: excessive use of force, failing to intervene to prevent another officer from excessive use of force, and falsifying timesheets.
This bill also includes increased accountability practices for police officers that includes thorough reviews from the new commission that include the following from them:
- A "thorough review of parole and probation process to determine if there are disparities in the treatment of persons of color in the granting or denying of parole and if structural racism is a cause of those disparities."
- A "thorough review of the policies and procedures in place at state and county correctional facilities, both as written and as implemented, to determine if there are disparities in the treatment of persons of color and if structural racism at these facilities is a cause of those disparities."
Overall the commission is aimed at sniffing out any potential "racism" in the policing system in any area and weeding it out accordingly with decertification and removal.
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