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Posted on 09/25/2020 4:11:22 PM PDT by robowombat
MA Police Reform Bill Waylaid As ACLU Renews Call For Passage A Massachusetts police reform bill was approved months ago, but it's still stuck in committee on Beacon Hill.
By Neal McNamara, Patch Staff Verified Patch Staff Badge Sep 25, 2020 10:11 am ET | Updated Sep 25, 2020 10:18 am ET
Replies (4) A police reform bill in Massachusetts is still being worked out on Beacon Hill. A police reform bill in Massachusetts is still being worked out on Beacon Hill. (Neal McNamara/Patch) WORCESTER, MA — Just this week, a mother filed a lawsuit against Worcester police over the violent restraint of her 10-year-old autistic son, a Reading officer was indicted on manslaughter charges and Gov. Charlie Baker activated the National Guard in preparation for protests over the decision not to charge officers in the killing of Breonna Taylor.
The issue of police reform is still hot in Massachusetts months after the killing of George Floyd sparked local and nationwide protests, but a police reform bill — which lawmakers wrote in response to the protests — is still stuck on Beacon Hill.
This week, the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) launched a campaign to raise awareness about police violence and misconduct to renew interest in the reform bill. Both the state House and Senate approved versions of the bill in July, but it's been waylaid in a conference committee since August.
T-Mobile | Featured Advertiser T-Mobile and Sprint have merged! Now T-Mobile’s network isn’t just bigger, it’s even better than before! With more towers, more engineers, more coverage and amazing prices. Learn More Gov. Charlie Baker this week said he'd like the bill to hit his desk before the end of the year. He also commented on the outcome of the Taylor case, saying it was a "horrible, terrible tragedy." One police officer involved in the Taylor shooting was charged for endangering people an apartment adjacent to Taylor's, but there were no charges over her death. The decision renewed protests across the country.
The Massachusetts reform bill includes many items, but the most controversial is a proposal to change qualified immunity. As it stands, officers can't be held personally liable in civil lawsuits for misconduct on the job unless they acted criminally. The bill would chip away at that protection, which police unions say would expose officers to undue liability.
Subscribe The reform bill would also create a Police Officer Standards and Accreditation Committee, which would oversee certification of police officers. Other aspects of the bill would ban chokeholds and govern how crowd control and military weapons can be used and obtained by police departments.
The bill and the larger protest movement has sparked somewhat of a culture war in the state between police reformers and a group called Defend Your Police. The pro-police group is offering signs to supporters, and has held "back the blue" rallies in communities across the state.
Jenna Fisher/Patch The state's largest police union, the Massachusetts Coalition of Police (MassCOP), has also held rallies opposing the reform bill. MassCOP leaders say they support seven reforms proposed in June, including the chokehold ban, training standardization, an accreditation process and creating a duty to intervene, among others. But the union opposes anything further.
"[The bill] has become an activist wish list that punishes police simply for being police," a sample letter to lawmakers on the MassCOP website reads. "Removing qualified immunity will subject law enforcement officers to frivolous lawsuits and it will be a major financial burden for municipalities."
But cities across the state already pay for police misconduct. This week, Worcester revealed that it is dealing with a dozen lawsuits over police misconduct, including the one over the 10-year-old autistic boy's restraint. In 2016, Framingham paid Eurie Stamps' family $3.75 million to settle a civil suit after the retired MBTA bus driver was shot in his home during a police raid. The family of Justin Root is suing Boston and state police after the 41-year-old was shot 31 times in three seconds following a chase that began at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
As part of the awareness campaign, the ACLU this week released a map of over 100 incidents where police in Massachusetts have either used deadly force or were accused of misconduct. The map covers recent incidents from the deadly police shooting in Milford in April to the 2018 shooting in Reading of Alan Greenough.
"Police violence and misconduct happen here, in every corner of the state. From Boston to Springfield to Pittsfield, people experience policing differently depending on who they are and to what community they belong. Bay Staters deserve equal justice and demand meaningful police reform," Massachusetts ACLU Executive Director Carol Rose said in a news release.
So the ACLU releases a map with uses of deadly force and misconduct allegations. Of course, at some point police will use deadly force. I’m sure they will highlight every incident they can find whether or not it was determined to be justified based on the facts of the case for their political narrative.
I guarantee that a bill will pass that would make George Soros proud.
New law may as well have mandatory jail time for police as they start their shift, with details filled in by a BLM/Soros appointed leftist lawyer later.
Refusal to let a criminal suspect go while on the scene will result in a hostile review board setting up civil court charges against the cops.
Why sign up to become an officer?
Why do they keep saying this?
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He did activate like 1000 soldiers for this. The real question is a month or two ago, I believe around the time of the Massachusetts primaries, he activated about the same number of troops and never gave an explanation as to why and then without notice deactivated them. He’s been asked about that it has yet to give a good answer as to why.
That is why I found that the bill being legislatively stalled surprised me.
State police unions are powerful forces in Democrat environments.
It has to do with the Mass. State Police, solid Dem organization that rivals the FBI for corruptness.
ACLU = American Criminal Lunatic Union
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