BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and a task force on police reform have unveiled recommendations for systemic change to Boston’s police department.
The recommendations include an expanded body cam program, the creation of an independent Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, changes to Use of Force policies, and more diversity and inclusion, the mayor’s office said.
Walsh said that the recommendations are the result of a report created by a task force formed in June to review the department’s policies and procedures.
“These initial recommendations will guide how we reform Boston’s police force, and strengthen our commitment to community policing,” Walsh said in a statement. “As we finalize this report, we’ll continue to prioritize the voices of our Black and Brown residents, who bear the brunt of the racial injustices embedded in our society.”
Walsh’s office said the public will have two weeks to review the report and provide input.
Boston Police Reform Task Force Chairman Wayne Budd urges all Boston residents to “read our report, and share your feedback, and be a part of this crucial, important work.”
In a statement, Carol Rose, executive director of the Mass. American Civil Liberties Union wrote:
“The Boston Police Reform Task Force has set forth some meaningful policy suggestions to protect the public from violent policing and to hold police accountable through increased transparency. But as the Task Force acknowledges, these recommendations are just a start. It remains to be seen whether they will have real teeth. We must dramatically shift the role of police in our society by reducing law enforcement’s footprint in over-policed communities and investing in people, not prisons. Policymakers’ work has only just begun; the Mayor has the power and responsibility to embrace, enact, and enforce these recommendations to hold Boston police accountable, and the state legislature must act now to reform policing across Massachusetts.”
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