Harvard mediation program gives citizens, Boston police, a new way to address grievances
Some grievances against Boston police officers will go to mediation before they’re referred to the Internal Affairs Division, thanks to a new partnership with Harvard Law School.
The department announced its mediation program, run in partnership with the university, on Friday. Officers facing certain complaints will be given the opportunity to opt into the program, according to a statement on the department’s website.
In those cases, the officer and the complainant would voluntarily agree to meet with two impartial mediators from the Harvard program to discuss the incident. The goal of the mediators is to assist the officer and complainant in reaching a mutually acceptable resolution to the grievance, according to the statement.
If a resolution is reached, no Internal Affairs investigation would be launched.
Mediation will be offered on a case-by-case basis, to be determined by the commissioner, according to the department’s statement.
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