Gov. Baker unveils proposal for police reform legislation, urges a certification process for officers
“For so long, this bill sat and languished and was forgotten about."
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In the wake of protests against police brutality and systemic racism, Gov. Charlie Baker filed a new bill Wednesday that’s designed to increase police accountability and creates a framework to certify law enforcement officers for the first time in Massachusetts’ history.
“The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police officers made clear that now is the time to get this done,” Baker said during a Wednesday press briefing alongside members of the state’s Black and Latino Legislative Caucus.
The new legislation, he said, establishes a process for de-certifying police who “don’t live up” to their oath, ensures that police departments in and outside the commonwealth have access to a database of officers’ training and disciplinary records, offers incentives for officers to pursue extra training in foreign language skills or advanced de-escalation techniques, and a certification process for officers that must be renewed every three years — which is consistent with other Mass. professions in medicine, education, and social work.
“The bill we’re filing today is the first step in a process that we hope will create a package of reforms that accomplishes the goals that we all share,” Baker said, noting that his administration has been working to craft the proposal for a year now. “Improving law enforcement is just one piece of this process.”
Baker said the bill would also establish a new task force, the Police Officer Standards and Accreditation Committee, composed of both law enforcement and local residents, half of whom would be required to be people of color.
“This bill is not about choosing sides and digging in,” Baker said. “This bill is about giving the law enforcement community the training and the resources that they need to serve, which in turn yields high-caliber public servants for our communities.”
The new committee would be in charge of certifying all law enforcement officials in Massachusetts, applying statewide standards, maintaining a database of all certified officers, and developing a standardized background check for anyone applying to a new police department.
Baker clarified that under the bill, officers would face “mandatory de-certifications” if they enact certain violations, such as not intervening when a colleague uses illegal force, placing someone in a chokehold, or violating human rights, among what the governor called “eight or nine” other violations.
“If you get decertified, you’re done,” he added.
Mass. Representative Russell Holmes, a Mattapan Democrat and member of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, said now more than ever is the time to start holding police accountable to the same standards that authorities hold more than 160 other trades and professions.
“We have been shouting, absolutely screaming in the wilderness,” Holmes said. “For so long, this bill sat and languished and was forgotten about.”
“How can we hold folks who are doing our nails and our hair at a [higher] standard than someone who can take my life?” he asked. “How can we hold someone who is a financial planner at a higher standard than someone who can take my civil liberties?”
This legislation would be a first step in solving that issue, Holmes said.
“I am sick and tired of hearing constituents say, ‘We asked for a badge number and I didn’t get it.’ Those days are over,” he said. “I envision a day where I get pulled over, because that will happen, and I will sit in that car like so many folks do, and we wait around for 15 minutes for them to come give us our ticket. They’re reviewing our background, our driving records — but I will view theirs too.”
State Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, current chair of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, echoed Holmes’s words.
“Many will say that we are here today because of the cries from Minneapolis,” Gonzalez said during the governor’s briefing. “I say we are here because of the protests and the cries from Minneapolis, because of the death of George Floyd, Eric Garner, Rodney King, and the cries from the slaves and the slave ships, and the cries of our brothers and sisters of the Native American community before this country started.”
Gonzalez continued, saying “the protests have been heard, and now it’s time to answer the prayers.”
The proposed bill was presented as one step toward turning the significant nationwide anger into substantive laws and policy changes.
“The daily injustices that people of color experience are not addressed easily or quickly and certainly not with a single piece of legislation,” Baker said. “We have lots of work left to do.”
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