Charlie Baker defends proposal for police bonuses within reform bill as criticism mounts
"I don’t expect many to do it but I think it’s important."
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POLICE REFORM
Police officers could receive up to $5K in training bonuses under a bill filed by Gov. Baker. Here’s what to know.
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Photos: Monday’s Boston protest calling for racial justice
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Policing Reform
Gov. Baker unveils proposal for police reform legislation, urges a certification process for officers
Amid mounting criticism, Gov. Charlie Baker Tuesday defended a proposal — tucked inside a larger bill to create a state certification system for law enforcement officers — to provide up to $5,000 bonuses for police to take on additional training.
“It’s for people who go above and beyond with respect to what they’re required to do under our proposal,” Baker said during a press conference. “And I don’t expect many to do it, but I think it’s important. If you want people to up their game, if you want people to perform at a higher level, if you want people to do a better job in serving the communities they represent and to be leaders with respect to the way they do that, it’s not unusual to create a modest incentive for them to do that.”
The proposal for bonuses was a particular point of contention for activists who protested Baker’s bill and rallied for racial justice outside the State House Monday, as they called on the governor to scale back law enforcement funding in the nationwide push to funnel that money into anti-violence and public health initiatives.
“In the environment where people are talking about defunding the police, these slick Willies figured out a way to get more money,” Jamarhl Crawford, a Boston community activist, told MassLive.
Under the bill, officers would be able to receive one-time bonuses if they go beyond the necessary minimum training and complete courses on topics such as advanced first aid; advanced domestic violence and sexual violence training; advanced de-escalation techniques; narcotics training; advanced training in bias-free policing; and foreign language proficiency “relevant to police work in the jurisdiction in which the individual licensed officer is employed.”
The offer came as a surprise to even law enforcement leaders, while activists have questioned its necessity.
“Nobody should have to pay you to not be racist, that’s not an incentive,” activist Monica Cannon-Grant said at Monday’s protest, according to WGBH News. “It’s disrespectful, it’s a slap in the face to every Black person in this city, to be paid for you to have cultural sensitivity, not be racist and to not kill us.”
At Tuesday’s press conference, Baker was repeatedly interrupted by a woman in the crowd who criticized the proposal and at one point said, “$5,000 for anti-racism training — who deserves that?”
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Baker stressed the overall bill primarily aims to create a uniform system to de-certify officers who do not follow protocol, including when an officer engages in “biased behavior and activity” or uses a chokehold, among other practices.
“This law that we filed, in conjunction with our folks at the (Black and Latino Legislative) Caucus, is about delivering on not just an enhanced certification program, but also a process to de-certify officers who don’t live up to their oath,” the governor said. “And as part of that we included a modest bonus, not for those who actually did the training and did their continuing education training, but for those who went beyond the call and did additional work in this space so we can continue to enhance our capacity to provide people what they deserve on the streets, which is an accountable law enforcement community.”
Massachusetts is one of only four states in the country that does not have a police officer certification system. Baker’s bill, unveiled last week, would ensure officers face mandatory de-certifications if they violate certain standards, such as not intervening when a fellow officer uses illegal force or when they violate human rights, among others.
“There is no hard de-certification process in place currently for any of those things,” Baker said Tuesday.
Hundreds of protesters Monday marched from Roxbury’s Reggie Lewis Center to the State House, honoring Black Americans killed by police officers, including Rayshard Brooks, the man shot and killed by police outside a fast-food restaurant in Atlanta earlier this month, MassLive reports.
Cannon-Grant, standing on the steps of the state capitol, told demonstrators to call Baker’s office to ask he take money from law enforcement budgets and put it into community resources and services in Black communities, according to the news site.
“I need him to be uncomfortable … the kind of uncomfortable I feel every time I leave my house, the kind of uncomfortable I feel when my son says he’s going outside and I really want to keep him in the house, but I can’t, the kind of uncomfortable when my kids take public transportation, because one of two things is going to happen,” said Cannon-Grant, who is the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Violence in Boston. “Either they’re going to die by somebody that looks like them, or they’re going to get killed by a police officer.”
“At this point, we’re literally trapped,” she added. “Being in our communities feels like being on house arrest.”
Protesters gather at the State House during a Juneteenth protest and demonstration in honor of Rayshard Brooks and other victims of Police violence Monday.
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