BOSTON - Monday, January 4, 2020 - In
maintaining his commitment to making Boston a national leader on police
reform and creating long-lasting, systemic change, Mayor Martin J. Walsh
today joined members of the Boston Police Reform Task Force, Chairman Wayne
Budd, and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross to sign the ordinance
creating the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency (OPAT) in a
virtual ceremony. The office creates a single point of public access to a
new standard in police accountability and community oversight, and will
house and support the newly created Civilian
Review Board, and the Internal
Affairs Oversight Panel that builds on and strengthens the existing
Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel (CO-OP) board. It also creates the
overarching Office of Police Accountability and Transparency (OPAT)
Commission, which collectively holds subpoena power for the OPAT, Civilian
Review Board, and Internal Affairs Oversight Panel.
"Now
is the time to act with urgency to dismantle systemic racism across our
city," said Mayor Walsh. "The Office of Police Accountability and
Transparency will support lasting, generational change by rooting out
impropriety and ensuring the type of enhanced oversight that leads to
greater community trust. This is an important milestone, but it's only the
beginning. I thank the Task Force members for their dedication to engaging
the community to create comprehensive recommendations that will deepen our
progress towards equity in Boston."
In
June, Mayor Walsh created the Boston
Police Reform Task Force, which was charged with reviewing a set of
current Boston Police Department policies and procedures, and presenting
recommendations for reform. The four main areas of review were: Use of
Force policies; Implicit Bias Training, the Body-worn Camera Program, and
the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel (CO-OP). The creation of the OPAT
was a central recommendation from the Task Force, which issued their final
recommendations in Mid-October. Mayor Walsh is currently in the process of
reviewing and implementing all of the additional recommendations.
To
act swiftly and enact the recommendations, Mayor Walsh previously signed
two executive orders 30 days after the Task Force released their
recommendations to create Boston's first-ever Civilian Review Board, a
9-member board that will be made up of community members nominated by the
City Council and the Mayor's Office, and to reconstitute the existing CO-OP
as a stronger Internal Affairs Oversight Panel that will have the power to
review all completed Internal Affairs cases. The Panel will also be able to
review the policies and procedures of Internal Affairs, as well as engage
with the community about their impact. The Civilian Review Board and the
Internal Affairs Oversight Panel will be housed within the Office of Police
Accountability and Transparency, making up a two-pronged system with a
single point of entry for residents. The OPAT will provide intake services,
research, and administrative support to the Civilian Review Board and the
Internal Affairs Oversight Panel, and the OPAT Commission will have
subpoena power to investigate misconduct.
The
City of Boston is in the process of searching for an Executive Director to
lead the Office of Accountability and Transparency. The Executive Director
will be tasked with leading the OPAT Office and Administrative Staff, and
would serve on the 3-member OPAT Commission, alongside the appointed Chairs
of the CRB and IAOP. The City has launched
a search to find an Executive Director who is a member of the
Massachusetts bar, with the robust experience needed to lead this critical
new office, and manage its operations.
"The
Boston Police Reform Task Force worked diligently to produce a set of
recommendations that will create real reform within the Boston Police
Department," said Boston Police Reform Task Force Chairman Wayne Budd.
"I look forward to seeing how the Office of Police Accountability and
Transparency enhances equity and allows the community to have greater
confidence in the integrity of policing."
In
addition to formally creating OPAT, the Civilian Review Board and Internal
Affairs Oversight Panel, Mayor Walsh and the City of Boston have taken
significant steps to enact all of the Task Force's additional
recommendations. These include Mayor Walsh filing a Home
Rule Petition at the Boston City Council that would give Boston high
school graduates a preference in police hiring. The Mayor's Home Rule
Petition was passed by the City Council on December 16, and will now go to
the State House. Mayor Walsh also charged City leaders, such as Chief of
Equity Karilyn Crockett, to work with the Boston Police Department on
evaluating and updating their policies through a lens of equity and to
create a Diversity and Inclusion Unit in the Department.
These
key steps build on the City of Boston's dedication to enhancing equity
within public safety offices. On June 12th, Mayor Walsh signed the
"Mayor's Pledge" issued by the Obama Foundation's My Brother's
Keeper Alliance as one of the strategies to address racism
as an emergency and public health crisis. The Mayor committed the City
of Boston to review police use of force policies; engage communities by
including a diverse range of input experiences and stories; report review
findings to the community and seek feedback; and reform police use of force
policies. The Boston Police Reform Task Force was composed of members from
the community, law enforcement, advocacy organizations, and the legal
profession, to ensure that these commitments are translated to
actions.
"Our
success is rooted in the bonds we create with the community and the trust
we build through those relationships," said Boston Police Commissioner
William Gross. "The creation of the Office of Police Accountability
and Transparency will ensure we are living up to the ideal standard of
community policing."
On
June 11, 2020, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross announced he
completed a review of Boston Police's policies against the recommended use
of force policies outlined in the "8
Can't Wait" effort, resulting in clarified rules and the
implementation of several reforms. In addition, as part of Mayor Walsh's
Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget, Mayor Walsh allocated 20% (or $12 million)
of the Boston Police Department's overtime budget to make a significant
investment in equity and inclusion across the City.
The
signing of the ordinance for an Office of Police Accountability and
Transparency is a significant step forward towards a more just police
department and represents the tireless work of the Boston Police Reform
Task Force and the community members who engaged in this process. Over the
summer, the Task Force held five separate public listening sessions, and
received over 100 pieces of testimony from the community, over the course
of two written comment periods.
The
ordinance, final report and full recommendations are available
online.
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