‘All eyes’ on Charlie Baker over police reform bill advocates say ‘can wait no longer’
Racial justice leaders said “all eyes” are on Gov. Charlie Baker as the state awaits his decision on a set of sweeping police reforms — legislation they say can’t wait.
“We call on you to sign this bill that will make Massachusetts a leader in law enforcement,” said the Rev. Ray Hammond of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Boston during a virtual rally on Thursday.
“We urge you to sign it quickly because justice can wait no longer,” Hammond continued.
The House and Senate this week passed long-stalled compromise legislation that goes far beyond a licensing system for law enforcement pitched first by Baker in June following an agreement by police union leaders and members of the state’s Black and Latino Legislative Caucus.
The bill represents a compromise between House and Senate versions passed in July and drafted at the height of protests around police killings of unarmed Black people following the high-profile deaths of Breonna Taylor and Floyd.
“Governor, all eyes are on you. Our eyes are on you. The tear-filled eyes — not only of Breonna’s family but of the many families victimized by the abuse of police power. The hope-filled eyes of peaceful protesters across the nation who turned out by the millions to cry out for justice and accountability,” Hammond said.
The bill which also aims to ban chokeholds, limit no-knock police warrants in instances where children or people over 65 are present and places a moratorium on facial recognition technology received swift opposition from police unions across the state.
It also creates a committee to study qualified immunity, a doctrine that protects officers from civil liability in instances of misconduct. The bill takes a first step rolling back those protections by revoking civil liability protections for an officer over actions that result in decertification.
In a July 30 letter to the conference committee, Alicia Rebello-Pradas of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said the state’s chief law enforcement official is opposed to moratoriums on facial recognition technology, pointing to “apparent … misconceptions.”
Healey’s office also opposed changes to no-knock warrants, citing instances of child-trafficking as an example of a situation that could be complicated by age restrictions on the ability to serve no-knock warrants.
Healey has thrown her support behind many other aspects of the bill.
“We need to have this bill signed as is by Gov. Charlie Baker without any vetos, without any equivocation, without any buckling to the lobbies that are pressuring him to veto it. We’ve already compromised much in this bill. We didn’t get everything we wanted, but what we do have in it is critically important,” said Talbert Swan, president of the Springfield NAACP.
Baker has so far shed little light on his plans for the bill. Baker has until Dec. 15 to sign, veto or send the bill back to the Legislature with amendments.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2JCfuev
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