Police – Page 4 – NAACP New Bedford

Defund SROs: put real resources back in our schools

There was an unintended display of fireworks at the July 13th Zoom meeting of the New Bedford School Committee. Christopher Cotter, Vice Chair of the Committee and a New Bedford Police officer, lectured two of his colleagues about the true nature of "School Resource Officers" ( SROs) — otherwise known as school cops: "Shame on you," Cotter scolded Committee members Joshua Amaral and Colleen Dawicki, for suggesting there are still a lot of questions about the SRO program. "You sit there and say that you don't know what the program is, what it entails, whatever the case is, you have...

Senate passes “Reform, Shift + Build Act”

On July 14th the Massachusetts Senate passed by a vote of 30 to 7 (with 3 abstentions) S.2820, the "Reform, Shift + Build Act" (S.2820) to "reform police standards and shift resources to build a more equitable, fair and just commonwealth that values Black lives and communities of color." You can read the text of S.2820 here. Senators in the Hall of Shame for not voting for S.2820 include: Nick Collins (D, First Suffolk); Diana DiZoglio (D, First Essex); Ryan Fattman (R, Worcester & Norfolk); Anne Gobi (D, Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire & Middlesex); Michael Moore (D, Second Worcester); Patrick O'Connor...

Six reasons to scrap Qualified Immunity

From a note by Juan Cofield, NAACP New England Area Conference, to area Branch Presidents The [Massachusetts] House leadership is most concerned about is the Qualified Immunity issue. This issue is the one that the police interests are most opposed to. Accordingly, I have attached a fact sheet, prepared by NEAC's Legal Redress Chair, Stephanie Soriano, to explain Qualified Immunity (QI). The Senate adopted bill, which NEAC is now strongly supporting, along with several bills proposed by the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus is the message we want to send. NEAC's adopted Policing Reform Package seeks the outright elimination of...

Support the Reform, Shift + Build Act

In response to resounding calls for racial justice, the Senate’s S.2800 An Act to Reform Police Standards and Shift Resources to Build a More Equitable, Fair and Just Commonwealth that Values Black Lives and Communities of Color—the *Reform, Shift + Build Act*—proposes a number of reforms. The bill is a product of the Senate’s Racial Justice Working Group on which I’ve been proud to serve at the request of the Senate President. You can also download a summary of the bill here. The bill seeks to: Encourage the use of de-escalation techniques by police officers Foreground work to better resource...

Police

NEAC Policing Advocacy Issues

Today we received the following note from Juan M. Cofield, President, NAACP-New England Area Conference, regarding policing policies and re-imagining policing. The note also references a policy document that can be downloaded from our website. NEAC Family, NEAC members and the Executive Committee have gone through a process to address urgent policing issues our communities are facing. The process included significant discussion by NEAC members, which resulted in recommendations to the Executive Committee. With some tweaking and minor changes, the recommendations were adopted. The adopted policing policies provide guidelines for NEAC and our Branches to address. Some relate solely to...

MA Legislature looks at Police Accountability

Police accountability needs to move from the streets to the State House. Symbolic gestures are not enough when Black and Brown lives are on the line. It's time for real limits on police powers and systemic reforms to hold police accountable for violence and abuse. The NAACP New Bedford Branch is supporting two urgent police accountability measures now before Beacon Hill legislators. Ask your organization to sign this Google form indicating their support for the two bills and please share this request with others. To build power behind these bills quickly, we have to show our strength in numbers. Our...

Addressing structural racism and police abuse

While solutions to structural racism and police abuse go much deeper than laws punishing individual misconduct, we welcome efforts to address them. These are some of the bills that are now working their way through the Massachusetts Legislature: H1440 (Rep. Holmes) An Act establishing a special commission on structural racism H2141 / S1386 (Rep. Tyler) An Act improving juvenile justice data collection H2146 (Rep. Vieira) Resolve providing for a “Special Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training” to study and make recommendations concerning the implementation of a Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) system. H2292 (Rep. Holmes) An Act...