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FRAMINGHAM – More than 100 police chiefs across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts gathered at the parking lot of the AMC Theatres in Framingham on Tuesday morning, July 21, to protest proposed police reform legislation at the State House.
The Massachusetts Senate approved a police reform bill last week, and the Massachusetts House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill on Wednesday.
“The legislation in the House and the Senate are nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to the events happening hundreds of miles away from here. These bills are not a response to any current situation in Massachusetts,” said President of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association Hamden Police Chief Jeff Farnsworth.
“Make no mistake about it, law enforcement in Massachusetts is under attack by a liberal element that wants to bring change that none of us understand,” Farnsworth said.
None of us know how it is going to look, but as leaders we can stand here today and tell you the legislation will not make us safer,” said the President of the Police Chief Association.
The police chiefs want legislators to create a commission to oversee police standards and training, including the certification of officers. They do not want this legislation rushed to meet the July 31 deadline, the end of the legislative session. The Massachusetts bills were introduced in response to nationwide demonstrations calling for racial justice and police reform after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in May.
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Natick Police Chief James Hicks also spoke at the rally.
“In 2015, we introduced training to not only our recruit officers but our senior officers on interacting with persons with mental illness or emotional distress. We did that in 2015. Well before Ferguson. Well before Minneapolis, and well before anyone in the legislature has given us support to do that. We did it on our own because it was the right thing to do,” said Hicks, who chairs the Municipal Police Training Committee for the Association.
The Association President said Police Chiefs were not included in the process for reform.
“We have some of the finest most intelligent leaders in law enforcement standing behind me. We were left out,” he said.
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Photos courtesy of the Association
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