BOURNE – Bourne officials are urging the state legislature to work to make mutual decisions regarding police reform bills.
The Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives have both passed bills to address changes to policing protocols throughout the Commonwealth.
They were drafted and passed in the wake of nationwide demonstrations; protesters have been calling for increased police accountability and an end to racial injustice for months after George Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis.
In response to those bills, Bourne officials have approved and sent a letter to a committee of state legislators, whose mission is to find common ground on the bills.
Bourne has had discussions with other towns on the Cape regarding the work needed to reach a compromise on these proposed state reforms.
Select Board Chair Judith Froman feels that some of the behavior regarding potential changes to policing has been “reactionary,” and that all members of the government and public as a whole should make progress towards balanced bills together.
“Sometimes, during these times, we need to just kind of take a step back and move forward in more careful steps,” Froman said during a recent meeting.
Froman believes that the key goal for these bills should be to increase trust between police departments and the communities that they serve.
Bourne Police Chief Dennis Woodside echoed these thoughts. He added that there has been a “knee-jerk reaction” at the state level, and he feels that some of the changes included in the bills could ultimately hurt communities and police departments.
“This is just a support letter to the legislators to slow down,” Woodside said.
“Take a good look at this. Please understand what this means.”
Specifically, Woodside expressed concern about proposed changes to qualified immunity in Massachusetts, a principle that protects officers and other government employees from being frivolously sued after doing things seen as reasonable on the job in the eyes of clearly established precedence.
Woodside believes that the doctrine protects officers who properly do their jobs from monetary losses, while those in favor of qualified immunity revisions have said that the principle makes it much more difficult to hold officers who do abuse their power accountable for their actions, due to how specific cases have to be.
Woodside did say he feels that the state legislature has taken a step back by now, but he urged them to continue to consider all points of view. He also believes that many policing issues seen throughout the nation have already been addressed in Massachusetts.
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