Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, released the following statement in response to the Boston Police Reform Task Force’s new draft recommendations:
“The Boston Police Reform Task Force has set forth some meaningful policy suggestions to protect the public from violent policing and to hold police accountable through increased transparency. But as the Task Force acknowledges, these recommendations are just a start. It remains to be seen whether they will be adopted over likely objections from police unions, and whether they will have real teeth. In addition, we must dramatically shift the role of police in our society by reducing law enforcement's footprint in over-policed communities and investing in people, not prisons. Policymakers' work has only just begun; the Mayor has the power and responsibility to embrace, enact and enforce these recommendations to hold Boston police accountable, and the state legislature must act now to reform policing across Massachusetts.”