Post Commission Report

Massachusetts: First To Implement Mandatory Statewide Certification For Police Agencies

The full impact of the Police Reform Act of 2021 is about to be felt by the Massachusetts law enforcement community as the state moves to become the first in the union to institute mandatory statewide certification of all its police agencies. At its monthly meeting held via zoom on June 20^th, POSTC counsel Randy Ravitz introduced the person spear-heading this revolutionary effort.   Attorney Annie Lee, recently hired by the Commission, will begin the arduous task of instituting a full state-wide certification program for police agencies. Lee is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Boston College Law School.  She had been employed as an attorney by the law firm of Anderson and Kreager until her recent hire by the POST commission.               

Lee presented an extended slide presentation to the POST commissioners in which she laid out the road map for achieving the first in the nation comprehensive police certification program.   Lee cited MGL C6E sect 5 as the enabling statute that charged the commission with establishing agency standards as a requirement for POST certification. Her first question was where did the Commission want her to begin ?  Her initial review of existing certification programs revealed that the number of areas subject to standardization ranges from 100 to 461.  Standardization compliance is the foundation of the certification process.  This sparked an active discussion among the Commission members.   Commissioner Baker quickly raised concerns about the fiscal impact to agencies resulting from mandating agency standards. He was challenged by Commissioner Kazarosian, who said that nowhere in the POST mandate does it mention that the commission needs to be mindful of the cost of imposing standards. Commissioner Baker responded by saying: “while that may be true, we need to keep cost in mind.” Commissioner Calderone affirmed Baker’s opinion.               

Executive Director Zuniga entered the discussion and recommended that the commission follow a policy of “incrementalism”.  He suggested that that there are 8 initial standards that were promulgated in MGL C6E section 5b.   These eight areas were identified as follows: (1) Use of  Force, (2) Code of Conduct, (3) Officer Response, (4) Investigative Protocols, (5) Juvenile operations, (6) Internal Affairs investigations, (7) Detainee Transport and (8) Evidence collection and preservation.  The Director then strongly recommended that the commission focus on two. The first was Use of Force Policy and the second was Internal Affairs Investigation.   There was a general consensus among the commissioners supporting this approach.                 

Lee continued with her presentation and suggested that no matter what the scope, there were three phases to consider: (1) the design phase  (2) implementation phase and (3) the enforcement phase.  She told the commission that design and implementation could involve either a “comprehensive” approach, where POST imposes a full standard on the agencies or a “tiered” approach where the standards are incrementally introduced as Director Zuniga suggested.   She offered that existing standards developed by COLEA and IMPACT would be good starting points.                 

The issue of enforcement was then addressed. Lee noted that unlike individual officers, police agencies do not have “due process” rights.  The commission is empowered under state law to impose sanctions ranging from a written reprimand extending to full receivership of a department if certification is not achieved.  Lee was asked to given an example of the latter contingency.  She responded with a hypothetical case of an agency that was continually refusing to implement a Use of Force policy.  Conceivably, she said, the POST Commission could shut the agency down and transfer the duties to another agency, such as a Sheriff’s office, until compliance with the standard is achieved.

THE FULL SCOPE OF POST AUTHORITY WITH REGARD TO STANDARDIZATION

Adminstrative, Personnel and Operational Processes Are Areas In Play

Annie Lee presented the entire spectrum of areas that were subject to standardization in furtherance of its certification authority.  These areas are as follows:

Administrative Standards:    These would include: (1) Department Roles and Authority  (2) Written Directives (3) Chain of Command  (4) Communications  (5) Strategic Planning  (6) Fiscal Reporting and (7) Agency Wellness.

Personnel Standards: These would include: (1) Code of Conduct (2) Equal Opportunity (3) Recruitment (4) Hiring (5) Retention (6) Training (7) Performance Evaluation (8) Early Warning programs

Operation Standards: These would include:  (1) Constitutional Compliance  (2) Bias Free Policing (3) De-escalation techniques (4) Crisis Intervention (5) Traffic Control and Safety  (6) Body Camera policy  (7) Pursuit policy.

OTHER POST NEWS:

Director Zuniga offered his monthly report to the the POST Commission. The certification process for officers whose names ending in Q through Z is continuing.  The deadline is June 30^th.  The Revere Police have requested an extension. There are approximately 4K eligible certifications that must be completed.  As of this date 2.3K have been certified. 1.8K are pending.     301 agencies are in full compliance, 77 are not

He reported that the “Disciplinary Records Catchup” project is underway.   The project seeks to enter disciplinary actions against officers on the POST website covering the period from January 31^st to March 5^th of this year. The Director attested to the fact that all disciplinary actions posted were the result of internal affairs investigation in which department discipline was subsequently imposed.

A budget report was also offered. POST has requested an annual budget for FY25 of 8.7M. The House has approved.  The Senate approved 8.6M.  The budget is now in Conference Committee.  The commission is seeking to increase its Full-Time staff from 45 to 49 during the next fiscal year.

COMMISSIONER LARRY ELLISON TO RETIRE

POST Commission Chair Margaret Hinckle announced the departure of Commissioner Larry Ellison, who is retiring from the Boston Police Department.   His retirement makes him ineligible for further service on the commission.   Ellison served as the minority police representative on the commission since its inception.   Chair Hinckle announced that he would be replaced by Superintendent Ed Crispin, also of the Boston Police.