PITTSFIELD — The city’s Police Advisory and Review Board made official Wednesday its support for the state’s policing reform law.
The board — it serves to advise Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn, to review complaints against the department after internal investigations are complete and to make policy recommendations — voted in favor of endorsing the police reform law, with the understanding that members would release a more detailed statement on the issue after their next meeting. Retired Judge Alfred Barbalunga was the sole review board member to vote “no” on the motion.
Member Drew Herzig, who drafted the forthcoming statement, said it was delayed for public release because of a procedural issue. But, he told The Eagle on Wednesday that he hopes the review board’s endorsement sends a message to the community.
“The Police Advisory and Review Board takes its job very seriously, and we want to be able to set a high standard for law enforcement here locally, while at the same time supporting law enforcement in safe and effective community policing,” Herzig said.
Wynn said that most of what came out in the final version of the legislation isn’t going to have that big of an impact on the Pittsfield Police Department. Review board Chairperson Ellen Maxon, echoing Wynn, said the law won’t change “much in the way we approach things” in Pittsfield policing under the current chief, but it puts in place guidelines that will inform future officers and department leaders.
While the review board backed the law, Wynn said of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association that “we’re not happy with it, but it’s legislation we can live with.”
“Personally, I think that a lot of what was thrown at the wall earlier this year was thrown at the wall with no mind to what Massachusetts law enforcement was already doing and had already done,” he added. “I think that a lot of stuff that we dug our heels in on — because we felt that we were being wrongfully lumped in with agencies from elsewhere in the country — still managed to make it through, so, that’s a little frustrating.”
The law requires police departments to implement immediate changes to use-of-force policy pertaining to the prohibition on chokeholds and neck restraints, noting that the review board and department had been discussing the issue before police reform passed.
The Pittsfield Police Department does not have any part-time reserve officers. Still, Wynn said discussions about potentially increasing the length of training that part-time officers would be required to complete could affect the department indirectly.
Because many part-time officers work full-time jobs on top of policing, he said there is a chance that many would not have time to complete an extended training requirement.
“That’s going to be devastating to some of the smaller communities that surround us if that is, in fact, the case, and it’s going to have an impact on us because it will impact our ability to access mutual aid,” he said.
Herzig said his concerns about “a deliberate attempt” by white supremacists to infiltrate police departments and the military date back months. After the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, he said, it would benefit everyone to make sure that adequate screening is conducted “to keep the badge out of the hands of white supremacists and domestic terrorists.”
Wynn said this has been a concern of his for a long time. The department, he said, conducts extensive background checks.
But, there are other considerations.
“We have to be very delicate and careful about where we go, especially with people’s social media profiles or some of their previous associations. There’s a fine line between somebody expressing a belief that we find questionable and disagreed with, and somebody who’s a white supremacist or acting as an extremist,” he said.
Even if the department identifies problems during the course of a background check that leads local officials to bypass a candidate, Wynn said the Civil Service Unit can force the department to restore a job offer if it disagrees.
“If civil service doesn’t agree with our conclusion, they can then come back and make us restore that offer,” he said.
And then there is the matter of rooting out individuals who hold white supremist beliefs in the first place.
“If somebody deeply holds those beliefs, they’re not going to put them somewhere we can easily find them,” Wynn said.