Civil Liberties Main Topic Security Surveillance Take Action

Tell Gov. Baker: PASS THE POLICE REFORM BILL!

West Midlands CT Police Department Creative Commons

After months of deadlock, the Massachusetts House and Senate have finally passed the long-awaited police reform bill. Though it fails to abolish qualified immunity, it:

  • bans chokeholds and restricts chemical weapons;
  • imposes a statewide ban on facial recognition for all agencies except the RMV;
  • forbids school schools from disclosing certain student record information to law enforcement without student/parent consent or a court order;
  • allows prosecutors to charge police who have sex with or indecently assault a person in custody;
  • ends the requirement that police be stationed in schools;
  • and restricts no-knock warrants.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a great place to start.

The last obstacle to this becoming law is Governor Baker. The police unions have already mobilized their membership to pressure him to veto it, we need to tell him the people say YES! 

Please take some time this week to contact the governor telling him how important these protections are and that he should sign S.2963:

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.