“WHO WILL POLICE SPRINGFIELD’S COPS?”
“Who will police Springfield’s cops” was the title of a damning editorial in The Boston Globe (August 4, 2020) which pointed out that “Under the Trump administration, the US Department of Justice has largely abandoned its oversight and accountability mandate over local police departments. In fact, since Trump took office more than three years ago, the DOJ has launched only one investigation into unconstitutional policing and systemic misconduct in local enforcement departments, compared with almost two dozen during the Obama administration. The target? The police force in Springfield, the third-largest city in Massachusetts.” (Emphases added)

“WHO WILL POLICE SPRINGFIELD’S COPS?”
The Globe’s graphic, damning summary of the above-referenced DOJ report (which I won’t repeat or summarize herein because it has been widely reported and can be easily located on the internet by anyone who cares to know the gruesome facts) pointed out that “…contrary to what is common practice, the DOJ did not force Springfield Police to sign a consent decree – a court mandated agreement – to ensure reform.” Instead, the recommendations the DOJ made for change in the Springfield Police Department were merely “suggestions without mandated enforcement from the feds” who in the past would have required that its reform plans be “supervised and enforced by a federal judge” as were 14 such plans under the Obama administration. The conclusion in the editorial that is most disturbing and accurate is that “Instead, any policing reform is left to Springfield police leadership.” Which, of course, leaves us in the same predicament we were in before the DOJ report relying on a leadership that has proven to be anything but evolutionary-minded.

WILL RETIRED SJC CHIEF JUSTICE RODERICK IRELAND BE THE SOLUTION?
Maybe. Judge Ireland is certainly well qualified for the task of “special advisor” to (Mayor Sarno) as the city works to implement changes recommended by the Department of Justice. But most of us know that most of the problems impacting the Springfield Police Department are not new and nor are the obvious solutions. The problems preceded Sarno by decades and simply continued during his reign. Folks tend to forget that the only reason we have so many Black and Hispanic police officers is because of a court order enforcing a consent agreement that every White Springfield mayor tried their best to resist as did every locally appointed White police chief and Commissioner, which is why racial gaps still remain both in hiring and promotions and, as some Black employees credibly tell it, in assignments and discipline. Plenty official reports are on file at city hall from state and federal authorities that clearly outline the problems and recommend and sometimes demand obvious solutions. Although the problems have persisted, there has never been a shortage of proposed solutions. To the contrary, the problems have continued to exist because of a shortage of desire and will to apply the solutions and nothing more. And it is highly unlikely that Judge Ireland will come up with anything new. However, maybe, just maybe, the gravitas in the title, stature and experience of Judge Ireland will finally drive home the message to Mayor Sarno and others who need to receive it that long overdue change must happen.
­
ON BULLIES
“(They) don’t want to be told what to do. When someone tries, they lash out. “They’re trying to shore up their sense of importance…Bullies are motivated by fear – fear of feeling insecure, fear of being unconfident, fear of being exposed.” The more stressed or threatened they feel, the more they bully.” (Elizabeth Bernstein, The Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2020) Good luck, Judge Ireland.

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY?
Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine that prevents individual police officers from being sued in most cases. Cities, like the city of Springfield that has paid more than five million dollars for police misbehavior, can be sued but not individual police officers who misbehave. Eliminating qualified immunity is an attractive idea and would instantly alter the behavior of police officers who are inclined to misbehave. A legitimate concern of the many police officers who are not inclined to misbehave is frivolous lawsuits that would be costly whatever the outcome. There must be a way to reconcile the two.

“GOOD COPS TAME THE INNER WARRIOR”
“Police officer’s tendency to see themselves as warriors is a major driver of police violence. Specifically, three behaviors appropriate in war create immense harm when applied to policing: choosing a side, and therefore an enemy; dehumanizing the enemy; and reacting instead of thinking when threatened. Attempts to reform police departments will fail if they don’t tackle the warrior mind-set….To be sure, warriors and police share characteristics that set them apart from civilians. Both risk their lives in the face of violence, and are willing to inflict violence. But warriors face and inflict violence to protect their people. Police must do so to protect all people. Warriors choose sides. Police must be on the side of the law….These distinctions are blurred in the many cases when police departments have adopted a warrior culture.” (By Karl Marlantes, a Vietnam veteran and author, The Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2020).

KAMALA HARRIS
I must admit, I had to warm up to Senator Kamala Harris. I was more impressed with Senator Elizabeth Warren but I initially thought both were geographic liabilities to defeating Trump until Trump made such a mess of things with his response to the pandemic that geography didn’t matter. My preference began to drift toward Maine’s Susan Rice and California Congresswoman Karen Bass but both carried baggage, the first because of her Benghazi involvement and the second because of her Cuba history. So it boiled down to Liz and Kamala. Liz had the “Indian” problem and the reputation for being too far to the left while Kamala had no real issues that Trump could capitalize on and she is well qualified to be president one day. All I can say is “good choice!”

TERM LIMITS AND THE VALUE OF OPPOSITION CANDIDATES
Unfortunately, our elected officials, with the exception of the president, are influenced by the idea that their terms in office are not limited by law. Unfortunately, the influence is mostly negative since candidates’ first instinct after being elected to office is to preserve their positions for as long as possible by whatever means is available. And the means have become very predictable and pretty simple. Make no unnecessary waves. Go along to get along. Remain as low key as possible in your electoral district, cater to the money interests while raising as much money for yourself as you can, and promote safe issues only. And if for whatever reasons, your constituents are asleep, leave them asleep and respond only to those to whom you must. It all makes for a very dull and unproductive democratic process which is why every elected official should face opposition every time they run for re-election. It will make them all less inclined toward indolence and self-serving and more inclined to actively serve those who elect them, which is why candidates who oppose incumbents are as critical to the election process as the incumbents themselves and should be as enthusiastically encouraged as are those who strive to hold their office for life, and which is why I commend Joe Kennedy, Alex Morse and Adam Gomez, all of whom we endorsed, for challenging entrenched incumbents. We need more such challengers.

HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL HE KILL BEFORE THE BASE SAYS “NO MORE!”
The “fickle finger of fate” has struck again. 2012 GOP hopeful Herman Cain is dead, struck down, it appears, while succumbing to the self-centered whims of a president who cared nothing more about him than to expose him to the deadly coronavirus that killed him in order to have a mostly unmasked crowd at a Tulsa, Arizona political rally that, by any scientific measure, should not have been held. Cain is only one of many misguided people who followed Trump’s instructions on the coronavirus and paid for it with their lives. How many of the more than 175,000 people who have died will this bad man kill before his base says “no more?”

THE UNITED STATES POST OFFICE SHOULD BE UNTOUCHABLE!
How in the world can Republicans in congress and in the senate, especially, sit back silently and allow President Donald Trump and his minions to dismantle the postal service that we all have depended on since the creation of this republic? More than 600 sorting machines removed from post offices around the country within the last few months and disabled and warehoused and countless numbers of mail boxes removed from neighborhoods all over the country and not a word out of Republicans! And we all know Trump’s purpose is to scuttle the upcoming elections to benefit his re-election no matter what the harm to the public, many of whom are his own supporters. If Trump is not re-elected, somebody is going to jail. ■