Cambridge police

Here are some local findings about the police in my town, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

  • 2020-05-03: The Cambridge Police Department is apologizing for a tweet this afternoon that used graphic language to denounce US Rep. Joe Kennedy III - and which also took a potshot at US Sen. Ed Markey, whom Kennedy is trying to replace.
    • "Another liberal fucking jerk who just happens to be better than the clown he's running against. Sad for us."
    • It turns out this was police superintendent Jack Albert.
    • It's unclear if what discriplinary action will be taken. "Superintendent Albert is subject to disciplinary action per Department policy and procedures. Pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, the Department would be restricted from disclosing any specific disciplinary action involving such personnel matters. Rest assured, the Cambridge Police Department remains committed to providing the very highest-level of service to our community and will work tirelessly to restore any trust that may have been broken as a result of this unfortunate incident."
      • Very likely, he will still be in charge.
  • On May 11, two members of the City Council asked what disciplinary measure was taken against Albert. In response, City Solicitor Nancy Glowa told them that they cannot know. She argued that the council does not have the right to ask about disciplinary decisions about employees under the City Manager's jurisdiction. Councillor Denise Simmons suggested that the inquiry be withdrawn. When the council fell back to just condemning Albert's statement, Denise Simmons and Councillor Tim Toomey tried to remove Albert's name from the censure.

Defunding

After the public execution of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and brutal attacks on protestors by police, on June 14, Cambridge discussed defunding the police, like many other cities in the United States.

Councillor Denise Simmons and police commissioner Bard, who are both Black, became extremely angry about a motion to redirect $4.1 million in funding away from the police. Bard, the police commissioner, said:

“This city has come to rely on the department to do so much more” than patrolling and responding to calls for service, Bard said. “You need to look no further than the multiple roles that members of this [police] department took over for the city during the throes of the Covid-19 emergency.”

However, police filling multiple roles, many of which do not require violence, is actually a primary motivation for defunding the police and for funding other agencies that are qualified to help in situations that do not require violence. In other words, do we need a dude with a gun and a bad attitude need to make sure people are wearing masks?

Bard also said that the people calling for defunding were White.

When questioned about the police department's military equipment, Bard said they had no military equipment.

At the least, they have a BearCat, which they brought to a Black Lives Matter protest. The BearCat is a Ford F-550 retrofitted by a company called Lenco into an 18,000-pound, 10-person armored vehicle. (Update on 2020-07-26: They do have military equipment.)

At the next council meeting on June 22, Councillor Quinton Zondervan requested a listing of the police department's equipment. Denise Simmons invoked her charter right to end discussion on seeing the listing. She said that "We cannot look at one department of the city without examining the entire municipal body. We would get an incomplete picture, a distorted assessment, and it would be a pointless endeavor."

Indeed. What if the department of public health has a grenade launcher? Obviously, it makes sense to check them out first in order to check this simple claim from Commissioner Bard.

The charter right is very weird. I actually cannot find the right to just stop everyone from talking about a topic in the city charter that is posted online.

The following week on June 20, the Saturday after Juneteenth, 2,000 people marched to defund the police. That's a very large march for Cambridge. It's about 2% of the population of the city. Contrary to what Bard was saying about calls to defund the police coming from just White people, there was a strong showing by Black people and people of color. The organizer was Black, and most (possibly all) of the speakers were Black.

In the end, the City Council made a compromise to redirect $2.5 million dollars away from the police budget. They still get $62 million for 2021.

Commissioner Bard

As license commissioner, he found the Upper West bar with making physical threats against inspectors, when the inspectors themselves testified that the threats were about talking to their managers.

Denise Simmons blocked an inquiry into whether Bard was telling the truth about Cambridge Police not having military equipment by saying that they needed to examine all of the departments?

Coronavirus

https://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/08/14/comment-at-meeting-about-police-body-cameras-describes-officer-hostility-lapses-about-mask-law/

A Cambridge police officer wasn't wearing a mask to actually cover his face. When asked to do so, he refused.

  • When someone complained, he was transferred to a lieutenant who hung up on him.
  • When he called again, a dispatcher told him that mask wearing is “a matter of freedom” and “we don’t live in a Communist country yet.” He also erroneously told him that masks aren't required outdoors.

Lt. Shawn Lynch

https://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/09/11/police-announce-investigation-of-social-media-linked-to-lieutenant-called-deeply-disturbing/

Twitter account @CPD496.

Publicly (via meme-y gifs):

  • Cheered a man driving into a crowd of protestors in Seattle
  • Cheered a police breaking a 75-year-old man's skull for trying to ask a question in a protest
  • Replied with an ironic "that's a shame" at the shooting of Jacob Blake

He stated that:

  • Democrats are Jihadists
  • Black Lives Matter are a violent hate group, more dangerous than any White supremacist group
  • The media is the "enemy of the people"

Lynch is a lieutenant in the Cambridge Police Department.

The Cambridge Police Department said they would “impose strict discipline” but will not specify what that is.

Links:

url: https://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/06/10/motion-over-redirecting-4-1m-in-police-funding-causes-council-to-explode-in-anger-accusations/ name: Motion over redirecting $4.1M in police funding causes council to explode in anger, accusations - Cambridge Day

url: http://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/06/14/black-and-white-rally-together-speak-as-one-only-for-police-commissioner-to-seek-to-divide/ name: Opinion column on Bard that happens to mention the Upper West issue

url: http://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/06/23/councillor-stalls-order-to-see-police-property-list-citing-systemic-racism-over-checking-testimony/ name: Councillor stalls order to see police property list, citing 'systemic racism' over checking testimony

url: http://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/05/19/denied-official-report-of-police-tweet-discipline-councillors-issue-their-own-censure-for-incident/ name: Denied official report of police tweet discipline, councillors issue their own censure for incident

url: http://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/06/21/two-thousand-march-with-call-to-defund-police-councils-4-1m-order-called-drop-in-the-bucket/ name:

#cambridge #police #politics