Wednesday, June 17, 2020

FPD and the Mayor's reforms... sadly Steven Trask is retiring


The Mayor has gotten on the band wagon and adopted common sense reforms in light of all the racist behavior among some cops in this country.  It all makes sense, but does not ban no knock warrants. 
In another sad moment in this Town's history right now is that Chief Trask is suddenly retiring next week. My uneducated guess is that it was not planned and all the good he did to get the bad apples to do their jobs may be lost with another Chief.




MAYOR YVONNE M. SPICER, WITH CHIEF OF POLICE STEVEN D. TRASK


A JOINT ORDER TO REVIEW AND ADOPT COMMON SENSE REFORMS TO THE


USE OF FORCE POLICIES OF THE FRAMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT

ORDER NO. E02020-005

WHEREAS, the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud
Arbery, and the many Black lives before them lost due to police violence and
systemic racism within law enforcement and society in general, have caused outrage
and anguish throughout the United States as well as in the Framingham community;
and
WHEREAS, more than 1,000 people are killed by police every year in America, and
Black people are three times more likely to be killed than other racial groups; and
WHEREAS, the City of Framingham and the Framingham Police Department are
committed to policies and practices which respect the inherent life, liberty, dignity,
and worth of all individuals by preserving human life, and minimizing physical harm
and the reliance on Use of Force; and
WHEREAS, current events and ensuing public demonstrations across the country
have brought police reform to the forefront, specifically the need for review and
reform of Use of Force policies of police departments; and
WHEREAS, many have called for Campaign Zero's "8 Can't Wait" recommended
reforms, including President Barack Obama in a recent address to the nation, as
outlined in his 21St Century Policing Task Force Report; and
WHEREAS, the command staff and officers of the Framingham Police Department
have shown a deep professional commitment and belief in best practices in police
work to negate the need for Use of Force, but continued diligence and a proactive,
common sense approach to limits on police Use of Force are needed to maintain
public trust in our law enforcement officers, ensure accountability and transparency,
and to continue to heal our community;
Now, therefore, pursuant to our authority under Article III, Section 2 of the
Framingham Home Rule Charter as to the Mayor and under G.L. c. 41, s. 97A as to
the Chief of Police, we hereby order the following (some of which already are in place
but which are reiterated here for purposes of completeness and clarity):

CITY OF FRAMINGHAM

The Framingham Police Department shall require officers to de-escalate
situations, where possible, by communicating with subjects, maintaining distance,
and otherwise, with the goal of eliminating the need to use force whenever
possible,
2. The Framingham Police Department shall establish and maintain a system which
restricts the most severe levels of force to the most extreme situations and
creates clear policy restrictions on the use of each police weapon and tactic.
3. The Framingham Police Department shall prohibit the use of chokeholds and
strangleholds, including carotid restraints, except where deadly force is authorized
and there is no alternative.
4. The Framingham Police Department shall require its officers to give verbal
warnings in all situations where possible before using deadly force.
5. The Framingham Police Department shall prohibit officers from shooting at people
in moving vehicles unless the person poses a deadly threat by means other than
the vehicle (for example, shooting at people from the vehicle).
6. The Framingham Police Department shall require any police officer to exhaust all
other alternatives, including non-force and less lethal force options, prior to
resorting to deadly force.
7. The Framingham Police Department shall require officers to intervene and stop
excessive force used by other officers and to immediately report these incidents to
a supervisor.
8. The Framingham Police Department shall require comprehensive reporting from
all members of the Department each time they use force or threaten to use force
against civilians, including requiring officers to report whenever they point a
firearm at someone, in addition to all other types of force.
9. The Chief of Police shall undertake and complete a review of the existing Use of
Force and related policies within the Framingham Police Department within 60
days of the issuance of this order for additional recommendations for new policies
and revisions to existing policies consistent with this order. Said review shall
include engagement with the Framingham community via public meetings and
with the members of the Framingham Police Department to obtain a diverse range
of input, experiences and stories, and the findings of the review shall be shared
with the community for additional feedback. The review shall specifically include
an evaluation of recommendations for the promotion of safety and equity identified
by the Framingham Police Officers Union in its June 8, 2020 correspondence with
the Mayor and the Chief of Police, including a potential expansion of the Jail
Diversion Program, the potential creation of Behavioral Health and Neighborhood
outreach Units in the Department, and the incorporation of reality-based trainings
on de-escalation, racial bias and the Use of Farce in the Department's regular
training programs. The Department will present the results of its review to the
pubic.

19 Comments:

At June 17, 2020 at 2:11 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Jim, when is the LWV going to release the budget meeting video from the other day?

 
At June 17, 2020 at 2:14 PM , Blogger jim pillsbury said...

Zoom is having trouble with recording... we're still waiting for them to get us the file.

 
At June 17, 2020 at 4:13 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jim, word on the street is that your Councilor made a scene.

 
At June 17, 2020 at 4:45 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

So why is Trask really leaving so suddenly? Is he sick, or just sick and tired of the bullshit?

 
At June 17, 2020 at 10:11 PM , Blogger jim pillsbury said...

I can't comment on anyone's bad behavior.

My thought is that the Mayor and Thathcer asked Steven to stay on until the contract was done and the budget was done as well.

I don't think he's sick... but over 33 years is a long time to do anything in life. I think he got everything he wanted from the Mayor in terms of support. The Council only shaved a small bit off the FPD budget for next year.

It's a big lose for the Ham. He at least tried to get the rank and file to do their jobs. He is part of the old guard, Ken's right hand. He was always pleasant to deal with at meetings that I attended and answered most of the questions I had. Perhaps now that Brian Siminoe will be laid off. He's another one who has brought shame to our Town.

 
At June 18, 2020 at 1:29 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Siminoe is being laid off??? How did I miss that? Open the champagne

 
At June 18, 2020 at 3:28 PM , Blogger jim pillsbury said...

I'm only speculating about Brian. Trask defended Brian a few years ago when someone from within FPD called Fox news. The new temporary chief may not feel the same. I'm still not sure why Brian was needed to begin with.

 
At June 19, 2020 at 3:01 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

ok jimmy what is the deal with cannon and the lwv meeting? first you don't have the tape. now you have the tape. you have the tape, but now you won't release the tape? so what gives? lwv's job is to educate the public. what's on the tape that the rest of us are not being allowed to see?

 
At June 22, 2020 at 9:50 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

come on jimmy you don't shy away from controversial topics. whats the deal with the tape?

 
At June 22, 2020 at 4:05 PM , Blogger jim pillsbury said...

I'm not shying away...

It is our decision as co-presidents of the LWV what we share and what we don't with input for LWV Framingham members who participated in this event. Prior the the Zoom event on Monday night we did not state at any time that a recording of this event would be available for public viewing. Attendees of the meeting were told in my opening remarks that we were recording the event with the intent of sharing but since attendees were the only ones who heard that then there was no public statement we would share. It is our recording, and our choice is to not share that for reasons that are immensely clear to all who attended.

 
At June 22, 2020 at 4:11 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cannon must have been really bad if you are not sharing the recording, but that is ok. Word is out there from a lot of people who did attend that he was a complete A hole and he went after Ms. Deeley and tried to bully her in to giving in to his demands. Not the first time we have seen him bully a woman but he never has guts to go after a guy. Did you have to intervene to get him to back off? All I want to know is who is going to run against him next time? He would have been beat this last round if he had an opponent so someone needs to step up and run against him next round, that is if he does not get kicked off the council for his bad behavior. He just can't seem to play nice with any women

 
At June 22, 2020 at 4:52 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hear that one of the co-presidents is going to run against him and are holding that recording to share come election time, along with several recordings of district council meetings where he is ranting against a woman. Just kidding, but that would be great to see.

 
At June 23, 2020 at 10:16 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

If they were holding on to the tape to use at election time, that would make the League look very bad. But there is no election now, so making the video available after the event is reasonable. If Mike Cannon acted the way that has been rumored, the people in his precinct deserve to see it.

 
At June 23, 2020 at 1:03 PM , Blogger Stephanie Deeley said...

The LWV is not holding anything back to use in a campaign and has never said they were doing that. This was a registration required event and the LWV never said publicly they would share a recording of this event. We encourage anyone who has questions about the behavior of any city councilor to tune in to district council meeting either live or recorded. These council meetings are public and available for all to see. These council meetings are where your councilor is representing the people of their district giving everyone in Framingham the opportunity to see their councilor at work. If you want insight on a councilor’s behavior that is where you be looking

 
At June 23, 2020 at 1:41 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

The comment about using in a campaign was clearly a joke. That's why they said just kidding.

The story circulating is that the event had a time period to register for the event. J Leombruno was then said to have tried to get into the event 5 minutes prior to it starting with M Cannon complaining that the League should be putting everything else on hold until Janet could get in. The League wasn't rolling out the red carpet treatment enough for the Council royalty apparently. Then there was a push for Janet to make a speech although it was made perfectly clear that only Councilors Steiner and Cannon would only be allowed to speak. The LWV said no to that saying that it was against the rules that had been set up. After that Cannon was said to continue to rudely complain throughout the event about Janet not being able to make her speech. In the end, Cannon was said to continued to complain and then threatened to file a complaint against Stephanie Deeley and that Cannon said he was going to contact Deeley about the matter after the meeting. Deeley said no, but Cannon was then said to harass her by calling her at home.

This is the story that is circulating but without watching the video its difficult to know what is true, false, or exaggerated.

 
At June 23, 2020 at 9:18 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who wrote the speech for janet?

 
At June 24, 2020 at 10:22 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is all bullshit in an effort to make Mike Cannon look bad. It’s obvious that lwv is in league with the Spicer lovers who hate when Mike calls her on all her bullshit.

 
At June 25, 2020 at 1:22 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

How could not releasing a recording make you look bad Mike? Must be you because no one else is stupid enough to make that ridiculous statement if the LWV did share the video you would claim you they did that to make you look bad too. I think you are lucky Ms Deeley continues to be a classy responsible lady in face of all these unjustified attacks. Grow up Mr Cannon and accept she won this argument

 
At June 25, 2020 at 3:23 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

That damn fool with the Napoleonic Complex comes across as a jerk every time he opens his mouth.

 

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