From Maynard Police Chief Michael Noble, regarding the Police Reform Bill

What parts of the Police Reform bill do you support?

In theory I support most of the Bill. I have always welcomed new ideas and reforms to better our
profession and the Maynard Police Department. Policing from when I started to now has evolved in so
many positive ways and we should always be striving to get better. However, with this bill there is much
still to be formulated and as is with many things the devil is in the details. Specifically:

◼ POST & certification and decertification: Support POST and the police have actually been
pushing for it since 2013: However, I disagree to only have three of the nine commissioners be
law enforcement officers. I can’t think of any profession that would comprise a commission to
oversee it without a majority from the profession itself on said commission. The inf erence sent
is that police professionals can’t hold officers accountable so a panel of civilians should. Further,
some appointees to this commission are from groups that are normally adversarial with police,
and may not be objective.
◼ Banning Chokeholds: We are in Agreement and most departments, including Maynard, had
already put prohibitions on that in our policies. The only issue with Chokeholds was we wanted
language in the bill that they are prohibited from being used “unless in a deadly force situation”
which they did not add.
◼ Duty to intervene: Support, again many departments, including Maynard , already have this in
their policies.
◼ Database for police misconduct: I support the idea of a database, but again many of the details
related to submission of complaints, how categorized, and investigations are unknown at this
time.
◼ I disagree with how the Commission will investigate misconduct cases. The bill says the
investigators may not have had any law enforcement experience. Use of Force cases are guided
by the Supreme Court decision Graham v. Connor (1989) "given the facts known at the time,
would a similarly trained and experienced officer respond in a similar fashion". It will be
impossible for an investigator, who has no law enforcement ex perience, to view this objectively
reasonable standard in the eyes of a similarly trained officer. Good officers want to get rid of
bad officers as they tarnish the entire profession, however someone must have some
experience in policing to truly judge another officer’s actions.
◼ Uniform core policies: Support, the Maynard Police Department is accredited through the
MPAC therefore have always supported uniform best practices policies. The legislature
defunded the Mass Police Accreditation Commission in 2004 which was the driving force behind
uniform standards, it should look to again fund this great program as its importance is
immeasurable.
◼ Uniform training standards: I support this, however most times these trainings are unfunded
mandates. The legislature continuously reduces the budget of the MPTC (Municipal Police
Training Committee), however at the same time requires more training of officers.
◼ I support the MPTC continuing to be the training body for police officers in Massachusetts. The
MPTC has always been ahead of the curve and has set the training of officers to what is needed
 well before the legislature or other areas of the country mandate it. The MPTC has been
training in de-escalation, implicit bias, procedural justice, mental health and other relevant
topics for many years and is part of the reason why Massachusetts officer are so highly regarded
around the country.
◼ No-Knock warrants: Support the idea that they must go through greater scrutiny than a knock
and announce warrant, however the requirements in the language is not ideal.
◼ Qualified Immunity is too complex an issue to rush to change, therefore I support studying it
before any changes.
◼ Bias-Free Policing: I support that policing based on illegal or negative biases including race,
ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, mental or physical disability,
immigration status or socioeconomic or professional level should be against the law. However,
the term bias-free policing is an impossibility as everyone has biases, many good, therefore
policing cannot technically be “bias-free.” The term bias-free must be defined so it is not
misinterpreted. This may sound minor, but could have unintended consequences unless it is
explicitly defined.
◼ SRO training and requirements I support, but the legislature answered most of this in the 2018
bill. In 2018 there was new legislation for SROs in Massachusetts that prohibited them from
enforcing policy violations or minor criminal offenses while in schools and required MOU
between the schools and police. Maynard already had an MOU with the Maynard Public
Schools regarding the SRO. The SRO in Maynard has tremendous support and is not there for
enforcement of laws or rules, but to build a great relationship with the students and faculty and
to assist with safety.

In what ways if any, can the reform bill strengthen your department?

The members of the Maynard Police Department are of great character and are held to a high standard.
They are held accountable for their actions on and off duty. We already have incorporated or practice
many of the parts of the reform bill. Where it may strengthen the Department is the community may
recognize and see the accountability and transparency as a result of the bill, therefore have more
confidence in the department.

In what ways if any, can the reform bill be a detriment to your department?

How the bill was introduced and the lack of debate caused morale issues. The inference of the bill is
that “all police” were doing things wrong and violating people’s rights, which is simply not true. The
Maynard Police Department is always striving to get better, and I am constantly looking for new and
innovative ideas to serve and connect with the community.
What challenges do you see for your department in adopting these reforms?

We have had policies on or have been practicing most of what is in the bill already, so I do not foresee
any big challenges. A minor challenge may be that the bill has some timeline s that are contradictory.
Basically, the bill may require something to be completed by a certain date, however the
committee/commission in charge of setting the parameters for it does not have to be formed until the
same date or shortly before. Combine this with COVID restrictions and it will be impossible to meet
these deadlines.

What do you see as the unintended consequences of the legislation?

The continuous negative media, the constant demonizing of the profession, and the anti-police political
grandstanding have made recruitment more difficult, including minority candidates (who wants to join a
profession that politicians and many in the media claim is racist). Also, in larger communities there will
be less proactive policing for fear of being labeled and the outright lack of political support. This is not
true for Maynard as the Police Department works together with the Select Board and other Town
departments to achieve our common goals. Finally, the bill was rushed and many of the details have
not been put into practice, therefore I believe there may be other unintended consequences not yet
identified.

Chokeholds seem to be an issue for some. What if someone is choking an officer?

I support (and believe most agree) chokeholds should be banned as a technique and Massachusetts
hasn’t taught or condoned them for as long as I have been an officer. The only issue with the chokehold
was that police wanted language in the bill that made for an exception for when the officer may be in a
deadly force situation.

How do you interpret the term “defund the police?” Why is it a good or bad thing?

A small group want exactly what it says to just defund and dissolve the police. I believe what most
people who want to “defund the police” want is to divert funds from police to other services. Also there
have been some that believe that substance abuse calls, domestic situations, mental health calls, etc…
should only have medical personnel respond which is just not realistic, practical, or safe. These
situations are fluid and can become dangerous, therefore police must be part of the solution. Again,
Maynard and Massachusetts are ahead of the curve and saw this issue years ago and have already put in
place training and programs to address these issues. The Maynard Police Department has been involved
with the jail diversion program (JDP) for almost five (5) years. The Department along with several area
departments saw a rise in substance abuse and mental health issues and understood that although the
officers could handle the initial call and restore peace, they were woefully under trained to assist with
the long term care needed with many of these types of incidents. The Maynard Police Department
understood that many of these types of incidents were not and should not be criminal justice incidents,
but treated as medical related incidents. To assist with and address these incidents the JDP clinician
follows up on all calls and may be called to a volatile scene if needed.

Do you believe the Police Reform bill makes the community safer? Less safe? Please explain.

I don’t believe it makes it safer as it was rushed with very little input from police professionals. If this bill
hinders recruitment and causes policing to be less proactive it can have detrimental effects in the long
run. It does create a better system of accountability and transparency, however I believe
Massachusetts officers already are among the [best] in the country as they are the best trained, most
educated, more compassionate, and are of great character.

Are there parts of the Reform bill your department had implemented before it was passed? What
pieces do you still need to work on?

As I said we already had policies in place for chokeholds, use of force, duty to intervene, warrants, bias
based policing, accountability, and were accredited through the Massachusetts Police Accreditation
Commission.

What safety issues, if any, do you see for police with regards to the bill? Please be specific.

Officers hesitating during high risk incidents is a real possibility. A good officer’s worst nightmare would
be to become the next officer demonized by the national media and/or being labeled racist, for wrongly
being accused of excessive force or other complaint.

How much will it cost the department to implement the reform bill?

Most costs will be the training. The Maynard Police Department has always been proactive with training
and already included much of the required training; therefore it won’t be a major impact for our
department. There is also a good deal of administrative work required, but most will be done by myself
and the command staff which will not add additional costs.