Elianna Kruskal, Megan Fieleke and Connie Shui-Yi Chow
After eight months of work, Newton’s mayor-appointed Police Reform Task Force has released a set of recommendations that are deeply flawed. The report begins by acknowledging the historic and ongoing harm policing causes to Black, Indigenous and other people of color, then inexplicably concludes that we need to invest even more money and effort into the Newton Police Department.
The Newton Police Reform Task Force seems driven by an erroneous belief that police can be fundamentally transformed into something other than police. They call for a mindshift from a “warrior mentality” to a “guardian mentality” through a consultant-led culture change initiative, substantial new and expensive training, and hiring more officers in order to achieve racial diversity. They propose these solutions despite widespread evidence showing that reforms that seek to fix police don’t result in more equity.