SPRINGFIELD — Springfield residents, largely from Forest Park, and members of the Springfield Police Department gathered in the community room of Wesley United Methodist Church to begin building concrete actions into the Springfield Police Department community engagement plan.
Most of the ideas generated focused on youth — police engagement with them and their involvement shaping how the next generation of the Springfield Police Department operates.
Many of those gathered attended a similar meeting two weeks prior, in which they began the long process of growing understanding between law enforcement and members of the community. The engagement plan is a requirement of the 2022 settlement agreement resulting from a federal investigation that found the Springfield Police Department’s Narcotics Bureau, now named the Firearms Investigation Unit, engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force.
The meetings were organized by the Pioneer Valley Project, NAACP and MA Senior Action. PVP Executive Director Tara Parrish stated that the organizations have done a lot of work over several years to “ensure that the SPD faced the highest level of accountability through a federal consent decree.”
The key takeaways from the Sept. 26 meeting were a need for transparency, accountability and trust. Capt. Brian Beliveau, who heads the Settlement Implementation Unit, said he was heartened by the words people used to express themselves at the end of the previous meeting, including “hopeful,” “optimistic,” “comfortable,” “inspired,” “heard” and “safer.”
Beliveau said Police Superintendent Lawrence Akers’ commitment to the process is “in full swing. We want to show our commitment,” and for residents to know “we’re community members, too.”
However, trust between the police and the community is still in its early stages. Tracey Carpenter, a community organizer with MA Senior Action Council questioned Akers commitment, based on an exchange at the last meeting, in which Pioneer Valley Project President Rev. David Lewis said he feels tense when pulled over by police and Akers responded that the police have guns, but so might the people they pull over. Carpenter felt the statement was “combative.”
Youth is key
The main focus of suggestions from several of the small groups who discussed engagement was creating relationships with youth. From Beliveau’s perspective, there are several organizations in the city, including the Boys & Girls Club, ROCA and the Salvation Army that can help facilitate connections between young people and police.
“There should be plenty of touch points with kids,” Beliveau said. “Everything we do comes down to two things: communications and relationships.”
Some of the small groups suggested police meet young people where they are, using better social media outreach and in-school police programs. There are many youths who have left school for one reason or another, so speaking with young people at community centers was also suggested. Sports were a venue for interaction that was mentioned several times. Police could engage with young people at sporting events and even through a police-versus-students competition.
The majority of the force is young, Beliveau said, and the youth of the officers working on implementing the settlement will translate into sustainability.
“There’s going to be a time when no one remembers what it was, they only remember how it is,” he said of changes in how police interact with the community. “Officers now want to engage. They want to be part of the community,” Beliveau said.
Transparency
When it comes to transparency, the plan is to create a community accessible portal with statistics and information on use of force, accident reports, how to contact officers and which city departments can help with different problems. Carpenter said that, currently, the information that is accessible by the public has been reviewed by the department before its release. She called the possibility that some data has been redacted or filtered “concerning.”
One area where increased transparency helps the Police Department as much as the residents is with disciplinary records. The state police reforms that were signed into law in 2000 allow the public and other police departments to view disciplinary records and how much training an officer has had. Beliveau said this gives police departments a fuller view of potential new hires.
A community calendar available at springfieldmapolice.com, so that people across the city can see when and what kind of police engagement is happening.
Accountability
Beliveau said accessibility is built into the way negative incidents are now handled — through new policies, procedures and training. The use of force issues that were present in the then-Narcotics Bureau were able to occur because of a lack of documentation, Beliveau said. “If you’d asked me how much use of force there was, I’d have said, ‘Not that much,’” he said. Now, he can pull up exact figures and details on the level of force.
Another area where streamlined processes will help with accountability is in the way complaints are handled. Beliveau explained that the department has onboarded new software that allows the analog process of filing a complaint to become automated. He said that often, when someone has a complaint, it is mentioned to an officer, but the department is not notified through the official process. The resident then thinks they have filed a complaint, and nothing came of it.
The new system brings the process online. People can scan a QR code or go to the department’s website to file a complaint without having to call or physically visit a precinct, although those options are still available.
Education
Beliveau said there is a need to educate the public on the processes used by the Police Department to avoid rumors and mistrust. A planned newsletter would provide information on “how we do things and why we do things,” as well as messages for the public, he said.
Similar to Beliveau’s point on educating the public, one group suggested the young people could learn more about law enforcement through a youth police academy.
The police also have a lot to learn. Beliveau said, “If there are things we can do, we will do them. We don’t know what we don’t know.” For example, while there are “beat management” meetings and community meetings, he wondered, “Is there a community that’s not being represented?” The police undergo implicit bias training, but one person at the meeting said there are gaps in what they learn. “Those are things we need to know,” Beliveau said.
Parrish said the meeting was “not designed to be the only conversation about this topic. It’s a starting conversation.” Most of the people agreed more work was needed on the engagement plan and agreed to meet again at the church on Oct. 24. When asked how long until there is a finished product, Carpenter estimated the engagement plan would be ready by December.
