BRATTLEBORO — A few weeks ago, during a trip to Boston, I picked up The Boston Globe to read coverage of the Patriots' unfortunate loss to the Denver Broncos. On the front page, above the fold, a headline read “Police look to cut a backlog: Complaints against officers to be mediated.”
The article described a glut of citizen complaints against Boston police officers. Like most departments, the majority of these complaints relate to rudeness, poor judgment, and failure to provide expected services.
The report went on to describe the investigation of serious complaints, such as those of misconduct and excessive force, as a priority. This is as it should be.
When inundated with minor complaints, administrators are left with two options. They can investigate complaints chronologically, which would potentially address a complaint about a cop swearing before a complaint about one who is physically abusive. Or administrators can put grievous problems first, leaving minor complaints to fester for months.
The former is dangerous and unprofessional. The latter is frustrating to both citizens who feel their department is unresponsive and complain of cover-ups, as well as to officers who live under the specter of pending employment action.
Mediation is a reasonable answer - and one that the Boston Police Department is wise to embrace.
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While it is promising to see a major metropolitan department moving in a progressive direction, I am proud to say that the mediation of minor citizen complaints is something that our own Brattleboro Police Department has embraced for nearly a decade.
When our department receives a complaint, it is categorized as minor, serious, or criminal. Criminal complaints are investigated by an outside agency. Serious complaints go through an internal investigation with multiple layers of review.
Minor complaints are investigated as well, but if both parties are amenable to it, they can be mediated.
Under an agreement with the town's Community Justice Center, officers and citizens meet with a trained mediator to discuss events and circumstances and try to find value in each other's perspectives.
The process is one of understanding that focuses on exchanging points of view. It is not about assigning value, blame, or responsibility. In police and citizen interactions, power dynamics are rarely equal. Mediation levels the playing field.
Under the leadership of Chief Michael Fitzgerald, the Brattleboro Police Department places a high value on citizen feedback and community involvement.
Many departments require sworn, written statement forms to accept complaints of misconduct. While such things might add value or credibility to a complaint, we accept complaints of all kinds, from all sources, whether they are verbal or written.
Our department also conducts outreach via random call-backs of citizens who have called for police services to survey how we are performing.
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As a department, we recognize that some citizens might be uncomfortable meeting with a police supervisor to file a report of officer misconduct. Such people are just as entitled to quality police services as any other, and to mitigate their concerns, we work closely with the Citizen Police Communication Committee. This five-person town committee is staffed entirely by citizens. In addition to taking complaints, CPCC members can assist the public through mediation or an internal investigation.
All of these processes generally, and mediation specifically, allow our department to foster a deeper relationship with the people of Brattleboro and continue to serve it well. We are constantly searching for new ways to interact with the community.
While I am glad to see the Boston Police Department taking these progressive steps, it makes me proud to see how far along Brattleboro already has come.