Police have long had a haphazard, lax response to domestic violence within the ranks

We recommend this article from the Boston Globe: Police have long had a haphazard, lax response to domestic violence within the ranks. Police departments have a documented culture of protecting and giving special treatment to their officers. This protection extends to officers who commit domestic violence. When a police officer is accused of abusing their spouse or a family member, it’s not uncommon for the officer to have minimal or no consequences. This article describes several examples from the Boston Police and the Massachusetts State Police.

Following nation-wide protests about police violence in the summer of 2020, Mayor Walsh commissioned a task force to recommend improvements the Boston Police Department. One of the recommendations was to classify acts of domestic violence by Boston police officers as uses of excessive force. This would better allow the department to track problem officers. As the article describes, however, this change has not yet been implemented and may never be. This change would publicize the names of officers accused of domestic violence, but the Boston Police want to protect these police officers by claiming that a privacy law applies. This is an outrage; privacy laws were designed to protect the victim, not the abuser. Public pressure on police departments must continue for real changes to take effect.