Tyre Nichols' Death Prompts Renewed Calls for Police Reform in Boston

A proposal on police reform by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is getting some renewed attention following the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols in Memphis.

When she was a candidate running for mayor, Wu outlined the idea as "A Blueprint for Police Reform through Union Contracts." In it, Wu suggests civilianizing traffic enforcement, replacing officers during routine stops with unarmed, trained civilian personnel.

"The presence of a police officer during routine traffic stops raises the risk of armed confrontation, sometimes with tragic consequences," the document says. "Traffic stops are the most common interaction that residents have with the police, and they disproportionately affect Black residents."

"I applaud Mayor Wu's vision," said Rev. Kevin Peterson of the New Democracy Coalition. "The police have no reason at this point to interact with civilians on minor cases related to traffic enforcement."

It's a move made in recent years by Berkeley, California. It has people in Boston like Khalen Roye wondering if it would be beneficial to bring here.

"I know part of police job is deescalating a situation, and not having a weapon can do that much faster," Roye said.

Leah Magno agrees.

"I think it's really easy to escalate, especially with weapons," she said.

But while Dylan Nicholson says more needs to be done, he says he's unsure about this specific idea.

"That sounds tough," he said. "I have seen stories where an officer pulls someone over and in an ambush just gets shot down."

Jamarhl Crawford of the Boston Police Reform Task Force doesn't think this proposal would be the right answer.

"We need to do a better job of weeding out bad police, good police, identifying officers who may be in distress," said Crawford.

Crawford adds that it raises many questions about logistics, as well as issues regarding costs and enforcement..

"Do they work for the police? Do they work for the city? Do they work for the RMV?" asked Crawford. "It's not the training, it's what happens when the officer deviates from the training. And in order to determine that, we have to get more into psychological profiling."

Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, criticized the idea.

"The civilianization of traffic stops is yet another bad idea from people who refuse to recognize the dangers that exist in society," Calderone said. Car stops are inherently dangerous based on who's behind the wheel or inside the vehicle. Ultimately, it's the person inside the car who dictates how dangerous or how quickly a stop can escalate."

"In Boston, we're committed to building trust between our residents and police officers and will continue to explore ways to do so by listening to the needs of our communities," a city spokesperson said. "Everyone deserves to feel safe in our city, and we won't rest until we live up to that promise."