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THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, JunE 19, 2020 Page 3 Mayor declares racism a public health crisis M ayor Carlo DeMaria recently reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that racism and discrimination both remain intolerable. By doing so, he has officially declared racism a public health crisis in Everett. “The City of Everett is culturally rich and abundantly diverse. Racism or discrimination, in any form, will not be accepted nor tolerated. It is with this in mind that I fi nd it imperative to declare racism a public health crisis in the City of Everett,” said DeMaria. Following former President Barack Obama’s call to mayors to pursue policing reforms, DeMaria signed the “Mayor’s Pledge” issued by the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. The “Mayor’s Pledge” commits the City of Everett to the following: • Review police use-of-force policies; • Engage communities by including a diverse range of input, experiences and stories; • Report review fi ndings to the community and seek feedback; and • Reform police use-of-force policies. The policies and procedures of the Everett Police Department (EPD) strictly mirror and adhere to the guidelines set forth by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission (MPAC), which is an organization responsible for the development, delivery and enforcement of training standards of municipal police departments throughout Massachusetts. The recommended use-of-force policies set forth by the #8CANTWAIT campaign has resulted in a cursory review of current policies to ensure that nothing was overlooked. The EPD is actively updating the use-of-force and de-escalation policies, as well as the rules and regulations with a duty to intervene clause. As a result of an initial review of the current EPD policies, the Department will soon be equipped with a policy surrounding Biased Based Policing. For years, the EPD has been trained to never initiate any police involvement with another person on the sole basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, age or physical ability. Although this training exists as a past practice, it has never been codifi ed into a policy until now. This policy will be published and implemented within the next 10 days. Police utilization of chokeholds, strangleholds or other tactics in which an offi cer cuts off the oxygen supply of anothCarlo DeMaria Mayor er person in order to subdue them has, rightfully, become a main focus in the national spotlight as it pertains to police departments’ use-of-force policies. Chokeholds have never and will never be a method of restraint taught to the Everett Police Department. In fact, chokehold training is explicitly barred in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, citing the inherent dangers which accompany said tactic. This is further reiterated to the Everett police force that, barring a situation in which an offi cer’s life is in imminent danger and deadly force has thus been authorized, a chokehold shall never be used on a person as a means to subdue them. The Internal Aff airs division of a police department refers to the enforcement arm within the department that investigates incidents and possible suspicions of law-breaking and professional misconduct attributed to offi cers on the force. This has been highly scrutinized based on current events. Mayor DeMaria is seeking to form a Regional Internal Aff airs Coalition to increase the transparency of police misconduct and the processes by which they are investigated. Mayor DeMaria will be calling on local leaders to join him in forming this coalition to increase the impartiality of all Internal Aff airs investigations. Additionally, the EPD has taken its own proactive measures in monitoring its internal aff airs investigations. EPD is one of the few departments in Massachusetts that uses the leading professional standards software – IA Pro and Blue Team – used by approximately 800 public safety agencies in fi ve countries. The IA Pro and Blue Team software acts as an early warning system, helps frontline supervisory documentation, case management of internal affairs investigations, and overall organizational accountability. “As the needs of society change, it is the responsibility of local leaders to implement changes. My Administration will not be defunding our police department; rather, we will be reequipping the force by adding more tools to their duty belts,” said DeMaria. One of the greatest tools that a police department can use is its ability to use community policing to interact with residents and businesses alike. As part of EPD’s ongoing eff orts in community policing, EPD has engaged numerous organizations over the years in an eff ort to better serve Everett residents. These relationships have allowed the department to gain the trust of all Everett residents, from the youngsters to the elderly population, and resulted in the creation of the Cops Corner, the Junior Police Academy and the 25 Days of Christmas tradition. “The men and women of the Everett Police Department take their responsibilities seriously. We have always valued our relationships with our residents and strive to provide our services in a fair and impartial way,” said Police Chief Steven Mazzie. “Over the years, we have found that transparency, communication, and mutual respect have helped de-escalate volatile situations and often led to positive outcomes. We acknowledge that now is an important time to reinforce our dedication to getting the job done right while protecting those we serve and building a lasting trust.” It will remain the goal of the Everett Police Department, as it has been in over the past 10 years, to continue to hire police offi cers who are visually and culturally refl ective of the Everett community and its residents. The last class of police offi cers hired were predominantly of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities and speak multiple languages. The Department will continue to strive to recruit people of color so as to best represent our diverse community. The City of Everett has committed to adding the necessary personnel to support Everett police offi cers. DeMaria will be reallocating EPD funds to hire mental health professionals, therapists and additional personnel who will provide access to services needed by the City. This will be done in partnership and conjunction with local nonprofi ts and mental health providers. This collaboration will allow for a heightened EPD ability to achieve preventive results rather than respond with reactive measures, which, in turn, will lead to a truly safer community. www.eight10barandgrille.com The Eight/10 Bar & Grille will REOPEN on Wed., MAY 6 from 4-8 PM for Take-Out and Delivery with our delivery partners... STAY HOME! 8 Norwood Street, Everett (617) 387-9810 STAY SAFE! 505 Broadway Everett, MA 02149 Tel: 617-387-1120 www.gkdental.com • Family Dentistry • Crowns • Bridges • Veneers/Lumineers • Dental Implants • All on 4 Dental Implants • Emergency Dentist • Kid Friendly Dentist • Root Canals • Dentures • Invisalign Braces • Snap On Smile • Teeth Whitening We are the smile care experts for your entire family In House Dental Plan for $399 (Cleanings, X-Rays, Exams twice a year and 20% OFF Dental work) Schedule your FREE Consultations today

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