Police reform bill passed

After months of negotiation in conference committee, the Massachusetts Legislature has passed a comprehensive piece of legislation outlining police reform across the state. This legislation includes major reforms to police training, certification and conduct, and holds police officers accountable for breaking the law and violating civil rights.

Here is a breakdown of the major policies included in the bill.

This legislation comes on the heels of a national movement against racial bias in police institutions across the country, where millions marched in protest of structural racism. People’s actions demanded change, and those marches spurred the impetus for this bill to pass, along with many other police reform policies across the country.

Thousands of people came out in Boston to protest racial injustice this summer

While there are still many other steps we have to take to rectify centuries of racial injustice, passing this bill is an important step, and shows what is possible when people stand up for justice and equality.

Protests occurred all across the Commonwealth, many on the Cape and Islands