Page 7 - Daniel Linskey News Today

As Boston moves forward with the new Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, while the department is enveloped in yet another major scandal, where are we on police reform in Massachusetts? We take listener calls with Rahsaan Hall, the Director of the Racial Justice Program for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and Daniel Linskey, former Superintendent-in-Chief of the Boston Police Department and now a managing director in Kroll’s Security Risk Management practice...

Boston police officers with batons lined up outside the District B-2 station in Roxbury before a protest on May 31. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) Amid calls to defund police, Boston police officers and their advocates have urged for hundreds more cops to be hired. They say that these days they’re stretched thin, forced to work mandatory overtime and facing a more hostile public. Nearly 300 officers in Boston are with the department, but theyre not working. And the city is spending millions of dollars ea...

I dont know what you make of that, daniel, but that shows you how tough the job is for the cops. >> yeah, exactly, bill. they try to rush in to save lives, to protect the kids who are in the day care across the street, killing range of probably 700-800 yards. they are trying to save peoples lives, save their fellow officers lives. they protect the community, and you have community members who are harassing them, making it more dangerous for them. i think it goes directly to the rhetoric we are s...

Commissioner richard ross weighing in on what was going through his mind during that tense standoff. >> i have to admit that i did not think this guy was going to come out alive. we had a more lengthy conversation. some of which ended with his attorney, so it was an unusual circumstance that we took unusual steps. we are about the preservation of life. everyone who was here yesterday played a significant role in bringing this to as positive of our resolution as you can imagine. >> bill: how are ...

>> bill: "philadelphia shooters should have never been allowed to be on the streets. he had a very long and dangerous record. it looked like he was having a good time after his capture. long sentence. we must be tougher on street crime." >> we have current laws in place. a felony possession of a firearm can have a federal sentence of up to five years plus. we are not seeing those imposed. i also think that we have got to do something, every one of these major mass casualty events has been with a...

>> sandra: fox news alert feud we expect to hear from chicago police any moment now on the jussie smollett case. the "empire" actor, who claimed he was a victim of a hate crime, now a suspect in an elected staged attacks. welcome to a brand-new hour of "americas newsroom." im sandra smith. >> bill: and im bill hemmer. today, smollett is in police custody. he turned himself in today at 2:30 eastern, charged with making false statements to police. more details expected. that will begin now live fr...

Final thought from the judge and daniel linsky. the judges are considered victims. are they exonerated? >> so smollett requested that they assault him. it is not an attack, so there is no criminal liability. once it becomes a false report, if they didnt honestly speak to police and try to obstruct that, that could have been a criminal charge against him, but if he was a willing participant in this and not a victim of assault, no criminal charges, i think the brothers could have been faced with. ...

Mr. smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense." judge, how can you -- >> it is hard to say what it would be. i didnt do it, it somebody else. it could be temporary insanity, some sort of a mental block. he didnt know right from wrong. very difficult offens...

>> i would encourage the superintendent and his legal team to do just that. to make requests, that it involves repaying the citizens of chicago for resources that may have been wasted. if he is determined to be guilty, but i certainly would like to see the judge, if they find that he did this hold him accountable criminally and civilly. >> sandra: got it. as we know, he conducted interviews on. he made a very emotional statement. final thoughts here, could those be used against him in this? >> a...

President was drawn into this, that the maga stuff was drawn into this. a lot of people said we are a racist society. this is an example of it. >> bill: you said you hope not not. i am asking does the judge have to consider some of those in the case now? >> under the law, the judge sentence is the defendant and the crime and not the events around him. so i dont think the judge will take that into consideration. >> sandra: think about the amount of crimes of the city of chicago faces, the amount ...