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NEW BEDFORD A little over two weeks after Mayor Jon Mitchell’s Commission on Police Use of Force issued its final report, Mitchell has announced the city and its police department will implement its recommendations in a manner consistent with state law and the department’s collective bargaining agreement. It’s not clear that any of the recommendations would necessarily be impacted by law or the bargaining agreement, according to the city’s Public Information Officer Jonathan Carvalho, but the recommendations will be reviewed by the city’s legal team. Concurrently, NBPD Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro announced he is rescinding a controversial department directive, the former High Energy Patrol Initiative, superseded by the Department’s Walk and Talk directive and community policing philosophy, effective Thursday. ....
NEW BEDFORD The night before Christmas Eve, the New Bedford Commission to Review NBPD Use of Force Policies released its final report after a six month review of the police department s policies. The report offers recommended changes to the policies and states the recommendations “recognized and adopted language to meet the need of strengthening the emphasis on ‘duty to intervene’ and ‘de-escalation’ components for all three policies.” One recommendation states that even if the requirement to intervene is spelled out in the department’s rules and regulations, it should be reiterated in the Use of Force policies. In June, after days of protests in the city calling for police reform and an end to police brutality, Mayor Jon Mitchell announced the creation of the commission as part of his commitment to the Obama Foundation’s Mayor’s Pledge. ....