BOSTON (AP) - Boston will create a new independent office to investigate police misconduct as part of a slate of reforms recommended by a task force, Mayor Marty Walsh said Tuesday.
Walsh called the Boston Police Reform Task Force’s recommendations “bold and comprehensive” and said he will use every tool at his disposal to implement them.
Among the recommendations of the task force, led by former U.S. Attorney Wayne Budd, is the creation of the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, which would include a panel to review police internal affairs investigations as well as a civilian board with subpoena powers to review complaints against officers.
The city has already created a job posting for an executive director of the office, Walsh said.
The task force, convened this summer amid protests across the U.S. over police misconduct, also called for an expansion of the department’s use of body cameras and the creation of a “Diversity & Inclusion Unit” to advise the commissioner on things like recruitment and hiring.
Commissioner William Gross, who joined Walsh at a news conference to announce the recommendations, said the department must continue to strive to improve.
“As law enforcement we serve the people, it is not the other way around,” Gross said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.