Advisory group commends progress in police department
By George P. Hassett

A report by the Somerville Police Department Advisory Group said the department has made “significant progress” towards reforming police operations in Somerville, but a union leader said the report is merely an “essay pumping up the mayor’s position.”

  Patrolmen‚Äôs Union President Jack Leutcher criticized committee Chairman L. Scott Harshabarger‚Äôs report as propaganda for Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and the reorganization of the department.
  ‚ÄúHarshbarger sold himself. His job was to sell Joe Curtatone‚Äôs idea and he did it. They‚Äôre the ones paying him, of course it was positive,‚Äù Leutcher said.
   Harshbarger is a former Middlesex County District Attorney, Attorney General and candidate for Governor. Also on the committee were attorney and former Chair of the Somerville Human Rights Commission Kevin P. O’Malley, Former Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police and current Boston University Police Chief Thomas Robbins, recently appointed Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis III, Somerville Multicultural Commission Director Aru Manrique, Somerville resident and attorney Jacques A. Dessin, and Ward 7 Alderman Robert C. Trane.    
   In its report, the advisory group credited the city and its police department with progress toward several goals set in 2005, such as improving equipment, more mandated training and stronger certification standards, hiring additional officers, taking the job of Police Chief out of civil service  and ‚Äúcivilianizing‚Äù jobs that do not require police training.
   The report said ‚Äúinstitutional barriers,‚Äù such as negotiations with the Patrolmen‚Äôs Union, were preventing progress on several of the group‚Äôs 2005 recommendations.  Suggestions not yet implemented include a shift to a district command system,
the elimination of so-called “seniority picks” that allow the longest-serving officers to pick their assignments on a daily basis and, finally, the development of internal statistical and measurement systems to track performance over time in the same patrol location.
   To make these changes, the city must agree on a collective bargaining agreement with the Patrolmen‚Äôs Union. Leutcher said his union presented a proposal to the city addressing each of these issues and never received a counter-proposal. Patrolmen have picketed City Hall for the last three weeks because of the stalled contract talks.
   The progress report also contained several additional recommendations not included in the original 2005 study, such as the creation of a ‚Äútransparent civilian complaint process‚Äù and the adoption of badges with identifying information ‚Äì or at least the ‚Äúinterim step of requiring name or ID tags of all officers and commanders.‚Äù
   Curtatone praised the advisory group and hailed the report as a sign of his administrations‚Äô improvement of the department. 
  ‚ÄúAs this report indicates, we‚Äôve made real progress ‚Äì and we remain determined to implement all of their recommendations as quickly and thoroughly as possible,‚Äù Curtatone said.
   But Leutcher said the report was the work of a biased committee with political motivations and that he had not seen any real reform or help for patrolmen in the department recently.
  ‚ÄúNobody is helping the patrolmen on the street,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúI‚Äôd like to see one recent positive thing that has been done for the Somerville Police Department ‚Äì I just don‚Äôt see it.‚Äù