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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
By Jim Clark
At the October 22 meeting of the Somerville City Council, an order was put forward and approved asking that the City Solicitor draft an ordinance banning the use of tear gas by the Police Department and other law enforcement agencies operating in Somerville.
Speaking in favor of the order, co-sponsor Ward 3 City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen told the Council, “A number of residents have been reaching out over the past several weeks encouraging Somerville to take the lead on explicitly prohibiting the use of tear gas by law enforcement in Somerville. I reached out to the administration to ask whether we currently have a policy on this.”
Ewen-Campen indicated that he had not yet received a response to his inquiry.
“I have attempted to look through our Police Department use of force and crowd control policies, which are publicly available for anyone who wishes to read them,” the Councilor continued. “I was unable to find an explicit explanation of our policy. I am not aware of tear gas having been used any time recently in Somerville, but from what I can gather there is nothing on the books now that would stop it from being used. And I would like to change that. And I know that I am not alone.”
Ewen-Campen asked that the order be referred to the City Council’s Legislative Matters Committee and for the City Solicitor’s Office to reach out about crafting the ordinance language.
The order was subsequently laid on the table and referred to the Legislative Matters Committee.
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What is the response from the police department? If they have not used this should this not be kept in reserve in the case that it is ever needed? Certainly not something a council member should be even discussing without input form the people who defend us. And why is he wasting time on this when we have real problems in the city. And this is a problem if it is not used?
Dear God. Now this creature is ready to gas us. It clearly should be segregated from civilized society,
Well, genius – I can’t believe this even needs to be said – there are instances when legislative bodies need to oversee the practices of public authorities such as the police. That’s a very important function that they serve. These are the people who defend us from the type of misguided, overzealous, over-militarized goon squads that we see raising havoc in other American cities.
This crap is both dangerous to people’s health and just plain barbaric.
And defend you from – what? People protesting social injustice? Sorry, bunky. You can’t simply gas away those who you wouldn’t share an elevator with. This is everybody’s elevator.
Get some help. You’re so far gone you have no idea.
So-called “tear gas” is highly toxic and damaging to the lungs. It should universally be considered an archaic and inhumane measure for crowd control. Even in the most controlled of circumstances, collateral damage to those in the vicinity of its deployment is inevitable, whether participating in civil unrest activities or not. There are other less destructive means available to handle these situations. In my opinion, many who are against such a ban have questionable motives. Kudos to the Council for addressing this.
As a last resort and same as a gun. I expect it will probably never be used here as the police are doing a great job all these years without having to use it. But at the very least they should have access in case. We do not know what the future will bring and hopefully will be more peaceful. I am not advocating for the use of it, same as a gun. None of the police I know want to take that gun out of their holster. It is a last resort. But this is not for the council to decide. They are not the experts. They need to be working doing things that are needed here. This is a waste of time and didn’t need to be discussed. Homelessness and other tings is what they need to be working on. Leave this to the professionals.
Arthur. Dude. Weimar Era Germany also “left it to the professionals.” Dozens of other examples could be cited.
And for the record – as well as stating the obvious – legislative bodies are professionals too, charged with protecting the public and its interests.
This stuff is inhumane and outmoded, as are police state fetishists.