LYNN — Mayor Thomas M. McGee and Police Chief Michael Mageary announced Monday that the Lynn Police Department’s use-of-force policy has been revised to align with recommendations from Campaign Zero.
Campaign Zero is an American police-reform campaign proposed by activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. The group’s recommendations are outlined on a website that was launched in August 2015.
Revisions to the department’s use-of-force policy include restrictions on chokeholds and strangleholds, a requirement for officers to give a verbal warning before any level of force, and additional de-escalation training on an annual basis, according to McGee’s office.
“The widespread call for police reforms and accountability has resonated in the City of Lynn,” said McGee in a statement. “Over the last several weeks, Chief Mageary and I have met to discuss and review the LPD’s Use of Force Policy, which resulted in several changes.
“This is a positive step in the right direction. Meaningful change will require difficult conversations and thoughtful, concrete action. I look forward to respectfully listening to my fellow Lynners as we have the important discussions that will inform how we progress as a community.”
A review of the department’s policy, which adheres to the state’s Municipal Police Training Committee guidelines, showed that the current rules and procedures had already included many of the recommendations from Campaign Zero, according to McGee’s office.
The goal of the policy is to provide guidance to officers that they should only use the least amount of force that is reasonable and necessary, according to McGee’s office.
“The Lynn Police Department has thoroughly embraced the six pillars of the principles embodied in the final report of the 2015 President Obama Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and remains committed to professional conduct, democratic policing and procedural justice for all people,” said Mageary in a statement.
The following revisions have been implemented and formalized in the Lynn Police Department’s use-of-force policy, which became effective on June 18:
- Officer’s duty to intervene: should they observe a situation in which they perceive more than the necessary force being deployed by a fellow officer.
- Requiring officers to give a verbal warning before any level of force: provided they have the opportunity to do so. This was already a standard practice that is now officially in writing.
- Restricting chokeholds: The use of chokeholds or strangleholds is not included in the training of Lynn Police officers due to the risk of serious injury or death. The use of chokeholds is strictly prohibited, unless the use of deadly force is warranted under MPTC guidelines.
- Training officers in de-escalation: This is already included in recruits’ training and in the MPTC use-of-force model in the department’s use-of-force policy. Going forward, officers will receive additional de-escalation training annually, as required by the MPTC.
- Requiring officers to use a use-of-force continuum: starting with nonlethal or less lethal strategies, which is an existing policy.
- Requiring officers to exhaust all reasonable alternatives before using deadly force: This is an existing policy based on the MPTC use of force guidelines.
- Comprehensive reporting of both actual and threatened use of force: All officers are required to complete a use of force report for each instance where any level of force is used.
The joint announcement for the policy revisions comes at a time when the Lynn Police Department has launched an internal investigation following the arrests of three black men on Brightwood Terrace on June 15.
The three men are calling for what they consider unlawful charges to be dropped. They claim they were “unlawfully arrested, assaulted, and falsely charged” by Lynn Police officers who were sent to investigate a noise complaint at one of their homes.
After the investigation began, a Lynn Police officer voluntarily resigned from the force, according to a department statement.
Hundreds of people gathered on the Lynn Common last Friday for a protest centered around the arrests.
