City Council Receives Updates on Policing, School Safety

FRAMINGHAM - Members of the Framingham City Council received a list of updates related to policing in the city along with safety at local schools during their meeting at the Memorial Building on Tuesday, June 25.

Police Chief Lester Baker spoke to councilors to provide additional insight on a number of matters, including school safety. The discussion came after continued reports of violence within Framingham school buildings and buses.

Baker noted that he is unable to publicly talk about incidents involving juveniles that require police intervention. However, he did call for parents to be more accountable and to work alongside education and city officials to ensure that children are following school rules.

Baker added that the Framingham Police Department is not able to determine school standards on this front, such as dictating who can and cannot ride school buses.

“We don’t want police officers in the schools threatening a child to use the correct hallway or bathroom, as an authority figure, with the threat of arrest,” Baker continued on Tuesday.

Superintendent for Framingham Public Schools Dr. Robert Tremblay was initially requested by City Council Chair Phil Ottaviani of District 6 to provide an update on school violence during Tuesday’s meeting in the wake of recent incidents. In an email dated June 6, Tremblay advised that he was not able to partake in Tuesday’s City Council meeting due to a vacation, though he did write that he would make himself available to individual City Council members.

District 4 City Councilor Michael Cannon said he was disappointed by Tremblay’s absence before going on to propose that the superintendent be required to attend the next City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 16, in order to address public concerns regarding safety. Cannon issued the motion through Article II of Framingham’s Home Rule Charter, which features a section that essentially dictates that the City Council can require “any officer, member of an agency or employee” to come before the group and provide any information about municipal services, responsibilities, and functions that fall under their purview.

“I’m hopeful that—whether it’s one meeting that we bring (Tremblay) to, whether it’s multiple meetings, whether we have special meetings—by the time we start the school year,” Cannon continued, “we can be comfortable and on the same page that violence is not tolerated at Framingham Public Schools.”

Friendly amendments were later added to Cannon’s initial motion that aimed to invite members of the city’s School Committee to attend and participate in that conversation on July 16 while also requiring Tremblay’s attendance.

As for ongoing investigations into crimes like murder, Baker reiterated that he is unable to freely discuss open cases, as any of his statements on open murder cases have to be made in conjunction with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. He added that some serious cases have been open in Framingham for decades, and that the police department works with any resources they have at their disposal in an attempt to resolve investigations.

In regard to the plan to institute body cameras for all police officers in Framingham, Baker advised that the department continues to receive the equipment needed to launch the program. He explained that the necessary infrastructure was lacking for a period, though funding for personnel on the project is set to kick in on July 1. More resources to keep hardware and software stable along with technology that triggers body cameras for all officers responding to a call whenever one officer’s weapon is drawn have recently come in, according to Baker.

The chief said the police department is now preparing to bring these body cams into operations, with his hope being that the rollout of their body camera pilot program can start at some point next month.

“I don’t have a specific date,” Baker told the City Council, “but we did accomplish all that in the middle of a fiscal year, and we are ready to roll out the program. And yes: it will start out with a 10% pilot program, and that way you work out the kinks and bugs so that we get the system up and going.”

Baker finally noted that while arrests in the downtown area at this time of the year are up, the police department is attempting to conduct more outreach with residents and business owners in the area while also finding services or treatment for those apprehended on multiple occasions.