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Springfield Police Commission Proposal Is Criticized By City Solicitor

The chief legal counsel for the city of Springfield, Massachusetts is advising the city council not to move forward with a plan to put a board of civilians in charge of the police department.

Springfield City Solicitor Ed Pikula sent a memo to councilors warning the city would be open to greater liability from lawsuits under a proposed ordinance – already given preliminary approval by the council – to create a five-member Board of Police Commissioners to run the police department.

Pikula, speaking at a meeting of the council’s Public Safety Committee, said he believes the proposed ordinance is in conflict with the city charter because it would usurp the mayor’s authority to organize the management of city departments.

" It is an invalid ordinance,"  said Pikula.

The city council gave the proposed ordinance first-step approval on a voice vote on Nov. 14th. A final vote could occur at the council’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Dec. 5th.   10 of 13 city councilors have signed on as co-sponsors, which would be enough to override a likely veto by Mayor Domenic Sarno.

" I think you should work with the mayor to try to find some means of going forward that is in the best interests of the city," advised Pikula.

A mayoral-appointed police commission ran the Springfield Police Department for decades, until it was abolished in 2005 by the state-appointed control board that was running Springfield at the time. 

A series of police officer misconduct cases prompted the effort to revive the police commission.

Police Commissioner John Barbieri, a 29-year veteran of the Springfield Police Department who was appointed by Sarno to run it in 2014, urged councilors not to go back to a system he described as “political and divisive.”

" There were certain people who were above the chief's ability to control. There were certain people who were promoted who never should have been promoted. There were people hired who never should have been hired," claimed Barbieri.

Barbieri claimed reforms he has instituted as police commissioner would not have been possible under a civilian police commission.

"In two-and-a-half years my team has moved the ball forward at a tremendous level," said Barbieri.

He said the handling of police misconduct cases would not be more transparent under a police commission, because officers have rights to privacy and due process.  Complaints against police officers are considered by a mayoral-appointed hearing board that makes recommendations to the police commissioner.

" No police commissioner has ever over ruled the CPHB ( Community Police Hearing Board), myself included," said Barbieri. " The only thing I have done is go above and beyond ( the discipline recommended.)"

The public safety committee did not make a recommendation on the proposed ordinance to the full council.  The committee chairman, Councilor Tom Ashe, opposes the ordinance and urged his fellow councilors to tread carefully.

"I want to make sure all the correct information is out there and ( the council) acts responsibly in a proactive way to the latest incidents that have occurred," said Ashe.

The proposed ordinance creating a civilian police commission to run the police department would not take effect until 2019, when Barbieri’s current employment contract with the city expires.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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