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Description
Mayor Walsh hosts a media availability to sign an ordinance that creates the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency (OPAT). The creation of the OPAT was a key component of the Boston Police Task Force's final recommendations. For more information on the Boston Police Reform Task Force and their recommendations for reform, please visit their webpage https://www.boston.gov/departments/mayors-office/bostons-movement-end-racism/boston-police-reform-task-force. For more information on Mayor Walsh's further actions for reforms, please view the City's webpage https://www.boston.gov/departments/mayors-office/bostons-movement-end-racism.
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B
A
The
year
of
zoom,
we
don't
want
you
to
you,
know,
say
anything
too
nice
about
anybody,
because
they'll
have
it
might
be
reported
on.
If
we
do
that.
So
let
me
let
me
first
just
thank
the
task
force
for
your
amazing
work.
You
know
this
year.
2020
has
been
a
very
difficult
challenging
year
for
so
many
people.
A
A
month
later
we
were
literally
shutting
everything
down
and
trying
to
figure
out.
How
do
we
keep
people
alive
and
how
do
we
move
forward
in
the
city
of
boston?
We
put
together
something
called
the
crisis
response
forum
and
it
was
dealing
with
coronavirus
and
the
numbers
we
saw
in
april
and
may
and
june.
A
We
created
boston,
hope,
which
is
a
hospital
over
at
the
convention
center.
We
opened
that
up.
We
treated
750
people
there
at
boston,
hope
and
in
the
midst
of
all
this
george
floyd
was
murdered,
and
that
was
for
me
personally
very
challenging
because,
as
I
said
in
the
past,
I
wanna
I
I
didn't
know
what
quite
honestly,
what
the
right
words
were,
and
at
the
time
I
said
that
I'm
going
to
listen.
I
took
some
heat
for
that.
A
A
We
also
created
the
office
of
equity,
carolyn
crocker,
dr
colin
crockett
is
our
first
ever
chief
and
she's
on
this
now,
and
I
want
to
thank
her
for
her
work.
She's
done
some
amazing
work
in
a
very
short
period
of
time
and
really
making
sure
equities
at
the
center
of
everything
that
we
do
in
the
city
in
every
department,
every
cabinet,
every
office,
every
person
and
we're
working
there,
and
I
think,
one
of
the
most
dynamic
things
we
did
was
put
together.
A
This
police
reform
task
force,
and
I
want
to
just
say
thank
you
to
all
of
you.
I
want
to
thank
champ
chairman
wayne
budd
for
sharing
this
reverend
brown.
Thank
you
alison
cartwright.
Thank
you
jamal
crawford.
Thank
you
sergeant,
eddie
crispin.
Thank
you,
joe
fisa.
Thank
you,
darren
howell.
Thank
you,
javier
flores.
Thank
you,
tanisha
sullivan
president,
the
naacp.
A
Thank
you.
Marie
st
floor,
thank
you
dennis
white
superintendent
dennis
white.
Thank
you
because
when
we
put
this
task
force
together
or
what
I
said
to
you,
was
I'm
not
going
to
be
meddling
around
in
the
task
force,
I'm
not
going
to
be
giving
you
direction
and
telling
you
what
to
do
whatever
you
do
the
work
you
do.
A
You
do
and
you
make
recommendations
to
me
and
we're
going
to
take
those
recommendations,
and
you
know
it's
important
that
we
we
we
do
this
to
do
this
work
and
this
work
was
done
very
transparent,
very
open
and,
quite
honestly,
I
think
that
the
dynamic
responses
come
out
of
this,
creating
the
office
of
police,
accountability
or
known
as
the
opat.
I
think
more
people
will
will
be
able
to
understand
what
that
is
in
a
little
bit
working
on
the
reform
task
force.
Thank
you.
Thank
you.
A
A
This
is
not
the
beginning
of
our
work,
and
this
is
not
the
end
of
our
work.
This
is
a
continuation
of
our
work
and
we're
going
to
continue
on
in
this
journey
together
the
task
force
those
people
that
the
public
that's
listening
today.
The
task
force
has
has
offered
their
assistance
to
me
as
advisors
as
we
continue
to
move
forward
here,
and
I
took
them
up
on
that.
I
take
you
up
on
that
offer.
A
I
take
you
up
in
that
offer
to
continue
to
work
with
us
collectively
and
hand
in
hand
step
in
step,
so
we
can
continue
to
to
build
trust.
I
also
want
to
say
a
word
about
our
police
department.
We
have
the
best
police
department
in
the
country
and
there's
no
reason
why
anyone
should
be
fearful
of
what
we're
doing
today.
What
we're
doing
today
is
adding
accountability,
whether
it's
in
training,
whether
it's
in
hiring,
whether
it's
in
diversity,
whether
it's
in
police
misconduct.
A
When,
when
an
officer
raises
his
or
her
hand,
they
swear
and
allegiance
to
the
city
of
boston,
they
swear
they're
they're
going
to
serve
and
protect
the
city
of
boston,
and
we
need
to
make
sure
we
continue
to
do
that.
We
need
to
make
sure
that
everyone
in
the
city
understands
that
and
the
importance
of
that
and
we're
going
to
continue
to
move
forward.
A
We
have
an
opportunity
to
be
a
national
model
and
it's
my
belief
that
we
are
a
national
model,
we're
the
first
city
to
really
respond,
and
I
I'm
proud
of
the
work
that's
been
done
here
and
I
know
we
still
have
more
work
to
do.
As
I
said,
this
is
a
continuation
of
work,
so
I
just
want
to
say
thank
you
to
all
of
you
for
your
incredible
work
and
before
I
sign
this,
I
think
I'm
supposed
to
turn
over
to
jim
and
bud
to
say
a
few
words
so
chairman.
B
A
B
B
A
B
A
B
You,
mr
mayor,
acted
swiftly
by
signing
two
executive
orders
to
create
a
civilian
review
board
and
an
internal
affairs
oversight
panel.
But
today,
by
signing
this
ordinance,
the
opat
office,
the
civilian
review
board
and
the
internal
affairs
oversight
panel
have
been
established
into
law.
I
want
to
thank
all
of
my
fellow
task
force
members
and
in
particular
the
subcommittee
which
led
to
the
creating
of
this
historic
piece
of
legislation.
B
I
want
to
thank
also
thank
you,
mr
mayor,
on
behalf
of
the
task
force
for
your
commitment
and
leadership
in
creating
the
task
force
and
not
only
supporting
but
implementing
our
recommendations
for
lasting
change.
So
our
thanks
goes
out
to
you,
mr
mayor,
and
on
behalf
of
the
task
force,
it's
been
a
pleasure
to
serve
in
this
capacity
for
you
and
the
city
of
boston.
Thank
you.
A
Thank
you
very
much,
mr
chairman,
and
thank
you
for
your
great
work
and
I
truly
appreciate
everything
that
you've
done
guiding
this
and
I
appreciate
the
friendships
that
have
been
made
throughout
this
task
force
and
working
together.
I
also
want
to
be
remiss
if
I
didn't
mention,
commissioner,
william
grass,
commissioner
grass
is
the
leader
of
the
boston
police
department.
He
wanted
the
commissioner
for
his
his
great
work
and
the
command
staff
for
for
all
understanding
and
and
recognizing
the
importance
of
this
moment
in
time.
A
So
thank
you,
commissioner
gross.
I
also
want
to
give
a
shout
out
to
city
council,
ed
flynn,
city
council,
kim
janey,
michael
flaherty,
michelle
wu,
julia
mejia,
liz,
braden,
anissa,
sabi,
george
councillor
bach.
I
think
that's
who's
here
today,
but
the
other
counselors
as
well
for
your
great
work.
Thank
you
very
much
for
all
of
your
work
this
year,
because
this
has
been
really
an
incredible
year
and
it's
not
over.
I
mean
it's
2020
2020
is
over,
thank
god,
but
2021
is
now
a
year
of
action.
A
We
need
to
continue
the
action
we
need
to
continue
to
move
forward.
I
often
say
people
often
turn
the
page
when
an
incident
like
what
happened
in
minneapolis
happened,
we
don't
turn
the
page.
We
need
to
stay
on
that
page.
We
need
to
continue
to
do
this
work,
so
I
want
to
thank
you
all,
and
now
I'm
going
to
sign
this
ordinance
into
law
here
in
the
city
of
boston,
on
behalf
of
the
town,
I'm
doing
this
for
the
residents
of
the
city,
but,
most
importantly,
the
task
force
members
that
are
on
here.