Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins isn't a "shrinking violet," she said on Boston Public Radio on Tuesday, and she doesn't want rank and file police officers to be either, especially when it comes to condemning systemic racism and holding fellow officers accountable.
Rollins has commended Boston Police Commissioner William Gross for his statements in the wake of George Floyd's killing by a police officer, and has offered her support for men and women in uniform during media appearances since then. But she is also calling on the rank and file officers to be vocal themselves, urging the various unions to issue statements condemning police violence. The patrolmen's union pushed back at her, and said her statements condemning police brutality amounted to inciting violence against officers.
Rollins told Boston Public Radio that people need to distinguish from the many "culturally competent" police officers in the field.
"I'm not talking about those wonderful people," she said, "but what I am saying to them is, you've got to stand up and you can't be a bystander ... When our police are silent about where they stand on things that are outrageous, that hurts my ability to get guilty verdicts in homicides. That impacts those communities of color that are part of my grand jury, that impacts communities of color that are part of my trial jury, and they don't believe anything police say, because why would they."
Rollins, who ran on a progressive platform to not prosecute various low-level crimes, has come out in favor of police reforms such as ending qualified immunity, requiring licensure for officers, and establishing civilian review boards. She said as a prosecutor, she is working within a system that is part of the problem.
"Forget about the police unions, this is a law enforcement problem, which I am part of. We have such a hard time admitting we ever made a mistake. we cling onto finality over justice or accountability," she said.
"We as law enforcement need to do a much better job to do a better job at looking at ourselves and saying what do we need to do better? It’s been too long that we’ve done a terrible job, now the community is saying, we don't want to hear what you have to say, you've self regulated for so long and done such a poor job, now this is happening."
