School resource officer and Northborough police officer Michael Bisset thinks trust between the public and police comes from dialogue and communication.

“I’d like to think that we can still trust the police, I still trust the police,” Bisset said. “I’d like to see that we could just start to trust each other a little more, and I think part of that maybe has to do with a dialogue being there between police officers and the rest of the general public.”

Along with communication, freshman Sydney Cerro explained that it’s important to look at the overall good deeds of the police when formulating a general opinion of them, not on secluded issues.

“[Police] help a lot and get a lot of crap for little mistakes of single policemen, and I think we should focus on the positive rather than the negative,” Cerro said.

However, according to Bisset, that doesn’t mean the mistakes and cases of misconduct and abuse of power don’t matter. While some people think that these are simply isolated incidents, others look towards police law enforcement reform.

“If [police misconduct] happens once, it’s an issue,” Bisset said. “I mean, that’s not okay. Do I think it’s pervasive in that there needs to be a complete overhaul of the system? No, I don’t think that that’s the case, but I do think it shouldn’t be something that’s brushed aside as really not a problem.”

Although the Northborough police department has clear procedures, senior Alyssa Coyne thinks law enforcement reform or at least additional special training would be beneficial in other parts of the country that have issues with misconduct.

“I feel like sometimes since some officers do take things a little too far that they should be taught to not overreact and to just react to the person and don’t do everything by the book and kind of take each situation and treat it differently,” Coyne said.

According to Bisset, it is difficult to put a law or policy in place that could really help to prevent these incidents.

“It’s tough, and it’s surely not an easy decision for anyone to make, but as far as something you could just implement across the board, I don’t think so because people are still people, and you’ll have some people that make the wrong decision,” Bisset said.

As far as holding the people that make the wrong decision responsible, there is a system in place.
Bisset explained that if an officer does something wrong, the system ensures that there are consequences. For example, there would be repercussions for any citizen shooting at someone else unjustly.

Many people believe that the use of body cameras could be beneficial and remove the confusion and conflict of an incident.

“I think [body cameras are] good,” Cerro said. “It is expensive so it might be a little bit of a problem, but I see why it can help because it shows what really happens and there is evidence so there aren’t disputes.”

Although Bisset stated that they could be beneficial, there are multiple obstacles and issues that come along with body cameras, such as expenses and malfunctioning equipment, which is why many police forces don’t use them, including the Northborough Police Department.

One of the prominent groups that have been focusing their efforts on speaking out against police misconduct and brutality in cases of racial profiling is the Black Lives Matter movement. According to the mission statement on their website, Black Lives Matter is an activist movement that stands up against violence and systemic racism toward black people.

“I think it’s a positive movement because I feel like it’s showing that black lives are overlooked upon in this country,” Coyne said.

Hopkins explained the importance of the movement at a time when there is oftentimes a subconscious bias towards people of color.

“It’s frustrating when people say ‘all lives matter’ in response to the Black Lives Matter movement because of course all lives matter, but Black Lives Matter isn’t saying other lives don’t, it’s just emphasizing that there’s statistically more violence against black people and people of color from police,” Hopkins said.

According to senior Mark Howells, the message and idea of the movement is important and intended to be positive. However, Black Lives Matter gets a bad reputation from violent people that are associating themselves with the movement.

“With every group, there will always be extremists that take measures into their own hands and do something in the name of a cause that is completely peaceful,” Howells said.

According to Howells, there are not local issues surrounding police misconduct because of the transparency between the police and citizens here in Northborough.

“Living in Northborough, I’m thankful because they have a very strict department, and the department is pushed to a very high standard, which is good,” Howells said. “Everything the Northborough police does is documented, regardless of what it is.”

According to junior Ryan Strobel, although police misconduct is not a local issue, it is still important to be aware of what is going on throughout the country to establish a good relationship between the police and the public.

“I think that [the police and the public] working together is always a positive thing,” Strobel said. “I think if they could find a happy medium and agreement everyone would be better off.”