Roxbury Defenders Attorney-in-Charge Allison Cartwright

Allison Cartwright, the Attorney-in-Charge of the Committee for Public Counsel Services’ Roxbury Defenders office, has been appointed to a Task Force charged with reviewing Boston Police policies and making recommendations for progressive reform.

The Boston Police Reform Task Force was launched earlier this month by Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh. It will review Boston Police’s use-of-force policies, recommend rigorous implicit bias training for police officers, improve the current Body Worn Camera program and look for ways to strengthen the city’s existing police review board, known as the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel or Co-op Board.

“As a public defender and a resident of Boston, I am honored to be appointed by Mayor Walsh to sit on the BPD Task Force,” Cartwright said. “One of the most important issues we are facing as a city, and as a nation, is to critically review policing in our communities, in particular for people of color. The work that we do with this Task Force will have a long-lasting impact on those who are affected by police and the criminal justice system.”

Walsh created the new Task Force to ensure that commitments made as part of the “Mayor’s Pledge” translate into immediate action. Mayor Walsh signed the “Mayor’s Pledge” issued by the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. The “Mayor’s Pledge” commits the City of Boston to the following actions:

1. Review police use of force policies
2. Engage communities by including a diverse range of input, experiences, and stories
3. Report review findings to the community and seek feedback
4. Reform police use of force policies

The Task Force will produce recommendations by July 14, 2020. Aligned with President Obama’s “Mayor’s Pledge,” the community will have until July 31, 2020 to review recommendations and provide feedback to the City of Boston. Mayor Walsh will announce reforms to be implemented as a result of the Task Force and the community’s input by August 15, 2020.

In addition to Cartwright, the Boston Police Reform Task Force includes:

• Wayne Budd, former United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts (Chair)
• Joseph D. Feaster, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts
• Tanisha Sullivan, President, NAACP Boston Branch
• Darrin Howell, President, DRIVE Boston Community Resources Inc. & Political Coordinator, 1199SEIU
• Superintendent Dennis White, Chief of Staff, Boston Police Department
• Marie St. Fleur, former Massachusetts State Representative, Boston
• Rev. Jeffrey Brown, Associate Pastor, Historic Twelfth Baptist Church, Roxbury
• Eddie Crispin, Boston Police Department Sergeant and President of MAMLEO (Mass. Assn. of Minority Law Enforcement Officers)
• Jamarhl Crawford, Resident & Activist

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Press Contact:
Bob McGovern
rmcgovern@publiccounsel.net
617-910-5758