New Massachusetts police law proposals likely next week following George Floyd protests, Baker says

Gov. Charlie Baker says he’s been in discussions with the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus about what law changes the state should make following the widespread protests — and to expect proposals supported by his office next week.

“We had some really great ideas coming out of those discussions, and we hope to say about some specific proposals next week, which we believe will dramatically improve transparency in law enforcement,” Baker said in a news conference on Friday.

This comes after a week of protests of police treatment of black people following the death of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man who died at the hands of police last week. Four police officers have been fired and one charged with murder in Floyd’s death, which was caught on a video that shows an officer kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Baker said he and member of the state’s Black and Latino Legislative Caucus had a conference call on Thursday, when they discussed next steps and had a moment of silence that lasted eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time Officer Derek Chauvin is accused of kneeling on Floyd’s neck.

“At times like these when a whole bunch of us are experiencing pain and anxiety for a whole bunch of reasons, it is enormously helpful to experience in some small way with a small group of colleagues together just how long eight minutes and 46 seconds was,” Baker told reporters.

The Black and Latino Legislative Caucus held a press conference on Tuesday in which officials of color from around Massachusetts called for reforms at the federal, state and local levels with an aim at improving the lives of minorities. At the state level, those proposals include limits on and data collection for police use-of-force incidents and creating a state office to focus on diversity.

The governor continued to insist a big trove of information is coming Saturday about the specifics of “Phase 2” of the his plan to reopen the state amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Phase 2 could happen as soon as Monday. Baker said the specifics will be “based on the data.”

This comes as  the trend in COVID-19 hospitalizations on Friday became listed as “positive” for the first time. State officials also list testing capacity and positive test rate as trends headed in the right direction now going on three weeks after the reopening began.