The School Committee, on Wednesday, Oct. 8 approved, by a vote of 9-0-1 – with member Rosemary Connolly abstaining – to modify the memorandum of understanding with the Hanson Police Department to allow School Resource Officers to use body cameras while on duty in the schools.
“Every year, at the beginning of the school year, we gather as a team to talk about school safety and introduce new staff to our public safety officials – the four chiefs, their deputies and whoever else wants to attend that meeting,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak, introducing Hanson Police Chief Michael Miksch and Deputy Chief Michael Casey to discuss body cams with the committee.
He announced to the School Committee that Hanson police have been wearing body cameras as part of their regular duties for about a month, and will be as part of School Resource Officer duties.
“Since this is a change to our MOU, to our school resource officers in the building, I asked both Mikes to come in and speak on this, because I think there can be a lot of misinformation, if it doesn’t come right from the folks that are having their officers wear these devices for the safety of themselves and for the safety of the public.”
Miksch said Friday that cameras would only be turned on when an officer Derek Harrington, as per the department’s policy. He said he chose not to purchase the variety of body camera that is always on or automatically activated when an officer draws a weapon.
Miksch and Casey provided a copy of the department’s body camera use policy as well as the school resource officer’s job description before the meeting.
“We work really well collaboratively,” Szymaniak said of the Hanson police. The department has jurisdiction over the high school because it is wholly located in Hanson.
Miksch noted that, following the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis in 2020, Massachusetts passed a police reform act.
“Many of the things in that act were actually things that – I’ve been a police chief since 2010 – police chiefs in Massachusetts were pushing for,” he said, reassuring the committee that interaction with police officials from across the country have shown him that officers in Massachusetts are probably the most well-educated well-behaved officers. “What we wanted to come out of that was to help improve policing in Massachusetts and give officers more tools, better equipment and better training to do the job.”
While no police career is perfect, Miksch said, the Northeast – the New England states and New York, are unique in how they handle policing versus other parts of the country.
“That being said, there’s always room for improvement, and it’s always good to have self-reflection,” he said, saying a notable thing that came out of the reform law was a push for body cams. Miksch said he was among police officials who were initially skeptical of the cameras.
“Why can’t you just believe me, you’re supposed to,” he said the thinking was. “But a funny thing’s happened since I’ve started talking to the other departments and even, I think, my own officers will agree with me at this point – they’re actually a great tool.”
Miksch aid officers he’s spoken to from around the state have said that, when unruly people are told they are being recorded, they begin to behave and cooperate better,
“It’s actually a de-escalation technique, now,” he said. “It’s great. It’s where the state’s going, too. … We’re going to have them for at least the next five years, because that’s what Town Meeting approved and that’s the contract we signed with Motorolla. ”
More departments are adopting them as their towns receive funding or grants, as well, according to Miksch. Hanson’s contract with Motorolla was a two-year process, researching cameras, working through the state bid system, negotiating with the company and implementing the cameras. The sergeants have tried them in an effort to get used to working with the devices.
Miksch and Casey showed a video of Hanson officer working to communicate with a Brazilian motorist, who only spoke Portuguese, to communicate that the man had been driving too fast. The first month of the cameras’ use has allowed the department to determine what can be edited on the videos and what the department can and cannot release from video.
Szymaniak also had a chance to express his concerns, but the cameras have not been used at WHRHS until, at the superintendent’s request, Miksch and Casey could come in and discuss it with the School Committee.
While the SRO has not worn one yet, other officers called to the school for any reason – officers assigned to football games – use them and wear them.
“The camera isn’t actually always on,” Casey said. “But the camera is always on when there is a police action taken. Never are we going to deminish or replace [an] officer’s discretion. Never are we going to have this camera interfere with the common interaction we’ll have with the public, staff [or] students. …It allows us to capture the audio and video when it is activated.”
School Committee members had questions about use of cameras by Hanson, but not Whitman, police, how it would work and whether is was an example of inequity as well as student privacy especially for students on individual education plans, who might have more challenging interactions based on behavior.
Casey said that only when the camera is activated will one be able to hear and see the audio/visual recording.
“We’re not going to have the camera on during medical responses, during interaction with students that may have difficulty understanding the circumstances,” he said. “There’s a broad band of discretion that our officers are going to continue to use.”
Miksch said Friday his department also trains regularly on communicating people on the autism spectrum.
Szymaniak also pointed out that most schools – as well as other public buildings already have video surveillance. Miksch said sound recording is permitted, but the public must be made aware sound recording is being done.
Interaction with juveniles are always confidential as well.
“If Whitman doesn’t have it and Hanson does, how does that effect equity … are we providing the same service to the two towns?” asked Rosemary Connolly.
“It’s a department preference,” Casey said.
Szymaniak said area departments now using body cameras include Bridgewater, Carver, Hanson, Halifax, Hanover, Hingham, Holbrook, Lakeville, Middleborough, Wareham, Weymouth and the Massachusetts State Police. Several others are either researching or searching for funding.
“These cameras are showing you exactly what has transpired,” Casey said. “Not only for the protection of the victims, the suspects, the idividual parties involved – staff, students, public and police officers – we want that accountability. We want that transparency.”
Szymaniak also said state law limits what SROs can do, as well,
“SROs and police can only be involved in schools for violent offences,” he said. “They can take a report of vandalism, but they really can’t do much in schools and the law prohibits that. … When Derek is walking around the building, he’s not actively policing. … He really can’t even break up fights [or] search lockers.”