 Good evening My name is Adam chapter lane, and I serve as Arlington's town manager I'm here tonight to welcome you to this session and Also to provide a brief introduction of where we've been on this issue and where we are planning to go after tonight If you've not had the opportunity to read the detailed overview of the events that have brought us to this point in time I Encourage you to do so That information was provided on the invitation to this event and is also available on the town's website I'd like to start by acknowledging a few things First We are all living in a moment of national reckoning around issues of race Which is brought to the forefront many issues that have been present, but unfortunately not addressed in our society Tonight's dialogue would be difficult under the best of circumstances But it is certainly even more challenging when considered in the context of this reckoning next I Want to acknowledge That the intended outcomes of both the conventional discipline and restorative justice Processes that Lieutenant Padrini went through have not yet turned out as plant When we started these dual approaches nearly two years ago We did so with a desire to hold Lieutenant Padrini accountable for his actions To begin a path to healing the community and to open a dialogue with all of our police officers About the very problematic nature of Lieutenant Padrini's words While we have worked towards all of those intended outcomes and undoubtedly have made progress There's still ample work to do And it's our hope that tonight is a significant part of that work Particularly work toward healing the community It is my hope That the engagement that Lieutenant Padrini is undertaking tonight Will allow us to move beyond this specific issue and to begin opening the door To broader discussions in the community around race and equity To be clear I Do not view tonight as an ending but rather as a beginning a Beginning of a dialogue around race and policing The beginning of a dialogue around housing opportunities in the beginning of a dialogue about the Identification and the eradication of Institutionally racist policies and practices in each and every town department We have already started some of this work But it is imperative that we redouble our efforts on making progress on all of these fronts I am committed to and look forward to the hard road ahead as we come together To have difficult conversations that are focused on enhancing and expanding Arlington's inclusivity and equity Now We'll be turning to a recorded apology by Lieutenant Padrini Followed by a live session with Lieutenant Padrini led by Michael Curry Esquire former president of the Boston branch of the NAACP Thank you all for your time Attention and your continued commitment to Arlington There's still no audio coming through so I'm going to recommend we Skip this recorded apology and open the dialogue between Michael Curry and Lieutenant Padrini And I apologized everybody Tested this multiple times today and can't explain what's happening right now Hi everyone, it is an honor to be here with the town of Arlington for a conversation with Lieutenant Padrini Apologize as well for the technology. I think we're all in these very difficult times where we spend most of our days On zoom or one of those other tools with our children or work Or with our doctors and providers and we're always dealing with this shift in technology to shift to technology So I want to apologize on that Maybe just an opening remark before we start a conversation with Lieutenant Padrini I can tell you I do this work across the country as a former president of the Boston NAACP and a member of the National NAACP board of directors And I probably do and facilitate I should say three of these types of conversations that we credit to the town of Arlington for the work that is doing to Address issue of the systemic racism and to have conversations like this tonight with Lieutenant Padrini So I just wanted to acknowledge the town it is not common And I think that the town will benefit the rest of the country will benefit from the town of Arlington's example tonight Lieutenant Padrini, I want to jump right in we have a lot to talk about And we didn't get a chance. So how are you this evening? First of all, excuse me. I couldn't hear you. Excuse me. Mr. Curry How are you this evening Lieutenant? I'm doing good and Mr. Curry I have I have that statement if if the if the panel wants to hear me read it I wasn't prepared to read it tonight, but I can certainly do that right now So I think it would help. I think that makes sense. Lieutenant Padrini I think people would love to hear you provide that statement go right ahead I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for my comments published in the editorials that I authored in the MPA Central magazine in 2018 My words were crude highly offensive and thoughtless for this I am truly sorry and I apologize to everyone that I've offended or hurt in any way with these articles I Realized my words of damage the well-known relationship of trust and respect between the department and the community I especially want to personally apologize to members of the community who feel marginalized and oppressed I Was insensitive in my commentary and I take full responsibility for this After hearing from the Allington community members I am able to look at what I wrote through the eyes of others and realize now how deeply hurtful my words were I Also acknowledged that what I wrote offended many in the law enforcement community as well Here in Massachusetts We have a reputation for leading the nation when it comes to community policing and the concepts of 21st century policing My columns damaged that reputation I want to reassure members of the public who are frightened by my writings that my words in these columns are not reflective of me or my leadership style My irresponsible actions damaged the reputation of the Allington police department and cause tremendous harm to the relationships that the department has Worked so hard to establish I Apologize to everyone for publishing writings that are inconsistent with the department's values I'm especially remorseful for damaging the trust between the community and the APD. I Know I will have to work for a long time to rebuild that trust. I Have learned a lot from this experience And about how the words I wrote created severe harm. I Am not a racist. I am married to a proud woman of color Our children are of mixed race My in-laws live on tribal land. We celebrate that native heritage. I Look forward to mending the harm done and moving forward in the right direction I'm committed to meeting with community groups and Contributing on matters pertaining to police policy whether there is juvenile justice police legitimacy and transparency Use of force issues or any other topic that would give me more insight into other people's lived experiences Or gain empathy for those who have had negative interactions with the police Thank you Thank You lieutenant Padrini. I think it actually was Fortuitous for lack of a better word that you you got a chance to read that live I think people wanted to hear from you live anyway, so I know we had intended to do audio But I think a recording, but I think people benefited from hearing it Look lieutenant Padrini. I want to start here With what you had written and your views over two years ago One of the things that you referenced in your piece and what drove a lot of your writings was the anger around the murder of police officers I want to on this call tonight say this and on behalf of social justice civil rights activists across the country That when those two Los Angeles police officers were shot recently in their car We mourned and and were concerned with their for their lives as well I think we've gotten to these toxic environments on on race and on social justice issues that We don't often hear each other So I wanted you to know as we get into the conversation That whether it's those officers or chestnut or gannon Or rose or any of the rest of those that you mentioned in your articles Most of america Grieves when we lose a police officer. We understand the critical work that you do all of you do And the challenges is you're in the street saving lives quite frankly But we also can have a conversation about police misconduct police abuses and police murder quite frankly So I wanted to start there kind of can you take us back? I know this seems like a Long journey go back two years ago with what you were feeling experiencing In the wake of those murders. Can you take us back to where you were and what you were thinking when you wrote those pieces? Um I've been writing those columns for the mpa central magazine for a number of years um, they started out is just mostly legislative updates legal defense updates Collective bargaining trends things like that just kind of current current events. What was going on in the time? three times a year and those magazines were mailed to my Members at their homes mailed to police departments and then given out at our annual business meetings In the spring of 2018 There was a controversial criminal justice reform bill and I say controversial because it was it was wide sweeping And there were even police leaders. Well, they were police leaders on both sides who Couldn't agree on on some of the reforms that were in that omnibus bill ultimately ended up passing and And it was signed by the governor just around the time that Sean gannon was killed On april Sean gannon was ambushed in yarmouth Doing something that we consider routine. He was serving a probation warrant He didn't have a chance to react. He didn't have a chance to de-escalate. He was he was murdered checking the attic looking for the suspect The suspect was taken into custody unharmed There was no excessive force issues or anything and and we police officers were all at the commonwealth for emotion about this his canine partner near was shot and but for the care of the kabe card veterinary staff and one retired yarmouth police officer and in particular Nero would have died as well So when the time between the time following sergeant gannon's death in the police union and Legislative community we tried to introduce them what we thought were common sense reforms Through the senate budget process filing some amendments to the senate senate budget process And the governor ended up filing Death penalty legislation for those who murdered a police officer Then july hit and uh Sergeant chesner was murdered again another very routine call for service on a sunday morning At the end of his shift. It was a disturbance after a motor vehicle crash He was surprised by the suspect He didn't have a chance to de-escalate He was assaulted Mended incapacitated and then murdered with his own firearm two weeks after that Two officers responding to a disturbance in a yard in foul meth on a friday afternoon Were ambushed and shot one in the neck one in the torso Again, that suspect was apprehended with no excessive use of force So when I was writing these particular calls I was emotional. I was angry. Um Those guys weren't weren't killed In some crazy shootout after a bank robbery They were killed serving a warrant. They were killed responding to disturbances They weren't killed in high crime neighborhoods Sergeant chesner was killed in a community that's very similar demographically to ollington on a sunday morning for A disturbance after a car crash The foul meth officers in yama's sergeant cannon That's where we go on vacation. Those those are vacation spots yama than foul meth I had friends who were down in foul meth on that day in question and I just returned from yama's From vacation on labor day There was a lot of anger and emotion And obviously that manifested itself from what I wrote And lieutenant padrini. I think in line with that so we all i'm sure we all on this call Some 300 people now on this call Have been in situations where we've been upset And we find places to emote right we could emote to our loved ones or we could you know Some people do it online you actually actually use the publication to do it and your regular column The problem is words matter And what you said in that column Really created some division not just in the town of ollington But as you know this piece went statewide and became a talking point across the state and you had some pretty divisive and inflammatory things to say in the piece that I want you to address And and I think folks on this call want to know what were you thinking because you could say I was angry But oftentimes what you really think comes out when you're angry right and in in in your case you talked about Being sick and tired of social justice warriors telling us how to do our job you talked about Meet violence with violence For getting restraint measured responses procedural justice de-escalation stigma reduction And other feel-good bs That is getting officers killed now you have to juxtapose all of this stuff you were saying With what we were seeing play out across the country where people were asking for restraints on police abuses And these things how do you reconcile? what you said To what was happening across the country and and did you understand When those calls were coming from Right when I wrote that it was it was in the context of the Chesna incident Michael Chesna didn't have a chance to de-escalate and it cost him his life It made his wife a widow and his children fatherless When I wrote that to me I was writing about being in that moment. I've been a proponent of those progressive police principles my whole career But what I when I was writing that I was talking about in that moment When you're about to get incapacitated you have to meet that violence with violence. That's the use of force continuum. I was never Talking about initiating violence or taking the fight to somebody. That's just not what we do Now as I step back And I look at what I wrote through the eyes of others Through people who've had a different experience with the police or different experience growing up than I have Or who didn't really who don't come from a police professional background when you take those words I see now that they were crude. They were harsh. They were certainly insensitive And and I certainly can empathize with anybody who who felt how I'm a felt in danger from from from what I wrote Lieutenant, I think there are many on the call tonight and many who will see this Recording when it's all said and done and will think about whether you were really representing the interests of other officers Who also get frustrated with the criminal justice system who are also frustrated With the criminal justice reform bill who may be frustrated with the police reform bill that's moving in the legislature right now who feel cops lives matter, right And that you and I'm sure there's some right now who are frustrated that you're online even Apologizing for what you said I'd be curious how you'd respond to those folks right because it's not just about responding to the folks that are on this call that are upset And are angry and felt like your words were offensive and harmful and racist Or xenophobic What about the folks who actually are right online right now and and really feel like what you said was the truth or was necessary Well, the police community isn't a monolith. We have We all come from different backgrounds We all have different political opinions I think that the audience that I was writing to Understood even though it was harsh and crude and offensive where I was coming from um I think The vast majority of police officers recognize that reform of our profession is needed After the things we've seen this summer things we've seen in years past I think everybody can agree that there is some form some reform that that needs to take place in this profession Now lieutenant, I'm gonna push back on you a little bit on that and I know and I'm glad For the town created some opportunities for you and I to talk in advance of this So we got to build a relationship and get to know each other And one of the things I appreciated in getting to know you is we had a a real talk and it wasn't Uh a contentious one. It was one with a civil rights activist and a lieutenant Who made some really offensive statements and one of the things I push back on you on Is this whole notion one that you said that you're not racist because I think that there's a conversation One of the things that drives me crazy is civil rights activists is when someone says they're not racist But they don't know what it means right that we don't have a common shared definition of it And having a black friend or a latinx friend Or black biracial children does not disqualify anyone from being racist. It's about your views It's about power and privilege and how that manifests and you as a teacher As a police officer by the decisions you made what comes out your mouth How you treat people so I want to just make that clear Lieutenant patrini that we happen in our conversations have conversations about shared language And what is racism? and a black friend or a black wife or husband doesn't Negate someone's racist views Someone in the chat and I wanted you to speak to this because I thought it's important Across the country right now. There's a fear that many Folks on police departments are white supremacists that they actually do harbor racial animus That they do have a hatred towards immigrants and you know sort of spelled out even in your language In your anger, how do you speak to those in several on this call who put in the chat or the q&a Why do we have the white supremacists on police departments? How would you answer that for yourself? First of all, uh as we go forward, mr. Curry, can you speak up a little bit because I got to keep getting closer to the computer to understand you absolutely I don't know if we have white supremacists on police departments from throughout the country. I really don't I can say that here in ollington I can unequivocally say that we don't I know the way I live my life. I know the way I've conducted myself professionally on this job I have never treated somebody differently because of the color of their skin I've never treated somebody differently because of their socio-economical socio-economics economic status their mental health status Whether they may have a problem with addiction or not I've been embracing the principles of procedural justice my whole career and uh I know I know what I've been accused of and and it's simply not true um But the way that I live my life and the way that I conduct myself at work I live in a very diverse neighborhood My I have a diverse group of friends my my kids have diverse groups of friends I've been successful coaching diverse groups of people um Again, I've never I've never had a complaint for treating somebody unfairly or with any bias um, so Interesting you said I think part of what we're trying to deal with across the country is this view that officers have And I've never met an officer who said he was racist and I've never met an officer who said he discriminated So I think not speaking specifically you but the broader issue We have this issue of a reconciling why no officer believes they do anything that is uh discriminatory or racist in their job But yet so many feel it and and I will tell you as I told you lieutenant birdrini I grew up in a neighborhood where I saw it all the time um And those same in my city boston police officers Uh would beat beat up, um kids my age as a teenager Um steal their drugs steal their you know if they had something stolen they would steal it from them and then sell it um, so there's a there's a Reputation uh in communities across this country of what police officers do and it's not all police officers Um, but I think we have to reconcile that Um, I think folks on this call and this is an important point for you and I talk about lieutenant birdrini Feel that the statements you made that though may they may have been targeted at The gannon or the chest in a situation We're pretty broad They were comments that did not seem restricted to that that you actually criticize a procedural justice as one of your comments As though you've said you've been committed to procedural justice How do you address the folks on this call and those who've been a part of the? Uh, consensus building institutes interviews Who feel like having someone who believes these things? on the streets in arlington with a gun in a badge an authority To exercise that what is perceived to be racial animus um that hatred How do you speak to them when they're concerned that you did not get terminated that you're still on the job? And your option was restorative justice There are quite a few people in town and I don't know what that percentage is And I think the town manager and others have been trying to to get a pulse for the community Some are upset that you're still in the job. How would you how would you respond to them? and their fear I would certainly never discount their fears. Um depending on what type of life experience they've had what past experience they've had with members of law enforcement but The truth is That I've had a pretty good solid career here. Um, I think that should count for something Like I said, I've never had a use of force complaint Prior to this prior to this incident. I'd only been disciplined one time uh I've been promoted twice. I was promoted to sergeant under former chief ryan And I was promoted to lieutenant Under mr. Chapter Lane's administration in 2015 I was personally selected as The recipient of the department's excellence excellence and leadership award the only It's the only award we have That's personally picked by the chief of police I have numerous commendations for critical incidents where I was a supervisor commendations and medals where I was a supervisor And was able to de-escalate critical incidents Using minimal force and coming with coming to a safe resolution I've never I don't mistreat people. I've I don't have a history of mistreating people. I'm one of the few supervisors I've ever heard of who's gotten thank you notes from detainees apologies from Suspects that have assaulted me in the past. Um Those those are rare in this job But that's the way I conduct myself I've all I've always since I started here They didn't call a procedural justice then but I've always conducted myself in that way And going forward like excuse me. No, go ahead. Go ahead Going forward, I think I need to be even more empathetic and more understanding Of the people I did hurt With these articles and realize how they were so hurt And and what type what type of backgrounds they come from and I really need to understand that compassion and empathy isn't enough I think I need a deeper understanding So I want to make a turn Lieutenant Padrini, but I want to make this comment before we go forward I think for all of the folks who are in trenches trying to deal with police violence and police misconduct across the country who are on this call Um and including zane crude is the president NAACP's on the call There is a belief when we think about the derrick scharvin in the george floyd case in minneapolis or officer daniel pentaleo in the new york case of eric garner the chokehold or Geronimo yonas In minnesota with the shooting of philando castillo who was a licensed carrying a gun owner And was shot with his family in the car michael strager in north charleston south carolina That was the shooting of walter scott in the back as he was running away That if you could dig into those officers writings their conversations I think people believe that they may say the same things that you said in that article, right? It's a frustration with those people with immigrants with immigration with Violent black and brown communities that you know, we want to get home to our families and then How do we identify those police officers when their words? And their disciplinary actions result in these horrific deaths that I just talked about You don't have a a Apparently and I don't know your police record. I can only go by what you just share But I think people say your words are pretty weighty So your record is one thing but your words speak volumes Um, there's a whole saying that says I can't I can't hear I can't I can't hear what you're saying. Oh, no your your actions are Your actions are being outdone by your words Um, and it's not the exact quote, but I I ask you that question to say How can you assure people that you're not one of these officers and that when an incident comes up? Even if it didn't happen already That if you harbor these feelings that it could play out when you have to arrest someone on the street Or when you're in a situation and it's an immigrant That you're dealing with or an african-american man How how should your fellow residents in harlington know that you won't act out in the same way? That's a good question. Um I've grown. I've certainly grown from this That and I and I expect to continue to grow I realize that that the words I wrote matter in my actions matter But I have grown from this I don't I don't know how to assure those people That would question that other than the fact that My past performance is a good indicator of what i'm going to be doing going forward Maybe with that lieutenant. I want to turn to uh, and there may be some people on the call who feel like your defensiveness may be with your record With the anger that you were feeling at the time So I want to give you an opportunity to talk about how much you've grown and progress From the time when you wrote these things two years ago Can you talk a little bit about the restorative justice process you went through? How you change you just mentioned that you've grown a lot but gives people a little bit more context for what you've grown in What understandings you have how you would View those things differently that you wrote in the piece um I when this discipline process was Proposed to me a combination of traditional discipline and then this restorative justice process I I thought it would be the best opportunity To help me mend some of the relationships that I had harmed with what I wrote And to help move forward Rather than strictly a serious suspension um But as I get feedback on what people are saying How how would I wrote hurt them? people that I wasn't considering At the time I wrote it. I wrote those columns people who feel marginalized people who feel oppressed Immigrants My father was a son of immigrants. I've never considered myself anti-immigrant My comments on what was going on at the southern southern border in 2018 were completely insensitive and I and I regret writing them obviously and I was wrong to write that But I have grown I I'm seeing now We here in allington. We've been at the forefront of dealing with mental health crises dealing with the opiate problem We were some of the first in the in the area to be Distributing knock-in at the police station Having knock-in on our offices in the field We've moved beyond that Stigma of addiction to where we were recognizing offices for life-saving awards when they saved opiate overdose cases We were one of the first apartments in the area that that had a full-time mental health clinician to assist us with our mental health problems here um I'm realizing now When I get feedback from people from those communities How seriously I hurt them how insensitive I was and how I need to work to rebuild that trust And and to mend that home I'm going to read some of the uh pieces in the q&a Lieutenant padrini because these are some of the questions I would have for you Anyway, I think people are struggling to reconcile what you wrote still To what you you say now I think people are really struggling to figure out how you could make some of the comments Because people tend to believe that what you say is who you are Um, so one of that says in past writings. Lieutenant Padrini wrote How about that nut who decided to ruin the fourth of july in new york by climbing up the Statue of Liberty? Just your tick-buckle self-absorbed radical who so motive is to piss off regular americans I know i'm not the only one who is rooting for his for her to fall And land on Kaepernick What do you think of those words now? You know again, we're americans. We have a first amendment Right to free speech People have our views as you said earlier. We're not a monolith monolithic in our views, but People want to know that you've grown from some of the things you said To understand. I mean, we're all in this as the town manager Mr. Chaplain said we're in this national reckoning on race What is your reckoning? What is the what is the awareness that you've gained in this whole process? With relation to with relation to that line That that commentary It was over the top. I should have never written it At the time it seemed that seems Wild to me that somebody would do that Looking back on it. It was freedom of expression Um I don't think she was ever charged or anything. Um, I regret writing that It was definitely it was an over the top commentary. Uh That I was trying to make light of a situation and it obviously was inappropriate So there are some uh lieutenant padrini. I'm sure uh because this is predictable that are on the line right now Wondering is he just saying what he needs to say to keep his job? Uh, and and I will I'll be honest and I'll say to the folks on the call having met with you twice That I did. Um, I felt Some contrition Uh that you do feel bad about the things you wrote, but I'm not sure The depth that you feel bad. How do you how do you respond to those who feel like? This is just a a move to save your job I have grown a lot over the last 17 months since I came back to work. This has been a very difficult journey It's going to be a journey that continues I'm remorseful for what I wrote I realize now and I'm certainly aware of the hurt I caused the harm I caused The work I have to do going forward to reass to Reestablish trust between the community and myself and the community of the department I'm embarrassed My I had a pretty good reputation as a police officer That reputation is Certainly suffering right now and I got to do a lot of work to get it back Um, my wife and my children have seen a lot of ugly things It's embarrassing My mother who's a 51 year president here With an impeccable reputation as an early childhood as an early childhood education professional A devout woman of faith Her her character is being questioned because of what I wrote And it's all my fault I I have some deep contrition and regret and remorse as to What I did I want to touch on two quick things because I know we're moving on in time and we want to go to the to the panel as well so I want to capture greg's comment and then I want to get someone else who had an online but You said earlier there's a need for reform in your profession Can you talk a bit about what reform you now realize is needed in law enforcement? And what would you do personally within the arlington police department to follow through on that reform? Thank you greg I think technology is something that's important Maybe body cameras things like that dashboard cameras that would uh increase accountability Increased veracity when it came to uh different sides of the story um Some use the force reforms here in the commonwealth we don't we're not taught chokeholds. That's a a deadly force tool of opportunity in the absolute fight for your life before a chokehold would ever be warranted um That's in the pending legislation right now and I think As long as there was some due process protections I think most reasonable offices are amenable to a licensing Slash certification process Um, I want to go to another question Lieutenant Padrini has another question I hear that you are sorry for the hurt and fear caused by your writings And I hear you believe you were careless and crude What I do not hear is that you acknowledge and now Disavow the core beliefs that drive your remarks, especially the attitudes about immigrants minorities and progressive activists working for racial justice What can you tell me or this group of folks on the call about the inner beliefs behind your words then and now Has your heart changed or do you just regret the damage your words have done? I think I think most definitely I've grown As a man I mean I'm 51 now I expect to grow and learn for the rest of my life, but It's been two years Things in society has changed not not completely for the better, but I'm certainly more open minded than I was two years ago and uh With with all the things that have happened since memorial day weekend in the country I I can definitely say that I've changed And in that my view points towards certain things have changed So I want to acknowledge and show some Some diversity and sort of the feedback on this call. So katina silverman had a comment She said I'm a long time man a member of the uu or universalist Unitarian church in town This seems like a real and honest conversation ready to forgive lieutenant padrini for his mistake and move forward He seems like a good man to me and I believe he has learned from this I think lieutenant padrini. You will see a wide variation in views. You'll have some officers on here and others Who feel like you are? truly Remorseful for what you did you have others in the chat and I'm sure you can see some of the conversation of feeling like You were defensive and that you're not truly understanding or explaining Those underlying issues. I think people are having a hard time believing that you still don't believe the same thing about immigrants Right and this toxic political environment we're in right now where people are talking about ms 13 ms 13 like every latino coming into this country as a member of ms 13 Or every guy with a hoodie on and baggy jeans is a thug And I think people are Doubtful that you could write the hurtful things that you wrote in that piece and then on a dime right really in a year or two Change that I think maybe I'll just give you another chance To to talk about the evolution of your thinking on these issues Not just being remorseful, but what have you read? What are you reading right now? Who are you talking to? How are you deconstructing? The the beliefs that caused you to write that piece I'm not reading anything in particular, but i'm i'm i'm reading New stories and and and commentary and and things that have especially happened since the george floyd incident and more and more people with backgrounds and different lived experiences In dealing with the police dealing with societal issues That are different from the background I come from I'm I'm starting to realize now how deeply hurtful My words were to certain people I want to acknowledge just uh, and I know we're going to get to the panel a second, but I want to acknowledge another comment In the chat and a question. I feel I feel less safe in my community This person writes knowing you are part of our linkedin police department. Please tell us what you are doing personally professionally And politically to practice anti racism Be specific about actions books understanding especially in the context of your own privilege and power right we We're having this conversation now lieutenant padrini about privilege and And white privilege and and you heard even our president say that was drinking the kool aid right I think people want to know whether you believe there is such a thing as privilege in that power What are your specific plans or ideas to implement police reforms as a way to repair distrust Of police in this town and of course lieutenant padrini. You don't own all of that right that is um, the the arlington police department Led by the work of the arlington town manager and many others that are in this work But I people want to hear your thoughts. What do you think is necessary and what do you think you're doing to contribute to that work of of fighting anti racism going forward I I think i'm leading by example and the things that i'm doing where we we are firm believers in In the 21st century the principles of 21st century policing, you know, we're all about trust and legitimacy And that's the reason we're here right now is to reestablish trust And our and our legitimacy That's the way we take care of business here We don't we're a department that gets very very few use of force complaints complaints about bias or or racist behavior or even rudeness We've we're at the forefront when it comes to progressive policies the oversight of our policies Is constant, you know after the george floyd incident chief flowery worked with both unions and we We instituted the um the duty to act in a situation of excessive force. We are supervisors and and rank and file officers alike Are now required with a duty to intervene When when they see uh what they would perceive as excessive force We're using technology and social media to Strengthen our ties and our relationships with the community Um, we've been practicing community policing In crime reduction strategies with different neighborhood groups And different stakeholders in the community for my whole career. I mean just recently I know I mean this is just one community policing initiative. I was involved with and it involved people from all every background in the community was that The traffic unit The office that I run in coordination with the department of public works put together the community policing home run of the summer when we did the olington high senior caravan That was That was done to rave reviews and and I think if you ask anybody who was there Who saw me and the the the rest of the members of the department in action They would certainly feel safe. We didn't have anybody come up to us Or anybody complain and say that because I was a part of it. They felt unsafe I mean I was that was rick padrini. That was rick padrini at work Making sure everything ran smoothly Celebrating with these graduates no matter what their background was Um, I wanted to jump in there lieutenant padrini because I want to excuse me. Excuse me. Mr. Curry I can hardly hear you yet. Yeah. Yeah, I want to close this piece out But I want to just acknowledge some other comments. So I think people are feeling like you speak Well to the work is being done broadly But people want to hear more about what you're doing, right? People want to have a sense for based on those comments What you're doing to make a difference in the arlington police department In your community And they want to see that play out. So I think wherever you're responding to that question, right? It's important you speak specifics Around what you're doing someone else said asked if you would be willing To join a white fragility learning group or something that speaks to active anti-racism education Um, and I'm going to say this and you and I've had similar conversations Um, this stuff doesn't go away, right? The comments that you put into that article Um, require that there's some education, right? You don't you don't understand more about Sexism by just deciding to appreciate women, right? It takes understanding how sexism manifests in society You don't understand racism unless you read about it and understand the history of this country and policing in this country So I think it's important Um, as someone chimed in with that, what are you willing to do? You know, what are you willing to read? Uh engage in And are you right because I think people want to know that you didn't just wake up one day and Had an epiphany and then you realize that that wasn't good The town of Arlington and all those others that are listening want to know what you're vested in to change The thinking behind those words Like I said in my my opening statement I'm amenable and and I look forward to participating in any police race anything to do with policing And and racism in 21st century policing going forward anything that I can contribute to or learn from Just like I volunteered to go to several different training since I've been back on implicit bias on um procedural justice on repairing and rebuilding community relations I'm I'm I'm open to anything Thank you, lieutenant. I just I want to close it out with last piece. Just talk very quickly to restorative justice Your view on what you went through The process you just mentioned a few things, but you went through much more than that as a part of the rj process Speak to it and then we'll go to the panel. I just want to acknowledge um Jean who said that she would record books for you to help with your education in this process I want to acknowledge some police officers who are in the call Who are in the chat and and even texting me like mark conrad and former state police officer Who's on the line as well many people Are paying attention to what you say And what you're doing this moment Lieutenant padrini so just speak quickly since we start a little behind I want to give you a second to speak to restorative justice. Does it work? How did it evolve your thinking and do you think that there's more work to do? Um, I think It was one of the hardest things I've ever done I think it was in the long run COVID and um Forces beyond our control kind of delayed this to this point where where it's so far along Um, which is unfortunate. I would have rather have done this Community meeting when it was fresh when it was I think it was supposed to be last may may of 19 But it was definitely one of the most difficult things that I've ever done. Um It probably would have been a lot easier to take a heavier suspension and uh Just come back to work without having to have much accountability Without having to go through all this, but I think I'm better for it I think I've grown. I think I've learned a lot and uh It's certainly a legitimate process It is most certainly a legitimate process So I want to I want to close it out there because I know we use quite a bit of time for our conversation Lieutenant Padrini. So I want to thank you for this conversation and the two previous ones we've had I want to challenge you though before we go to the panel Um, that this is a process that should not stick to it should end Uh, people are in the chat and they want to know that you changed and that your thinking has changed And you don't get that unless you read some stuff unless you engage people who are experts in these areas Unless you know american history, um And I'm gonna encourage you. I'm gonna share some stuff with you myself Um that I want you to take a look at and read And and I I've already extended this to you You can call me anytime and we can have these conversations commissioner grass in boston Boss police commissioner our friends. We engage and we don't always agree Mark Conrad who's a state police officer is on the on the line and he and I engage on these issues all the time Please use folks like myself To engage in these critical conversations about race About gender about sexual orientation around Discrimination at large And even how it manifests itself in law enforcement. So I'm going to extend that to you before we go to the group conversation There is a lot here. So as a transition to the reaction panel We'll open up and introduce everybody quickly Uh, we're calling on people when we go into the discussion. So i'm going to transition to this Uh discussion and ask the folks in arlington to help me out Alissa drake scott greg susan david Dora lee fagina zane are all folks that are on the line right now. Thank you all for sticking around And being part of this conversation This is where we get to to expand this conversation. It's kind of what you're thinking is based on what you heard So I want to appreciate you all being here. And I just want to ask you, you know, go ahead and chime in What what did you think about? Lieutenant padrini's apology, which was live instead of reported and what did you think about the conversation? Who wants to chime in first? I'll happen um Hey first Hi, so i'm david valdes. Um, I am The son of a cuban american refugee Parent to an african-american child here in arlington And a gay man So i've had lots of different pieces of the american experience But the pieces of my american experience also include the fact that um, I grew up in a small town where The the local police were very important to us The police chief was a member of my church and a family friend and in the next town My uncle was head of the was the police chief and he went on to become the head of the police chiefs for the main state chiefs association and he was somebody who really set a model For us of what good policing looks like so I come I come into this Conversation from a couple of directions at once Both as a person of color and a parent of a child of a different color But also as somebody with law enforcement in their family And I just want to reflect some of the things that I heard The repeated use of the word insensitivity, right that it was insensitive It really landed on my ear because insensitivity focuses on the feelings of the recipient It puts the weight on the recipient As opposed to the action on the speaker It's different, you know, when you frame it as I harmed you With threats of violence or I harmed you With my language, right? So I kept hearing insensitivity, which is true. Absolutely But that's part of what I think, you know I I feel like, you know, uh rick that you're wrestling with And that's a a really big thing to be wrestling with But the other piece is you talk about past performance as an indicator of the future going forward And that's the thing that really I keep turning around I appreciate the good things that you have done. If you have detainees thanking you For their interactions with you, that's wonderful I love that the but that the Arlington police department has the mental health piece You've got the new duty to act But if your past performance is an indicator of the future Your writings are only two years old and your writings are part of your past performance And so the thing that I keep wrestling with as I listen to you is So in a moment of stress or pressure going forward now Are we to take that your past performance will be an indicator of your future performance then, right? So In those moments of stress, are you going to turn to thoughts of violence? Are you going to have those feelings about immigrants as a child and of immigrants and Half of my family being refugees That analogy of making people who come to the border equating them with kamikaze bombers Really just chilled me So I guess what I'm saying is I know you're doing all this work, which is powerful and I'm and I appreciate Um, but I think the thing that I'm hoping that you do going forward is to really police your heart and to police your thoughts and to say, um Do those things still live in me that meet violence that the violence response that notion of Immigrants as a threat to be killed to be shot at Police that as well because you just wrap it up. I want to get to someone else, but I appreciate all your comments Thank you, David and rick feel free to chime in. I know you responded quite a bit already If you want to respond to david, please feel free to Um other comments and questions other people want to jump in I can jump in michael Yeah, hey zane. Hey, thanks for having me michael. Thanks for having me everyone. My name zane croot I'm the president of the mystic valley area branch of the nwcp. So I work close Close with michael all the time So, uh, lieutenant padrini. Thank you so much for joining us tonight I notice it's been a huge huge story for the town of arlington and a lot of people on the line are wondering Do they believe your apology? They forgive you? Candidly in my opinion, I just want to say I don't really think it matters to be honest Rick, you're just one you're just one person You are not the problem of all 900 thousand police officers in america. We want to work towards a solution So that being said your comments are an illustration of the culture and policing overall The system is just much much bigger than just you in arlington or in massachusetts or an entire united states So, thankfully george floyd or brianna taylor Didn't come as a result of your comments. It doesn't always happen. Thank god, but this culture is what creates situations like this that happen Besides the pending legislation that hopefully addresses some of the system issues Uh, lieutenant padrini. What do you think we can do to address the culture? People are still holding blue lives matter rallies in arlington. People still believe being anti police brutality is anti police People still believe there's a war going on against the police due to a lot of talk radio Publications such as your publications fox news and such or whatever So what do you think is a viable solution to change the culture and overall policing? And how are you going to be part of the solution if you want people in the town of orientin to, you know forgive Excellent question zane. Um lieutenant padrini. I'm going to ask you to respond to that because I think it's a critical one about culture Um, how do we change the culture and policing if you identify it as a problem? culture the culture in the police in In policing needs to be changed to that we need to realize that And this principle is as old as policing itself is that We're we're just as much part of the community as the community is a part of us now I would certainly love to sit down with any members of BLM or other community groups and talk to them One on one and get to really know each other just like I was able to talk to michael and in that and like I plan on Continuing a relationship talking to michael But what I did work at that protest in the counter protest on that thursday night And there was a lot of animosity towards the police from from the counter protesters and and It was pretty vile and hurtful and ugly No, not all of it. Not all of it, but there was a segment of that of that group that was Not so well behaved and not and not so Pro police that's for sure And I'm gonna say that and I'll go to you next susan, but zane. I'm sure would say this if he was not on mute To zane's question though, right? Is if we acknowledge that there's been a culture of policing that produces the joy floored murders and quite frankly, you know And I would challenge this notion that there's only a few bad apples and I've said this to mayors and others That I don't know if we know how many bad apples there are because quite frankly if someone racially profiles me They're a bad apple and I get racially profiled all the time Uh, if you come into communities of color or in a community that is not a community of color, but you stop disrespect residents of color Or lgbdq or you treat women disrespectfully. You're a bad cop to me Now if anyone can quantify that and tell me how many cops that is that's a conversation to be had But I think that's the culture zane is talking about that when you can get away with that behavior Eventually and you have deference So we have so much deference to law enforcement that you do god's work So since you do god's work, no one's checking you. No one's holding you accountable And then when you're held accountable, you're defensive. So I think that culture that zane's talking to is what we're hoping Uh, that you and many other officers across the country before you go to susan I will mention that uh, I just got a message from Um mentioned marcon rap. He's offering to have you sit with officers of color Across the state to have a conversation about what they see in law enforcement So I think that would be an interesting conversation for you Uh, lieutenant padrini to sit with the massachusetts association of minority law enforcement officers As well as marcon rad and have a conversation among your brothers and sisters as to what they think about racial discrimination And anti-racism Work within the police department susan Um, I just want to offer some observations. Um The the back the blue rally in arlington. I attended with my daughters They wanted to go and I was stunned at the rude, vile and disgusting behavior of people who were there For the back the blue side um Flipping flipping off my daughter's um gross gross behavior And I agree utterly with zane. It's irrelevant where you are rick in your evolution Um, this is larger than you Um, but it's also about the town And I I think you know The questions about what have you done? What you know, how have you evolved? What have you read? I think the fact that your sister-in-law organized that back the blue rally um, she's an arlington resident And it was vicious the um, the facebook event was all about language about how equating Racial justice with anti-police Um, I don't understand that I don't understand that mentality Um, I don't understand why law enforcement are so triggered and triggered so easily by the phrase black lives matter um Just want to move on to and if you have any response, please respond, but just a couple of other um observations A couple of times many times during your remarks this evening you talked about People who feel marginalized and feel oppressed. It's not a feeling People are marginalized People are oppressed um Friend of mine is a transgender woman and there's something about law enforcement that I don't understand but corrections people who work in the department of corrections And people who have transgender women in their custody um, this is a fairly common thing and I don't understand why Law enforcement who has a transgender woman in custody Like to make her take her clothes off put her arms up and have her jump up and down in the air air air I have heard this story Or many transgender women Boston police you look confused when I said that they had to pay a settlement in 2015 or 16 for this behavior Colleague of mine who was a plaintiff in the lawsuit That permits transgender women who are incarcerated in massachusetts Not to be housed in a male prison that also happened to her Um, so people aren't feeling marginalized. They aren't feeling oppressed. They are marginalized. They are oppressed My oldest daughter is a senior. She participated in that car rally. It was fantastic I want you to know about my mindset before I went out to that rally um My daughter decorated her car and she spray painted BLM and black lives matter all over the car and it made me really uncomfortable um Because my driver's side mirror was broken And I thought some cop is going to get pissed off seeing the BLM stuff and they're going to pull me over And I was stunned that we weren't pulled over and I was so gratified when I got to that rally And saw that the majority of cars were similarly decorated with black lives matter All over their cars in BLM and I loved it um So just fyi Susan thank you. Thank you. I want to go to scott next go ahead scott Thank you, michael. Great work today and thank you rick for the apology I I'm an ollington resident in the police will tent at the town of bedford. I've known rick for for many years Over the past few years, I had an opportunity to you know, I got the sentinel in the mail as he as he indicated and my initial reaction was that This wasn't the person I knew over the years You know, I didn't I didn't know rick that way But to be honest, I saw several of the writings and the editorials that that that went public and I knew I knew that he was using dehumanizing language and violent images By remaining silent and on the sidelines As a police officer, I became complicit in this view of policing. So, you know There's a there's another side to this that You know as officers and rick kind of hit on it a little earlier. We we have an We have an obligation to the community. We have an obligation to each other To call out this kind of behavior. So I you know, I did find his essays were very divisive and even racist The IACP and the mass chiefs all all issued retractions stating that these views were not They weren't defensible and and they didn't represent the values of the law enforcement profession So in my 33 years of law, I do not believe that most police officers feel this way or spouse these extreme views Of the communities they serve I did have an opportunity to participate in the restorative justice circle and You know, I I felt that uh, you you listened and responded to what the community members told you About our experiences and how your essays affected us personally Um, and I heard regret about the pain that you caused. So I believe that regret was real But one of the the the big takeaways I I'd like to see is is Is would you be willing to issue a letter of retraction and apology in the sentinel disavowing what you wrote And expressing that regret for its impact on the community and on the police officers an apology sent to to ollington Uh to the ollington residence was good, but I think in a leadership role that you have I mean, would you be willing to also put yourself out there to the to the police community and disavow what you uh, what you wrote Go ahead lieutenant patrini. I'll go to you on that question I believe that was already done in november of 2018 um, and that The center the central is not a um Print publication anymore. So I don't I don't really think that that is a reality But I will certainly talk to the leadership about that And and I want to go back to something susan said because I don't want folks That are on this call tonight to lose sight of this and zane, uh being an NAACP president would attest to this It is not just about law enforcement that are policing on our streets. It is about the department of corrections It is about the abuses across law enforcement So I have these conversations with sheriffs like sheriff steve tomkins. Can I have this conversation all time? I've been into wallpole and The other prisons when there have been complaints about police abuse law enforcement abuse of prisoners We cannot let this be about one police officer in arlington. This is a bigger conversation about Law enforcement in general. So I just was susan. I didn't want to to leave that alone because what you shared with us anecdotally Is um disturbing And we should be responding to those cases as well um others greg uh, pagina anybody else want to jump in here? Um, I can jump in go ahead pagina. Oh, let me introduce myself first. So I am an orange and resident for the past 12 years arson high school 2019 graduate And I'm currently in college in boston and still resident arson. Um first. I just want to say, um Thank you for the apology and coming out and publicly apologizing But then I also want to say that part of your apology. I did not Believe that it was sincere and that you meant it. Um, you were asked over and over. What are you doing to change? How you behave in 2018 and all you kept saying was that you attended workshops. You did this but you never mentioned how um You even thought about picking up a book to read about the history To read about the racial tension that's going on in america because I personally believe that You can attend all those workshops. Those are people telling you what you should believe in and what you should do You're not gonna learn Or learn from your mistakes to do better until you pick up something that you You want to read that you want to do So I do believe moving forward for you to actually change your mindset and make people to start believing You need to start educating yourself You can't keep getting educated getting educated and you're not Gonna learn anything until you actually educate yourself and take the Initiative to educate yourself So I think by starting to read some books and I do have a few recommendations Of books that you could read that will help educate you on the history of america the history of the racial tension in america and so forth Thank you for jena and Lieutenant very important her message to you because I think that's what you're hearing a lot in the chat Is that you do some some work yourself beyond the workshops beyond rj? That this is about transformation for you And that regaining the public trust requires that you do some individual work Yourself beyond what the town of arlington is requiring you to do as a part of keeping your job. Thank you for jena Greg anyone else of i've missed so far that want to chime in Hi, this is drake A drake Hi, um, I have an observation to make and then a question that goes back to the the writings That that started this whole thing. Um, my name is drake. I've been on the human rights commission in arlington since last november so after The writing happened. So I've been catching up on it, but Um One I think one of the reasons this scares people so much is because You know if a businessman says something bad People don't worry that all businessmen are automatically bad Right, but the police Um and other groups refer to themselves as the men and women in uniform and the word uniform and and the uniform itself Is meant to make them appear the same Right every police officer is expected to meet a very high standard And so any police behavior that doesn't meet that standard Scares people into thinking that all police are the same therefore they will all not meet that standard. So that's why writings from police Are more scary than writings from maybe any other category of or vocation Right I think that's something to understand and so my question goes back to the writing which is I totally understand being angry about And and just being totally distraught about police officers being killed and ambushed and The the disconnect for me is why that led to writing against social justice warriors people of color immigrants And those categories and my question is I think it's easy for everyone to understand that Those writings were insensitive, but my question is do you believe those writings were fundamentally incorrect or do you And other police feel that social justice warriors are in any part responsible for The ambush killings of police No, I don't think that I don't Again, when I when I wrote that and I have that language in front of me, um That was strictly in relation to the Chesna murder Officer Chesna, Sergeant Chesna didn't have the opportunity to disengage He he didn't have the he didn't have the opportunity to to de-escalate he didn't have the opportunity to Engage that that that man With the rock to engage him in a conversation That was a split second situation With it was a deadly force situation Sergeant Chesna unfortunately Lost that battle that deadly force battle and and that's that's the only time I mentioned I shouldn't have obviously I shouldn't have lumped social justice warriors and those other things into that paragraph and and You know, obviously it It was bad form and I regret it Okay The second thing I just wanted to say is I wanted While I have a chance to thank all the people who worked really hard on putting this together I feel that Any step no matter how small in the right direction is absolutely worth taking and we should never pass on something When it's going in the right direction So I think Everyone who even showed up Took a step in the right direction. And so to everyone who showed up my thanks Thank you for that drake before I go back to you Susan. I want to just recognize dora lee You know, I'm a huge proponent of young people And that young people need to be in this conversation because quite frankly Lieutenant Padrini Your your your language that you use terrifies me, but I'm not surprised because I do civil rights work And those of us who do civil rights work see this stuff all the time It comes from teachers It comes from police officers. It comes from judges Attorneys like I am We see it and we see that that those beliefs manifest itself in the decisions that people make who gets sentenced Who gets good? Advanced classes and quite frankly who gets protected and served But I wanted to acknowledge dora lee because she's young and we're trying to do this work of correcting this stuff for her quite frankly She's a high school student at arlington high and a member of the high school's black student union So dora lee, can you give us a little wave? And if you want to chime in, this is your moment I call it double you can jump in on the double judge right now Yeah, I'll chime in. Um, just wanted to say that I'm actually a graduate of Oh good. Congratulations. Yes. Thank you Um, and I was part of the black student union. Virginia is actually one of the founders of the black student union I'm also a student activist within arlington Been here for approximately about four years and one of the head organizers of activate arlington protests that happen in june If any of you guys were there. So that's me Um, so lieutenant So one thing that drake said that I actually kind of resonated with and really made sense to me is the uniform aspect where You know, you would think that all cops are the same because they were that uniform What I want to say to you is that you are a lieutenant and you have that position of power, right? When you have power what you say automatically it People are now like trying to They stay hear you more when you have power if that makes sense, right? You have the president the president were to say something that was derogatory towards black people or to women or to lgbtq Right, you would listen to him more because he's president. He has that power, right as lieutenant You have that power, right? So you have other officers below you who are looking up to you, right? So when they see the lieutenant, right to see that man in power now talking and you know saying disrespectful things towards immigrants towards um People of color towards whatever the case might be right That's an issue because now you have people who are now looking up at you Seeing you disrespect other people as a lieutenant Having that power, right? So now they think that they can do it the same way they can do the same as that things Because the person in power is doing it. I want to like I hope that really makes sense to you know To you understanding the power that you have as a white male within arlington and as a lieutenant of a police force, right? Power, right? The the racism is white privilege plus power, right? A lot of people have their different You know definition of it, but that's mine, right? It's power plus white privilege plus Yeah, like sorry, I'm losing losing my thought, right? But one thing you mentioned One thing that you one thing that you mentioned today just hearing because I haven't you know I've been around in the conversation with the patrini patrini issue. However, you know still in school So trying to focus on that So today is really the time where I really started to understand What is actually going on? So I kind of like did my own research and everything One thing that you kept mentioning today is that two years ago and with the whole situation That's when you started to kind of open up to other people's backgrounds to other people's encounters with police With other people's society. Um, their views on society, etc Right and you mentioned that you're 51 at this moment two years ago You know, you were 49 you should not be 49 years old lieutenant now realizing that other people have backgrounds with police Right, you shouldn't be having a such a successful career with with yourself And now only realizing that other people have different backgrounds, right that other people think differently than you It shouldn't have been that incident that made you realize that other people think differently that other people could be hurt With the words that you say right one thing that have people have been throwing around in this conversation is trust Okay, I've done I I take I took criminal justice in school And I understand that police the police force is supposed to have trust with its community because that's how reporting goes up That's how you can make a community safer. Okay, trust the whole word trust is being You know thrown around if you don't even know who's within your community because a lot of people Like especially black people within allington. I thought and I can say this right now as a black person within allington trusting a police force that is Like at least 90 white, you know, we're not necessarily going to trust that so when you say that, you know, we have People who are not we don't have that many complaints, etc Right, maybe people are just not complaining because they don't trust the police force Right, maybe people are not speaking up because they don't think that their voice matters in that sense And I don't want to take too long But the word trust like people have said, you know Within this conversation that has trust has been dismantled, right? It has been discredited. But was it ever there for all community residents within allington, right? Was it ever there to did you really understand the people that live within allington? Right, because you explained that it was only two years ago that you had, you know, that kind of aha moment that there's different people Like different people have different values different people believe different things So if it was only two years ago that you realized that what happened to the Your entire life being a police officer, right building that trust with the people that live within allington Because it wasn't two years ago that black people arrived in allington, right? It wasn't two years ago that women arrived in allington It wasn't two years ago that now all of a sudden, you know We you see diversity within allington, right? It's been something that has been growing and as a police officer police officer and as a lieutenant, right? You have to realize Your power in the situation, right and building that trust with your residents since day one Not not after, you know situation happens, right? Not after but before that because a lot of people especially in this situation right now They're only saying black lives matter because now they're realizing it with the george for death It should have been a conversation that was had already started before the black lives matter situation, right? We need to have these conversations before the bad things even happen. That's what makes it really credible That's what makes it we can have change from that because a lot of people, you know We cannot keep starting the conversations when bad things happen when we make mistakes The mistakes need to be prevented with education like for Gina was saying educate yourself before you make a mistake Right, that's what a lieutenant should do. That's what someone in power should do to kind of um Empower and educate the people below them. Thank you So dorkly you need to provide a training because you are no jill You know, you dropped a lot of gems. I see fake for Gina Bigging you up on the screen because i'm not joking when I tell you Much of what you covered and in your remarks to lieutenant pradrini all of us need to hear right the responsibility we have when we're in positions of authority A definition of racism so people can't say i'm not racist, but they don't know what it is, right? I think prejudice plus power So if you're on this call and you're a man and you don't think you have male privilege You don't know what sexism is. You don't know what that privilege privilege means Privilege doesn't mean you have money and power and that you didn't go up on welfare It means you benefit from your difference In ways that others don't so I think you know you dropped a lot of gems Dora Lee so I need to get you on a circuit so you can share your perspective with others susan go ahead um, just echo everything you said about dora lee um Something drake said Reminded me of this michael. I want to thank you for how you opened up with um Just the The incident in los angeles where two police deputies were ambushed. It was horrific. It was absolutely horrific um And rick you talked quite a bit about how angry and upset you were and emotional you were at the deaths of law enforcement In massachusetts, which you know may have prompted those essays or not um Can you answer a question for me? What is it about police officers that they cannot understand? um the fear Held mostly by black men leaving their house And what might happen to them if they have an encounter with a cop? like um You know you talked about you talked quite eloquently about the the police officer. I forgive me I can't remember his name who was just you know killed while serving a warrant on a sunday morning um We could fill reams of the names of black men and women who have been killed by police officers Just going about their business going about their daily lives How come police officers never speak up when these things happen And how come um, I did not get at all any sense from you whatsoever that you equate the two And nobody shares the deaths of police officers I think police officers sometimes share the deaths of black people black men Thank you susan lieutenant I think the The actions of the officers in minneapolis were universally condemned at the time back in at the end of may by police officers and police leaders from throughout the country um I can't on I have no firsthand knowledge of being a person of color being pulled over by the police. So I can't Speak to that Because that's not my life experience I could imagine Actually, I don't know if I can't imagine what a what a young black male feels like when he leaves when he leaves the house I really can't I can't answer to that. I can only try and maybe learn through dialogue through friends through colleagues And uh, but I can't answer that but the the murders In the police actions that took place this summer The the deaths of of those men were universally condemned So um to susan's question, I just want to clarify something So I think what we see across the country is that law enforcement typically doesn't condemn those actions until their videos And it's perfectly clear, right because I think I use the term of gas lighting That oftentimes when we see these videos they tell us well, he was moving or it was a drug house or The person ultimately the argument deserves what happened to them, right even the mentally ill Um, if you're in the wrong place wrong time, you didn't comply um, that's not a Capital punishment of offense, right? And we have to start to susan's point We need to hear the empathy and recognition when the system is not working from law enforcement I think as susan's point too I used to call commissioner evans when he was commissioner of boston police and challenge him And he would respond. We need to hear you on michael brown We need to hear you on george floyd and I think we're seeing more of that right because there tends to be Uh, a brotherhood that exists where you where officers can't criticize other officers Unless it's blatantly clear, right george floyd was blatantly clear Eight minutes and 46 seconds was someone's knee on your neck If you've ever sat still for eight minutes and 46 seconds by minute number three scott There's no question. It was murder by minute number six It you'd be a hate filled person to not know that's murder So that was pretty clear of lieutenant predrini, but there's a whole bunch of other cases that don't even result in murder In the communities that I come from In the communities across this country that are still police misconduct and violence and I and I hope that you and this example Can start to recognize that there's a problem And then we can have a conversation last but not least I want to go to greg But I want to make sure I address this for any officer on the line who says well Why are they marching in the street on police violence, but not on black and black violence? It's a horrible of equivalent When citizens kill each other white citizens kill white citizens proximity black citizens kill black citizens Latinx folks in their own communities will commit violence. We have a problem in this country of violence. Absolutely But it is I cannot walk in the street tomorrow and I've done it many times on Black on black violence unless we change the social determinants of violence The poverty the bad schools the internalized racism when you think that you can't become a doctor or a lawyer The kind of circumstances that create violence in our neighborhood that the irish saw When they were poor and being discriminated against the italian saw and they didn't snitch either Um, we need to have those kind of conversations So we're not demonizing the victims of these communities And understanding that it is a different thing when you get a badge and a gun And you get charged with protecting and serving and you betray that trust that is not the same As citizen x killing citizens y it's a very horrible example greg you know Uh, thanks. Thanks michael. Uh, my name is greg christiana. I'm a co-chair of envision arlington standing committee and a town meeting member And I'd like to build on the points that a lot of other panel panelists have already Raised and I'll try to be brief. I I totally agree with zane about the apology. Apologies are nice But they're not action, right? So it doesn't move the needle either way Whether it's authentic or sincere or not At least in my mind and the needle we need to move I think like door really talked about is trust right between the police department and and the community And I mean I personally can only see basically like three ways Out of this that can get the town on a path toward like kind of healing and like a sense of safety And you I mean one is I mean you could be fired from the force Which the town manager has explained in the past why he hasn't chosen that path whether whether you agree with that or not There's you know, you could just You could just walk away and let the town heal in your absence Um and third you you you could use your unique position Uh in in all this to be a champion of change and you know, like calling out hate hateful words and actions within the department like scott mentioned Uh, uh using your authority that that you have within the department and the seniority that you have as a lieutenant like dora lee mentioned Um giving the community like a view into that space like breaking down that wall of silence, right? That kind of keeps the community out and and you know always assuming the worst because what else would we Assume because we don't have we don't have insight We don't have a view into that space that you live and breathe every day Right inside inside the department. We can't see that so it just leaves us to our imaginations to assume the worst, right? um Like there could be all this evidence that that that shows how great cops are but we can't see that right and so that's one way forward and um And the change the change that I personally want to see is that there's just no audience Among police officers for what you wrote Right because clearly there it wasn't just you just writing these terrible things in a vacuum, right? There was an audience for it that you were that that you were writing to Right, and so I want there to be no such audience for those kinds of writings, right? Whether it's in arlington or massachusetts or in this country, right and that audience for your writings I mean it scares me and it makes a lot of people Uh feel deeply unsafe right and the last thing I'll say is like personally I find that last option Uh of you kind of becoming this this this agent of change this champion of change I find that really hard for me to swallow because like my anger my outrage about all this like doesn't want to see you In a positive light doesn't want to see you succeed as some sort of hero, right? And like maybe you're not up for that like maybe you just don't have it in you to do that But I think those are your basic choices like there's there's no status quo here anymore Right the status quo I mean that's shattered when you publish those articles and everything else that's happened that we've been following the news ever since Right like that that status quo just like it just can't hold anymore Right, so it's like go big or go home basically those are the options And it's like I want what I would love to hear whether it's like tonight or in a follow-on conversation Which I hope we have a lot more of Where we can get to what are the things that you commit to right because you can't just take like a passive posture and say Okay, I'll do anything you want. Just tell me what you want me to do Right, so you have to be you have to be the if you're going to be the change agent in this Like you have to drive this right you have to Maybe you should read all these books from like ibram kendi and all these other people Maybe you shouldn't right like there needs to be action and whatever it's going to be. I mean I my my guess is that like You know those books probably aren't going to do you a whole lot of good right now. Maybe I don't know But like there has to be some action you need to you need to find a path you need to dig deep and find a path To action that's going to transform this situation if if you can't do that then You need to show courage either way bottom line, right? Either you have the courage To step away and say, you know, I'm not up for this challenge. I'm being honest with myself in the community I'm not up for this. I'm just I'm gonna I'm gonna go somewhere else Right and let people heal without me, right? That would be pretty courageous actually right if you did that But there's another form of courage, which I'm pretty skeptical of Which would be that that that you actually Drive this change that you are proactively you are you are driving it forward You are coming up with ideas you are going to be you are reaching out to people Not just sitting there waiting for them to tell you what you should do to make this better Right and that's what I want to see from this Thank you, Greg. Thank you for that I want to just stress something that is coming up as I think about greg's comment and everyone else's Lieutenant Padrina. This is directed at you But this is not just about you to zane's earlier point This is about law enforcement. So people all the things that are people are suggesting and they want to hear and they want to see Uh, and they want to believe I hope your colleagues Other officers both in arlington and across the country officer jones and others Can share this message that it's really about we people want change Uh, and we want change in law enforcement. So greg thank you for that. I want to go back to zane and then to drake Sure, michael. You had something specific from here No, no, I think you know you got a Some of us on this call sort of think about this stuff But you work on it right you're charged when people call you and there's an incident with police um, you know What do you what is your thinking zane in this moment as I know you've been weighing in on the police reform bill? That's pending in the legislature right now. I just want to acknowledge. We have some elected officials on the call Senator freedman is on the call as well. So sendy. Thank you for being on the call. Um zane, what is What are you expecting as you're engaging with elected officials on police reform? How do you tie that to what we're asking of lieutenant padrini in this moment? Some of what's in that bill is meant to weed out officers who think this way and do this kind of Racist emoting that could lead to treating certain communities in a in a discriminatory way Sure, michael, but we would love for lieutenant padrini as greg was saying to help drive the culture change, you know be a part of the solution Apologizing all day. This has been going on for two years We can have it going another two years, but it'd be better if we can find a better solution going forward at the In wsp branch level which encompasses allington our branch as well as several people that are on this call now Greg is working with me a little bit barbara thordons in there working with me and in the state level in wsp We're working to get the strongest bills passed possible So that involves attacking the things that we believe are the real issue to accountability and policing Like lieutenant padrini, you mentioned body cameras and such. I'm not that big on body cameras I'm old enough or young enough. Whoever you want to say it to remember rodney king Etc etc. We've had the footage for years. Nothing gets done We want to attack this wall that stop at things from getting done So we believe qualified immunity, which is one of the biggest things that's prevented that We believe the power of police unions We believe police unions are a conflict of interest in the safety of americans To be quite frank. So we want to address those two major things as well as you know Changed the way officers think we don't want officers watching shan hannity and listening to rush limbaugh every day And then think it is a war going on against police. Yes, lieutenant padrini We agree. There's some people that hate police that probably want to see police officers die I'm not one of them. Most people are not one of them I do not want to see a police officer snipe. They're killed. Like was done in dallas in 2016 I do not want to see what happened last week. I want police officers to be able to go home and their families Just like I want every black and brown person to go home and their families like i'm 30 years old I'm light skin. So I have a privilege as well. We've talked about privileges. I don't have dreadlocks. I'm not six foot five I'm not dark skin. You know if I had one of those things I would be even a greater target But me being you know five for eight in light skin I've been stopped in new york city for just walking doing nothing. I've been slammed against the wall Checked for drugs and guns. I've never even touched a gun before in my life to be honest I've never even seen cocaine or anything. So I've been checked for this stuff just because for what and the police officers joke about They think it's funny. They're like, yeah, what you got what you got left pocket right pocket Where's the rock at like it's not a joke. They're playing with people's lives Some people are losing their lives over this not everyone's getting murdered over it Some are getting beat up. Some are having a reputations tarnished some are losing their careers So that being said, let me continue like we want to address these things that are stopping accountability Officers should be able to get rid of bad cops. The union should be protecting them As long as that happens, we're going to continue to have this issue So we want to see that driven home and we want to see you be a part of the change to help Change this culture of thinking of people thinking there's a war going on if you want to fight an award join the military We don't want these people police in our neighborhoods Thank you Zane I'm going to end it out on drake and david because I know david I want to get you back into this conversation So drake you up and then david There's so many pieces to put together In this conversation, right? I think it's going to take time to get all those pieces to fit together into a solution I loved what greg said Actually, I was really scared by what greg said pointing out that No one would have written those things if there wasn't well And no one would have chosen to publish those things if there wasn't an audience for it, right? That's The underlying scary part I really like how within the last few Comments the conversation has turned Forward to the future. There is no undo in real life So, you know looking back only works so far in terms of trying to assess the damage and comfort people But looking forward is how we make change to prevent this from happening again. And I like the idea of turning It's the lemonade out of lemons turning negatives into positive rick put himself into the spotlight Not not for good reasons, but we can turn that I hope he will work to turn that Into a positive right like turn turn every event that's happened get the most out of it going forward I think it's not um To say I don't think it's fair to say police brutality has gotten worse That implies that it used to be better, which I think is a very dangerous and false premise I think body cameras like this is the body camera like this is why we notice now is because That you know, even if the police have body cameras, whether they're using them or not Everyone else on the street has a body camera. And that's what's really made the difference now um, hopefully Everyone involved can help make a difference in the right direction And we can get to this future that greg talked about where there is no audience for this and everyone is just Thinking on the same. We're all in it together type of attitude Thank you drake and before I go to you david. I'm gonna say uh, lutein and padrini I think people just as much as you as much as you wrote those those pieces uh, two and a half two plus years ago I think it would be I would encourage you to write some other pieces going forward Uh, as you evolve in your thinking as you share what you've learned and how you think differently of immigrants or people of color or Social justice workers or civil rights groups or whatever that is Uh, I'm going to encourage you to jump into some other publications and and write I think one of the things I remember so vividly was a cnn special with a kukas clan member Who had turned his life around and then spent the rest of his life Turning others around who thought that way You're not that example, but I think your words speak volumes to a lot of us Uh, and I would love to see you uh be an ambassador for change not just go through a restorative justice program But lead other people to that level of consciousness david um Just you know kind of wrapping things all these pieces together I think about what dorelly said about using your position using that uniform and that position of power And this has been such a long hard process It's clear that this process has been long and hard for the town but also for you And the weight of it you referred to you know wishing it had been Completed a year ago because that already seemed like a long time and I just want to frame that if you think about It's been two years, right? That you've been facing this and dealing this and hearing these conversations and taking these questions on We don't all get to to um Choose the burdens put upon us right as a gay man As a son of refugees as a parent to a black child Um We have to live for a long time with the things that are thrust upon us and it's what do we make of that? How do we use that position? You know, um, you know, I grew up religious It's like how do we how do we preach from that position? and so You've got this burden on you that you're not going to shake for a long time and so What to do now is how do you lead from that position? You know, is it by making sure you know getting a retract note there Is it by speaking up for what you have learned? Because we all need it, you know My my daughter's growing up in this town and I you know still very clearly remember the first time I had the talk with her about going out with all of her black friends Who they were 13 at the time and knowing what it meant for them to move in the world in that space where this culture exists so from this experience as you're In our town and in our police department How will you lead how can you show us and I hope that you do and I hope that you have more years Of showing that rick padrini that you aspire to be and wish to be Then the two years that we've seen from those letters Thank you. Thank you. David. Thank you everyone on the reaction panel and thank you lieutenant padrini For being part of the conversation I'm going to turn it back over to the town of arlington It has been an honor to be invited into this community conversation And I hope lieutenant padrini that not only your individual change your personal change that is Your process you're going through but that it leads to change in other officers I will say this again. Not many towns are doing these conversations This is rare Many police departments in towns would fight a conversation like this because they wouldn't want it to be a public apology This could be a model for other communities not to sort of flog you in the public But to talk about what it was How you um felt and what you thought when you said it how people perceived it and what we can do going forward So I want to say thank you to the town of arlington for even hosting this conversation tonight I turn it back over to the town Thank you, michael. Thank you everyone. Uh for those who don't know me. My name is once michelle and i'm a consultant, uh with the town uh I am interested in this work and I got into racial justice work because I have had deep experiences with racism and I've also had deep experiences with being targeted by police Um, my my father was falsely arrested For a crime that he reported Where he was being attacked but because he was the black man on scene He was taken into custody and he tells me to the state that it was the first time he had ever cried as an adult That was 26 years ago and he still remembers it like it was yesterday I myself at the age of 14 While walking with a group of friends Were being were uh stopped and frisked by police officers Who said that we looked like a group? Um A suspicious group So profiling and racism is something that's deeply embedded in the uh way in which policing happens in this country We can't deny that But racism itself is embedded through all aspects of of our country And I appreciate the opportunity for us to have a conversation with officer pradrini because as mr. Curry said Many people and many communities As all communities across this country are grappling with racism systemically institutionally interpersonally And internally Most communities wouldn't do something like this And so Arlington is actually taking the right steps. Have those steps always been the best? Have they been messy? Yes But that doesn't mean that the work there isn't work going forward And one message that we want to make sure is clear is that The issues that have come to light or have certainly been uh imploded As a result of officer pradrini's words were existent long before pradrini And will exist long after and the work that it's going to take Is not going to just be on the town leadership. It's going to take all of us personal and professional changes In order to grow In order to bring our community together and to heal From this disease this other disease that we're contending with that's called racism And two years may seem like a long time to many of you. I understand two years feels like why are we still talking about this? Let's just get it over with But two years compared to 400 years of systemic oppression And racism is a blip in time How we move forward Together is is going to determine the future and the success of this town There are some of you who are coming from all sides of opinion all sides of emotion And guess what each and every one of those emotions are valid But my hope today is That you have been inspired to take some steps to educate yourself if you are not educated on the issue of race and race relations in this country And it's not just about reading books although you should start there because there are plenty of books And there's plenty of evidence to support that this is real This is not a made-up thing despite the fact that there's a lot of national arguments against that What we hope is that you will make some efforts To talk to people who you normally don't talk to get to know your neighbors spend some time reflecting on How are my actions being motivated by preconceived notions Predispositions that were passed on to me. How have I absorbed that and how do I do? How do I exact that in my own profession? Because it's not just police officers who harbor racism. It's doctors. It's lawyers It's barbers It's grocery store clerks It's delivery men everyone Everyone in our lives We've been impacted by And the thing about racism is that it's not just about being an anti-racist for the sake of those targeted But it's also about being racist anti-racist for yourself Because that healing that you undergo in yourself is what allows us to evolve as a country It allows for that healing to take place So I hope you all will consider that who are watching and we thank you all who stayed with us for the entire evening And I'll pass it to adam to make a final closing comment. Thank you, elenza I have to admit I didn't know I was going to make a final closing comment So I had to reshift where my computer was sitting as I was as I was watching Um, I want to say thank you to elenza A tremendous thank you to michael curry for the time he spent tonight and His respectful but very firm questioning of lieutenant padrini I want to thank lieutenant padrini for participating tonight. Um, I think I think we got a lot Um, a very very very clear suggestions of where where the road Can lead um, and I look forward to having those conversations with you and chief flaherty Uh, and I I think the last thank you. I want to give us to the panelists You are all private citizens that didn't need to do this. Um You not only gave us your time But you gave us passion and thought and Each of you really gave us a piece of yourself tonight in your own experience And I really really appreciate that Um, the final thing I'll say is I Very very much meant what I said at the start of tonight's program We we've done a lot of work In arlington, but we firmly acknowledge there's much much more work to do on these issues of race There's certainly issues of race and policing, but they go far beyond that And we're committed to that work We're committed to the the hard conversations that it will take And we hope that really starting tomorrow we can more more broadly begin these conversations across the community So thank you to everybody who tuned in tonight and I look forward to talking to you all soon