Police get Irish tips on crowd policing
Monitoring by rights lawyers, openness urged
Police from Northern Ireland, who have had to quell religious conflicts in Belfast, have an intriguing suggestion for Boston's next big crowd event: a human rights lawyer should scrutinize the Police Department's security plans, watch the officers' behavior during the event, and then issue a public report on their performance.
Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, who invited two officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland to Boston, said he would like to review that idea and several others with city officials and police union leaders before Boston's next large gathering.
Davis said he wanted the visiting officers' advice as the department continues to investigate what went wrong the night of June 18, when David Woodman, 22, stopped breathing after he was placed in police custody following the Celtics NBA championship celebration. Woodman died 11 days later.
Donald K. Stern, a Boston lawyer and former US attorney, and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley are conducting separate investigations into the death.
Davis said he might allow a community member or lawyer into the department's command center, where top officials can witness the action on real-time video screens, but he stopped short of saying whether he would call for a public report on the department's actions.
"You want to have as much trust built with the community as you can, so having people who are objective talking about what happened is very helpful," Davis said. "When we convene a commission or we ask Don Stern to look at a situation, they're trying to gather information afterwards, and we think it would be helpful to be proactive and have people there at the beginning so the information couldn't be questioned."
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C., who suggested that the Irish officers visit Boston, said he does not know of any police department in the United States with a policy like Northern Ireland's.
"I am fascinated by it," he said. "The public is better served by access to events as they unfold."
Wexler, who visited Northern Ireland in February for a police conference, said he was struck by the transparency of the Belfast police, whose actions at large events, such as annual parades by Protestants or Catholics, are critiqued in voluminous reports published by the Northern Ireland Policing Board, posted online, and released to the news media.
"Everything is subject to review," he said. "They've had to develop good relationships with the marchers, parade organizers, and human-rights people."
Duncan McCausland, assistant chief constable in Belfast and one of the visiting officers, said his department relies on two human rights lawyers with strong credibility in the community. In 2005, nearly 100 police officers were injured, and dozens of people were arrested during clashes following the annual Whiterock Parade, a Protestant event. In their report, the lawyers made a series of recommendations, including a suggestion that police officials investigate two incidents captured on video that showed a man being beaten by officers with a baton and another man being kicked and struck by officers.
The lawyers "go on the ground; they see all the intelligence and are given total unrestricted access from start to finish," McCausland said. "We have found them extremely helpful and extremely challenging and extremely beneficial."
Boston police paid $18,000 for the foreign officers' air travel, consulting fees, and hotel stay, said Elaine Driscoll, spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department.
During their six-day stay, the officers shadowed top commanders during the Caribbean American Carnival last Saturday, an annual event that draws hundreds of thousands of people and has been marred by shootings and stabbings.
McCausland said he and his colleague, Chief Inspector Andrew Galbraith, were impressed with the way city officials handled the carnival, which led to 23 arrests and confiscation of four guns.
They said the department could implement other tactics to ensure the public's safety, such as building a scaffold that would allow police officers to watch the crowd from high above the ground. They also suggested that officers receive more medical equipment, such as large bandages and IV drips.
Davis said all of the department's officers are trained in first aid, but he said he is considering providing officers who are trained as emergency medical technicians with more medical equipment. During large events, Davis said, he would make sure those officers are deployed throughout the city.
Woodman's lawyer, Howard Friedman, said he welcomed the idea of an outside observer as police monitor events.
"It might have a good effect because [officers] will know people are watching and writing a report critiquing them," he said. "
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. 