As community leaders, we have been shocked, outraged, and angered by what we saw happen to George Floyd in Minneapolis last week, resulting in his death. These same feelings are felt by people across the Billerica community – by our residents, our business leaders, our educators, our town employees, and most importantly, by our police officers and command staff of the Billerica Police Department. We all share a vision for the future in which the injustices brought on by systemic racism must come to an end, and where they cannot be permitted to perpetuate for our future generations.
Over the course of the last week, many of our town residents have written and called with comments and inquiries regarding our police department. We want to assure our residents that protection and respect for all people is a guiding principle for our police department. We seek to earn trust from our community through personal discipline, reliability, sensitivity, and accountability in service to our residents. In embracing the six pillars from the 2015 President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, we have focused training on de-escalation techniques, procedural justice, scenario based training, and Fair and Impartial Policing. We must remain steadfastly committed to these principles now and into the future to earn the trust and cooperation of the community.
We acknowledge the feelings of pain, grief, and anger that exist across our community. But we also hope that within those feelings is a belief that we can work together to achieve a vision for the future in which justice is truly experienced by all. And so, we pledge to ensure that our actions – from how we teach our children to how we engage with our community – are in furtherance of that vision.
Sincerely,
John C. Curran, Town Manager
Daniel C. Rosa, Chief of Police
Timothy G. Piwowar, School Superintendent