Review Board OK'd for Cambridge Police Force

After more than a year of debate and opposition from the Police Department, the Cambridge City Council routinely voted Monday night to set aside $66,240 to fund New England's first civilian police review board.

Opposition to the proposed panel-whose five members will wield broad powers to scrutinize the Police Department's behavior and to investigate wrong doing--was spearheaded by City Councilor Walter J. Sullivan, who tried to delete the expenditure from the 1986 municipal budget Sullivan's motion divided the city council evenly, failing to win the necessary five votes for passage.

A full time investigator and support staff will be hired by City Manager Robert W. Healy before the end of the summer to aid the five Cantabrigians serving on the board.

Although the police review board will only be able to make recommendations to the city manager, members will be empowered to "Subpoena witnesses, administer Oaths take testimony and require and require production of evidence" as part of board investigations.

Accusations of police misconduct first arose in January 1984 when Cambridge police arrested and booked 10 Black youths on charges of assaulting a Central Square man.

Charging the police with racially motivated brutality and harassment, parents of the children told community leaders in several public forums that police arbitrarily rounded up their children in a "dragnet" of city streets.

Since January, three Cambridge police officers have been suspended because of incidents ranging from driving while intoxicated to sexual assault of a minor.

"Our police officers should be held to a very high standard of conduct--and they will be." City Councilor David E. Sullivan said last night.

"We believe the creation of civilian review boards for police will create a disasterous impact on police officers' morale." Cambridge Police Chief Anthony G. Paolitto told the city council in November.