Mayor Marty Walsh has expanded the panel charged with reviewing Boston Police’s policies for using force, adding three members in response to a request from City Council President Kim Janey.
The three additions to what was initially a task force of nine members are Eddy Chrispin, president of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, Jamarhl Crawford and Javier Flores. Crawford is an outspoken activist and community organizer. Flores, an attorney, works with the law firm Dinsmore and Shohl.
The task force was expanded after Janey, who was originally allowed to appoint one designee, said panel lacked a resident of her Roxbury-Dorchester district, a Hispanic and a representative of MAMLEO. Chrispin, its leader, is a sergeant in the Boston Police Department.
In a telephone interview with WGBH News, Janey said she pushed for the additions and was grateful that Walsh had embraced her request.
“I think the task force will be stronger for the representation,” she said.
“I wanted to see, in addition to a community person, someone from my district who has been directly impacted by this and could speak to it from that perspective," Janey added. "I also thought it was important to have MAMLEO [and] that the Latinx community was represented.”
Walsh announced the creation of the task force last month in the heat of multiple demonstrations against racism and police brutality in the city. At the time, Walsh also declared racism a public health crisis and proposed transferring $12 million of the police overtime budget to other city agencies and social service programs.
During that news conference. Walsh said he would be “accepting any changes” the group recommends to the existing Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel, an independent group of civilians which, according to the its website, “reviews appeals made with the Boston Police over internal investigations cases.”
