Police Unions Rip Reform Bill; Progress Pleases Baker | Patch PM

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 1. Here are some of the top stories we are covering.

The head of the state's largest police union called a sweeping reform bill the "final attack" on officers, but the legislation is still expected to make its way through Beacon Hill Tuesday afternoon.

The bill would create a statewide certification process for officers and allow for them to be stripped of that certification for a number of offenses — including using excessive deadly force or chokeholds, not intervening if a fellow officers uses such force, falsifying timesheets and more.

Law enforcement leaders said the bill is misguided and harmful to officers.

"The final compromise is a final attack on police officers by lawmakers on Beacon Hill," Scott Hovsepian, the president of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, said in a letter to his more than 4,300 members. "It is 129 pages crowded with punitive measures, layers and layers of new bureaucracy and the abridgment of basic due process rights for police officers."

The State Police Association of Massachusetts said the bill "misses the mark" and "creates layers of unnecessary bureaucracy and costly commissions staffed by political appointees with no real world experience in policing and the dangers officers face every day."

After months of silence from state lawmakers, Gov. Charlie Baker said he is pleased to see the issue move ahead, but he withheld comment on the specifics of the bill until his staff was able to pore over it.

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Other top stories

COVID-19 Vaccines Expected This Month, Won't Be Mandatory

Gov. Charlie Baker said he was told to expect the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by mid-December, but he tempered hopes of it being available to the general public anytime soon.

The federal government told governors to count on Pfizer's vaccines in a matter of weeks, if the company is granted emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The state has already said it plans on vaccinating frontline healthcare workers and high-risk seniors first. Baker said the general public could begin getting vaccinated in the spring.

"The focus is going to be on the people we are all the most worried about, right, either because of what they do for work or because of their age or because of their physical condition," Baker said.

Police Offer $5K Reward After Random Attacks Plague Waltham

Waltham is offering a $5,000 reward for information on the person or persons responsible for the near dozen unprovoked attacks across the city in recent weeks.

"Everybody is talking about it, and everyone is concerned," said Mayor Jeannette McCarthy, who pleaded with residents to not walk alone after dark.

During the past month, someone in Waltham has been lying in wait under the cover of darkness and attacking men around the city, sending many of them to the hospital with serious injuries to the head and face, police said.

NTSB: MA Driver's Drug Use Critical In Death Of 7 Bikers In NH

A pickup driver's drug use was the reason he crashed last year into an oncoming group of motorcyclists in New Hampshire, leading to the death of seven bikers, the National Transportation Safety Board found Tuesday.

The board unanimously approved a report that determined that Volodymyr Zhukovskyy's impairment from the drugs was the "probable cause" for him crossing the center line on a rural, two-lane highway and sparking the fiery crash.

Zhukovskyy was returning from delivering vehicles for a Massachusetts transport company and was towing an empty flatbed trailer.

Also

Boston Schools Not Likely To Fully Reopen Before Christmas, Walsh Says

Boston Public Schools suspended in-person learning for all students in late October as coronavirus cases started to surge again.

Grand Jury Weighing Criminal Charges Against Ex-Peabody Teacher

A federal lawsuit by a former Peabody Veterans Memorial High School student was put on hold while an Essex County grand jury decides whether to indict a former teacher on sex abuse charges.

4 Worcester Telegram Retirements Take 150 Years Of Experience

Since Saturday, four Telegram reporters — George Barnes, Elaine Thompson, Bill Doyle and Nick Kotsopoulos — announced retirements.

Stop & Shop Hiring Thousands For Jobs Across The Northeast

The Quincy-based supermarket chain said Tuesday it is looking to hire more than 5,000 people for positions.

Wilmington Woman Remembers Her Mother Lost To Coronavirus

Burlington's Elizabeth Flaherty died in April, in the virus's first wave. "She would have lived to be 100," her daughter Susan Branley said.

MassDOT To Begin Construction On Needham-Newton Corridor Project

Watch for extra traffic beginning Dec. 7 through the end of the week as Massachusetts Department of Transportation crews start work.

WATCH: Great White Shark Chows Down On Seal In Cape Cod Harbor

Just because beach season is over, it doesn't mean Great white sharks aren't still swimming and hunting for blubbery snacks off Cape Cod.