Mass. police chiefs urge consistent use of IHRA definition in training, cite civil-rights officers and HEART unit

Chiefs from municipal departments told the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism that Massachusetts already has statutory tools to standardize hate- and bias-crime training and that the state's training apparatus can be adapted quickly to new threats.

"We get our authority from master law chapter 41 section 96 b," said Chief James Hicks of the Natick Police Department, chair of the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC), explaining the committee's statutory mandate to set and enforce training standards for municipal, campus and other local police officers. "We have the flexibility to move in directions where we see fit."

Hicks and Chief Thomas Fowler of the Salisbury Police Department described a two-tier approach: civil-rights officers designated in each local department who receive annual specialized training, and a small State Police unit known as…