David A. Doucet served as a member of the Rhode Island State Police, retiring after 25 years of service at the rank of detective lieutenant.
A quick review of Senate bill S-2096, which proposes changes to the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, reveals it is heavy on language but light on details. As always, the devil is in those details. Understanding space here is limited, here are just a few (but certainly not all) of the issues contained within this legislation.
The bill would expand the hearing panel from three members to five, one of the new members being the “executive director of the Nonviolence Institute.” Why this person? The website for the Nonviolence Institute identifies Keith Morton as the current “interim” executive director. Assuming Mr. Morton would qualify to serve on a LEOBOR panel, I would respectfully ask the sponsors of this bill, or Mr. Morton himself, what knowledge, experience and qualifications does he possess that would qualify him to sit in judgement of the lawful actions a law enforcement officer may or not have undertaken while in the performance of his/her duties? (Any alleged unlawful actions of a law enforcement officer of course being handled by the criminal justice system.) Hopefully, this portion of the legislation isn’t a serious proposal, and might just be the simple pandering it appears to be.