AGAWAM – Across the state of Massachusetts, police reforms have taken place after Gov. Charlie Baker originally signed a law on Dec. 31, 2020 – “An Act Relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth.”

This law aims to prevent any police transgressions, excessive use of force and racial prejudices. The law requires that if a police officer is exploiting use of excessive force, another officer must both intervene and report it.

On July 1, the majority of provisions under this law moved into full effect.

While towns and cities across the state adjust at their own pace, the Agawam Police Department is looking ahead on this multi-year phase out plan.

Police Chief Eric Gillis said, “[The reform] forced us to rewrite and distribute policies to officers.”

The Agawam Police Department will be implementing policy changes – more specifically, use of force policies. Gillis explained that the best example of this is the elimination of chokeholds, although this hasn’t been used in the commonwealth for nearly 15 to 20 years.

Moving forward, everything will also need to be reported. Gillis said, “Reporting requirements will also be pretty significant.” He described this as “problematic” because the reporting needs to be scrutinized and done at a command level. In essence, this creates a more onerous task for someone else.

Of all the changes that come with the reform, Gillis claimed, “The biggest is the elimination of part-time officers.” This includes the officers that Agawam relies on for traffic control and more importantly, Six Flags traffic.

“[This will] impact [the] ability to apply services,” said Gillis.

He went on to say that people want the reform to happen, however it can’t be done in one day; it takes time.

So far, Gillis said they haven’t had any problems but in about three years, they will see the true impact that the police reform has had.