The Town of Brookline will be initiating a Racial Climate Review of the Town’s Police and Fire Departments. The Town consulted with the NAACP to determine its scope and is in the final process of hiring an independent consultant to conduct the review. This report was prompted by a request from Fireman Gerald Alston in a November 2014 letter, as part of an appeal to the Board of Selectmen to determine whether best practices were used in the Pender/Alston Race Statement Case. The Climate Review also falls in line with Town’s stated commitment to diversity.
This review will be steered by Dr. Lloyd Gellineau. Lloyd is the Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations and Chief Diversity Officer. The Board of Selectmen had originally tasked this review to the newly re-constituted Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations Commission; but the baton was passed on to Gellineau to help expedite the process. Dr. Gellineau will be working in cooperation with the Commission.
One of the plans being considered for how to conduct the review is to form small focus groups of upper level management in the two departments, along with an anonymous survey of every Police and Fire employee. The survey will focus heavily on empathy questions to take the temperature of just how comfortable and safe employees feel filing complaints to expose mistreatment and bias. Gellineau is working with the Town to encourage 100% participation in the survey.
As part of the independent nature of the review and in an effort to keep cooperation in the survey private, the Town will not be privy to the data collected; the results will come to the Town in the form of a redacted report. The final report will represent the combined findings of the two departments. Once the Racial Climate Report is submitted to the Town, Dr. Gellineau and the Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations Commission will review its findings and make recommendations to the Board of Selectmen. The Board will then determine what follow-up actions by the Town are warranted.
In related news, Dr. Gellineau is making himself available to Brookline High School on working steps forward to address the racial slur incident involving students at the school.
~ Harvey Bravman, Publisher
