BROCKTON — They're not calling it an endorsement, but about 20 police officers, including the union leadership, held a press conference Monday on Legion Parkway in support of Mayor James E. Harrington, who is running for re-election.
"If people believe as I do, that the number-one issue that faces them is public safety, then we have to keep Mayor Harrington as our mayor,” said officer William Healy, president of the Brockton Police Association, which represents 154 members of the department.
Monday morning, Healey and other officers, wearing their uniforms, gathered at a BAT bus stop on Legion Parkway, down the street from the headquarters of mayoral candidate Jass Stewart.
The officers attending the event were off-duty and the event was held on a holiday so more police officers could attend, Healy said.
About 30 Harrington supporters and family members of police officers also attended, Healy said.
Healy and Donna Daley, Harrington's chief of staff, dropped off a DVD of the press conference to The Enterprise late Monday morning, but Healy said he didn't know who produced the video.
Healy, a Brockton resident who spoke several times in favor of Harrington during the press conference, denied that the event was an endorsement by police of Harrington's candidacy.
Harrington has a daughter, Tracy, who is on the police force, and she did not attend the event, Healy said.
“We've decided on behalf of the union that we're probably going to stick, at this point, with police tradition,” Healy said. “In the 20 years I've been on (the police force) we've never endorsed a candidate.”
When asked about his comments about keeping Harrington as mayor while standing at a decorated podium, Healy said, “I was speaking personally.”
Healy, who made several comments against Stewart, said the press conference was held to refute claims by Stewart that Harrington has been “missing in action” as mayor and Stewart's plan to track down city criminals.
“It's clear to many members of the police department that when it comes to fighting crime and keeping our community safe, Mr. Stewart doesn't have a clue,” Healy said.
When reached Monday, Stewart, who was not at the event, said he has “deep respect for the officers in uniform.”
Stewart said safety continues to be a “major” issue for Brockton residents.
“People in our neighborhoods have lived the uneasiness that has encroached on our city in the last two years because we have not had leadership with vision, leadership that's visible,” Stewart said.
“The reality is, a staged event cannot erase the mayor's track record,” Stewart said of the press conference.
Sgt. Donald Mills, vice president of the Brockton Police Superiors Union, and Harrington spoke after Healy during the event.
“I want to thank the police officers unions for doing this today. I want to thank all of the officers that showed up,” Harrington said after taking the microphone from Mills and shaking his hand.
At issue was Stewart's safety initiative in his Five Point Plan, where Stewart aims to “track down and lock up the 65 people who are committing 20 percent of the city's crime.”
“Does he actually believe that as mayor he will personally lock up these criminals?” Healy said.
Stewart said that in cities a core number of criminals are committing a significant number of crimes. He wants to have a coordinated effort within the city to make sure these criminals “do not receive light sentences because they're heavy repeat offenders.”
Stewart based his safety initiative on 2005 data he received from a community meeting in Brockton of the Weed and Seed program, aimed at curbing neighborhood crime, that same year, he said.
Harrington later said Stewart continues to talk about arresting the city's top 65 repeat offenders “and how that's going to solve the problem” with crime.
“I thought it was always kind of a silly thing to say,” Harrington said.
Experts say Monday's press conference appeared as an endorsement of Harrington, even though police did not call it that.
“It sounds like an endorsement to me,” said Michael Kryzanek, a political science professor at Bridgewater State College.
Endorsements happen “all the time” in political races from state and municipal organizations, Kryzanek said.
“So what's the difference whether a police union endorses somebody?” Kryzanek said. “Be up front, be honest, unless they're concerned that it's going to backfire.”
If police are not calling Monday's event an endorsement, “then don't have a news conference and don't distribute a DVD. Be completely non-political,” Kryzanek said.
He said the press conference will only heat up the race leading to the Nov. 6 election.
“This is just another controversy to add on to,” Kryzanek said.
Both Healy and Mills spoke of Harrington's initiatives, including a quality of life team that patrols neighborhoods, as they are detailed on Harrington's campaign fliers.
Mills said crime in Brockton is down, citing statistics from a recent report by the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs. The report found Brockton to have the highest rate of overall major crimes.
Stewart said Harrington, who called crime a perception in the city before the preliminary election, is “conveniently changing his tactics.”
“So within a span of a couple of weeks, to consider the crime in the city as a perception, and to totally change his tone, rings of the worst kinds of politics,” Stewart said. “It's disingenuous.”
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