Officer Kim Murray, a Detective in the Newton Police Department, alleges a long-standing pattern of systemic racism in the Department, requiring repeated interventions, and neglect of her most recent concerns expressed to Mayor Fuller. Responding to Mayor Fuller’s speech on racism and the police budget on Monday, June 15, Officer Murray stated:
“This entire speech is very interesting to me since I am as a black woman working with the Newton Police Department for 21 years and enduring years and years of systemic racism which I reached out to her in her asking for help as other mayors before her have had to intervene on my behalf due to the way I was being treated and she ignored me never even responded never even send a staff member to check and see if I was OK or how I was doing. Also I’m the only black officer working in the Newton Police Department they were a total of three of us two have retired. trust me, the Newton Police Department has a lot of problems with race.”
These allegations are obviously disturbing on their own merits, and more immediately concerning is that a Newton Police Officer has broken the code of silence and risks ostracism and reprisals. This issue and Officer Murray’s concerns and welfare need immediate attention.
Unacceptable and abhorrent. I have reached out to Detective Murray. Having spoken with many Black residents over the past few weeks, it is clear to me that especially we white people have a lot of work to do within our city, within our schools, and within our minds.
This is so far beyond unacceptable. Clearly, we need MAJOR changes here in Newton.
If Detective Murray’s allegations of inaction against the mayor are true (and that should be fairly easy to verify), then the mayor is a spineless coward who needs to resign immediately.
What’s the matter with these local politicians who, like everyone with an ounce of sense, knew exactly what was going on yet declined to do or say anything about it, until it suddenly became politically opportune to issue mea culpas and expressions of enlightenment?
See also: congressional candidate Jesse Mermell, who was complicit in Brookline’s racism during her tenure on that town’s select board (but who now regrets her “massive personal failture” of course) –
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/10/06/progressive-brookline-can-walk-from-ugly-racist-battle-won/r5VPpV2D3YZeuZ0dQu21gI/story.html
Fuller is great at lip service. But what has she honestly done for POC in our community? I saw her at the protest in front of the police station a few weeks ago and she was posing for photo ops, including kneeling. It was a disgrace. How many people in her office are of color? Why is her Director of Inclusion white?
This makes me sad and disgusted. Officer Murray shouldn’t have to endure this and the Mayor should have her back. I hope this is taken seriously.
Time for the Mayor to resign.
@Nathan, I understand that this statement was posted in Village14. Did you contact the Detective and confirm that the statement was hers?
This is based on a blog comment. You better do your due diligence and verify that it actually came from Detective Murray. Do you really think anyone, let alone a police officer, would post this about their employer using their real name? I can’t believe people here take an unverified comment at face value.
Michael and Newtoner, I think you are suggesting that the comment posted under the name “Kim Murray”, the name of a person I verified is a Newton PD Officer, may have been posted by someone else. If that is true, this is a case of identity theft and misrepresentation and needs even more urgent investigation.
While I don’t believe a presumption of identity theft is warranted by the content of the comment and publicly verifiable information, your suggestions are actually supporting immediate attention to the comment, so that’s helpful.
I do not personally know Officer Murray, but prior to posting this I requested help from a community leader to reach out and offer support. I thank that person for acting quickly to do so.
The post is unlikely to be posted by “someone else” because no one would be stupid enough to impersonate a police officer. Even online, its a federal offense
@Nathan Phillips: Yes, of course it could have been posted be someone else, who found Murray’s profile on LinkedIn. For God’s sake, is anyone here new to this thing called the internet?
Newtoner is suggesting a crime of identity theft may have occurred. The Newton PD must investigate this immediately and transparently, with the Mayor’s and City Council’s oversight.
Newtoner
This is way more than “identity theft”, its impersonating an officer online . This one is so easy to verify that no person would be stupid enough to attempt it.
I’m suggesting you at least verify with Detective Murray that it was her comment and what exactly the allegations are before making a story out of it. She has not responded to subsequent comments on the original thread.
@Nathan: I can’t believe this. You are a BU faculty member with a PhD. You know that anybody can post on Village14 under any name, without any identity verification whatsoever.
You posted this as a factual news story and should have verified it first. If you intend to broadcast original news stories, you must follow journalistic standards. Those include verifying your story and giving all parties an opportunity to comment.
Since you took it upon yourself to write this story, please let us know if is true.
I stand behind my post. A public post in the name of a verified Newton Police Officer making credible allegations was posted on this blog. That is newsworthy – period.
If a case of felony impersonation of a police officer has occurred it needs to be investigated immediately. If it turns out that someone else posted it, then I will stand corrected and apologize.
What was source of this allegation? Where was it published first? Sad to see intelligent people such as Councilor Emily Norton jump to conclusions without her investigation of the source.
@Nathan: You’re a scientist. You know better. You’re supposed to test your theories before you publish them.
Your bombshell headline makes some very serious factual allegations. Whether your story is true or false–and I have no way to know–your story will hurt people.
You attributed a quote to a particular person. YOU HAVE TO VERIFY. So, please call the Detective and verify it.
Don’t try to deflect responsibility with claims that impersonation is a federal crime and that police should investigate. The internet is full of lies and false identities. Even kids know that. It’s your job to verify the accuracy of factual allegations that you print.
She posted something similar on Facebook thread. I have no reason to doubt her.
@MMQC: I don’t think anybody is expressing doubt. A few of us are merely saying that authors need to check their sources.
I just called the Newton PD information officer asking them to confirm or deny – no one answered so I left voice mail. I also separately called the Detective Bureau – no one answered so I left voicemail.
To put this to rest, I updated the blog to say “a person purporting to be” Officer Murray. I hope this satisfies you.
Last, how did you know I teach at BU and have a PhD. It’s not listed on the “About” section. Did you look me up on the internet? Did you call me first to verify my identity? Are you really Michael Singer?
Why aren’t we discussing the failure of Setti Warren and David Cohen in making systemic change in the police department? The police officer notes that prior mayors intervened on her behalf. Together, Mayors Warren and Cohen had 20 years to work on long-standing issues in Newton and apparently they failed miserably, leaving Mayor Fuller to be blamed in every other post on V14.
@Nathan: No need to look you up. You are a minor local celebrity and have been in the news lately. Your picture and bu.edu email address are on your profile. Greg certainly verified that you are the real person.
Look at all the white people tripping over their privilege.
Must act … Publish the story … Is she real? Look her up … Mayor must resign … Called the police department for comment.
All we need now is for someone to say ‘Come on Newton we’re better than this.’
Maybe all there is to do is simply listen to what she has to say, and allow it to sink in.
And maybe Kim should be allowed to control her story, instead of all us miserable white folks.
@Nathan – thank you for doing your best to satisfy the commenters on this blog. I know that you have the best interests of this city at heart.
I personally think this thread should not have been created without someone speaking with Officer Murray. One to verify that the post attributes to her was valid and secondly to get her input on this thread. Did she want her quote elevated to its own thread?What are the best ways for the V14 population to support her in getting this matter addressed?
It’s deeply depressing to read these comments. Thinking that there hasn’t always been racism in Newton is naive. Thinking that this can be solved by one city leader is even more foolish. It would be much more useful for people to think about their own roles and how they can support anti-racist efforts rather than slinging insults and calling for resignations. Fuller has called for action and I believe she will move it forward. If you think her strategies need to be enhanced or revised, why not suggest an actual strategy instead of just tearing her and each other down? How are you contributing?
@BPOTS, if a police officer had indeed alerted the mayor’s office to racism in the department and the mayor did nothing about it, then that would be inexcusable and the mayor would need to resign.
Macro concepts such as “moving it forward,” “strategy enhancement,” and “contributions” are part of a different debate, and nobody expects racism to be “solved by one leader.”
If Detective Murray’s allegations are true (and again, this should be easily verifiable as there must be a record of communications), then there would be no tenable way for the mayor to continue to hold office.
@Newton Highlands Mom
Exactly
I suspect that whatever the issues were for Detective Murray, they would be part of her personnel file and thus, not open to public scrutiny.
This thread should never have been created and shame on V14 for leaving it up for all the armchair quarterbacks to make statements based on conjecture.
I ask that this thread be taken down.
@TWT, allegations of systemic racism in the department and an entreaty to the mayor wouldn’t be “part of her personnel file.”
As for “public scrutiny,” Detective Murray or a person purporting to be her made the statement in a previous thread. It’s asking a bit much, given the seriousness of the allegations, for the public to not scrutinize them at that point.
Anyway, if these allegations are true then this obfuscation by apologists for the police and the administration is likely to be accompanied by the usual police omertà tactics to make sure that it quickly gets swept under the rug as a giant misunderstanding.
I again recommend Dick Lehr’s The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston’s Racial Divide for insight into how the police are able to discreetly put a lid on these situations while minimizing public scrutiny. The “personnel file” excuse is one strategy that’s often quite successful, and we actually saw it being used up until fairly recently by the Brookline Select Board in their dealings with racism in the public safety departments.
This is why communities need local reporting. We all rely on blogs for news and we are not reporters checking our sources, etc..
@Michael,
Such big words! For the record, I never said it was right that a personnel file was off limits. I simply posed the suggestion that it likely is in this case.
My biggest problem with this thread is the original comments made by a person using the name Kim Murray has taken on a life of it’s own with no verification that the actual Kim Murray made this comment. We know nothing other than a broad suggestion of systemic racism and complaints ignored by the Mayor. We need facts, not speculation.
The story is for Kim Murray to expand on….if she wants. If it was her that put it out there, I hope she takes the steps to tell HER truth, not the truth everyone speculates on.
@TWT, if the statement was legitimately posted by Detective Murray then her message was clear – she alerted the mayor to systemic racism in the NPD and asked for assistance, but the mayor provided none and did not reply.
In which case, the mayor ought to be asked outright:
1) Did the mayor ever receive communication from a member of the NPD regarding systemic racism and asking for her assistance?
2) Did she ignore said communication and fail to offer assistance?
If the answer to both questions is yes, then she’s unsuitable to lead – that to me would be unequivocal from a moral standpoint.
In reading through this comment thread I see a lot of chatter about whether Nathan should have posted this and whether the person is who she says she is and whether the Mayor should have acted…
But what about the core allegation here? We have someone who is quite likely a police insider saying, unequivocally, that the Newton Police Department has a systemic racism issue.
A lot of virtual ink spilled, but no one seems to be focused on the fact that this city has a problem that is like the one in every other city. I want to be very clear, however, that this isn’t just about the police. The police simply reflect and enforce the values that we ask the to… so if the police have a problem, so do we all.
How about we focus on fixing the key problems rather than attacking Nathan for asking questions?
I am glad that Nathan elevated this to a thread and encouraged him to do so. This allegation was posted in another thread – the one quoting verbatim, the Mayor’s speech. The issue shouldn’t be about whether it deserves to be a thread on its own – look at the allegation. It was great that the Mayor, in her speech, was able to cite some of the national instances of deaths/violence/police brutality against the Black community, but no outright acknowledgment of the systemic racism here in Newton. She didn’t even acknowledge by name, the Tim Duncan incident nor did she mention the incident involving Emerson professor, Jabari Asim, the zoom bombings that have occurred, the hate incidents in our public schools…..
@Chuck-
I am in complete agreement. These are very serious allegations that need to be investigated, preferably by independent counsel and not the City Law Dept. As you may know, there have also been a significant number of claims against the Massachusetts State Police significant claims of gender and racial bias have been brought in court. I would hope that this officer has retained counsel and is vigorously pursuing her claims. These cases, and the brave people who bring them, are how these abuses are exposed and rectified.
@Chuck, for the last four weeks the discussion in Newton and the entire country has been focused on institutional racism in police departments. Anyone with any decency has acknowledged this and advocated for reform, including in this forum and on the streets of Newton. The key issue is wasted on almost nobody.
But please don’t dismiss concerns about whether the mayor should have acted as “spilled ink.”
Detective Murray says that she’s the only Black officer in the NPD, so right now she is the victim of systemic racism in the NPD workplace, and she alleges that she went to the mayor for help, but the mayor did nothing. That’s a very, very big deal and it shouldn’t be swept under the rug.
In my opinion, the first step to reform should be the assignment of accountability to any powerful individuals who were enablers of institutional racism. Do you not agree that it would be a grave injustice to ignore this specific allegation and fail to hold the mayor to account if the allegation is true?
We should not ignore the allegation at all, and I agree that the Mayor’s in-action on this is a big deal. But I’ve also seen on various forums and received emails from Newton residents denying outright that systemic racism exists. I’ve seen a reluctance within some factions in the city to admit that our police department isn’t immune from the problem.
All – I’m late to the discussion here but I wanted to clarify that I approved the comment from Kim Murray on June 16, after verifying that she sent it per Village 14 rules.
Gail – to clarify your comment – you are saying you verified that the comment attributable to Kim Murray was in fact sent from Detective Kim Murray of the Newton Police Department?
Patrick: I confirmed that the comment that was posted by Kim Murray originated from the email address associated with the comment.
Ok so that’s a no then?
I have been in touch with Officer Murray, and am confident that her original comment and identity here are authentic. If anyone wants further proof, they’ll need to call on the Police Department, which has not responded for 36 hours and counting to my two phone calls of inquiry to the Public Information Office and, separately, the Detective Bureau; or to the Mayor’s office and Police Chief, who have not yet responded to my email I sent at 9 am this morning.
Officer Murray approved my sharing this written response to my email expressing support for her:
“Thank you so much for all of the support. I have had a tough battle at NPD but will not give up. If you could clarify that the prejudice has mostly come from ranking staff within the department and certain employees at city hall when I previously complained of the behavior. Have there been insensitive comments made by other officers? yes, but most officers that I work with are good guys who treat people fairly. I have suffered a great deal of stress but I am determined to do a good job and hopefully create some change. Since this has come out in fortunately I have discovered social media postings from officers who believe that you can’t believe BLACK LIVES MATTER be pro -police which is very sad. Some feel that the officers who have been charged in Minnesota/Atlanta should not have been. I have to expect these same individuals to have my back??? I am concerned for my safety expect more backlash. If it were not for the union supporting me over the years although not always successful, I appreciate them trying. Thank you for taking the time to check in and clarify. Newton residents have been good to me.”
I’d like to help her out, what can we do??
I almost don’t want to comment for fear that the above comment will get lost in the sea of attempted obfuscation that precedes it, but hopefully Officer Murray’s comments will be presented to stand in their own post.
Thank you to Officer Murray and Nathan for the invaluable service that you have performed in alerting residents to this – hopefully the Globe will now agree that this is credible and newsworthy, in addition to being infuriating and shameful.
As for the mayor, she is not allowed to turn a blind eye when she is alerted to racism. If the mayor’s office received communication from Officer Murray regarding systemic racism in the NPD asking for assistance or intervention, yet ignored it and failed to respond, then the mayor is either incompetent or a spineless coward and she needs to resign.
Michael, I started a new thread with Officer Murray’s statement.
So now that Officer Murray’s original post has been confirmed, is it possible to confirm that Mayor(s) turned a blind eye? Aren’t their Newton email accounts public record?