For Brookline police officers, the past is present tense
“Look at this,” Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary said, gesturing toward the gift shop at Boston’s Museum of African American History.
A replica of a vintage sign dated April 24, 1851, advised “Colored people of Boston, one & all” to not converse with “watchmen,” as police were known then.
O’Leary, a tall man in a trench coat, shook his head with a bit of awe, a bit of sadness.
“It’s the same thing today,” O’Leary said.
What he meant is that police officers are still feared.
So he decided to teach his officers a bit of history.
This spring, Brookline officers took six weekly guided tours through the Museum of African American History in Beacon Hill and the West End Museum. They spent several mornings discussing cultural diversity, tolerance, and the history of policing and busing in Boston.