This is the first in our 2024 AGO in Action series examining Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s strategic goals and her progress throughout the coming year. We will be posting further installments in the series throughout the next several months.
On February 26, 2024, the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General (“AGO”) unveiled their
strategic plan (“plan”) to advance opportunity for all across the Commonwealth. The plan’s five strategic goals are:
- Advance economic opportunity and consumer justice for all;
- Protect and promote public health and safety throughout our state, with particular attention to closing gaps in healthcare access and environmental health;
- Protect and strengthen the health, safety, and well-being of our youth;
- Defend and embody the good of Massachusetts government, while holding the powerful to account, particularly those who misuse roles of authority or public trust; and,
- Expand the reach of the AGO and make sure that our legal and advocacy work is informed by and reflects the needs of communities and residents in every part of our state.
Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s initiative builds on her stated priorities while running for office and when newly sworn in, as we’ve
previously written about. In this new plan, organized to guide the work of the AGO through 2027, AG Campbell emphasizes a continued focus on historically important issues such as consumer protection, public health, civil rights and law enforcement accountability for public offices and office holders, and making the AGO more accessible to residents across the Commonwealth. AG Campbell’s plan acknowledges that these topics are complex and that progress in these areas will not be easy. However, AG Campbell has already demonstrated that she is not afraid to get to work.
This post, the first in its series, focuses on two of AG Campbell’s stated priorities: addressing gun violence, and better accountability for law enforcement in the Commonwealth.
Massachusetts has some of the nation’s most restrictive gun laws. From requiring safety training before obtaining a gun license to banning the sale and possession of assault weapons and large-capacity machines, Massachusetts’ laws impose restrictions that support AG Campbell’s stated aim of reducing and preventing gun violence. AG Campbell’s strategic plan promises to uphold these laws through a variety of avenues: defending against targeted litigation; joining amicus briefs to support other states’ efforts to bolster their gun laws; and deploying newly created units to ensure consistent enforcement of our laws. For example, AG Campbell launched the Gun Violence Prevention Unit, whose purpose is two-fold: to support law enforcement as they enforce our gun laws and to help coordinate the efforts of community-based organizations that are breaking the cycles of violence. Since her time as a Boston City Councilor, AG Campell has spoken of the need to bring those most impacted by gun violence into the fold. With her creation of the Unit, AG Campbell aims to uphold her promise of ensuring the AGO’s work addresses the needs of communities. On the legislative front, AG Campbell recently signed on to support Massachusetts state legislation to strengthen laws prohibiting the purchase, possession, and use of gun silencers.
Just as Massachusetts communities need protection from gun violence, communities want to see fair enforcement of their laws by local and state police. AG Campbell is launching a new Police Accountability Unit to oversee police practice investigations, the authority to do so coming from the Massachusetts 2020 police reform bill, signed into law by then-Governor Charlie Baker. The law broadened the AGO’s power to investigate and redress patterns or practices of racially biased policing. The new Unit will work collaboratively with law enforcement and the Peace Officer Standards & Training Commission (“POST”) to ensure compliance with new and existing laws, including prohibitions on chokeholds, restrictions on tear gas, and an explicit duty to intervene if a fellow officer is using unreasonable force. The POST can also de-certify police officers if their records warrant it, so they cannot resign or be fired from one community and go to work in another in the Commonwealth. The Unit will also promote best practices in civil rights and juvenile justice and offer continued support to law enforcement who have earned the trust of their communities. AG Campbell believes the AGO is uniquely situated to improve government accountability and criminal legal reform and that these two areas are intertwined – by addressing misappropriation of funds, police misconduct and police brutality, she believes the AGO will be able to give law enforcement the tools and resources they need to do their job effectively.
These two areas in AG Campbell’s Strategic Plan demonstrate her commitment to elevating public safety and civil rights as priorities within her office, and we may expect to see further developments in these areas throughout the life of the Plan.
