Governor Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey announced the first nine appointments to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training [POST] Commission.
The nine member POST Commission is an independent agency that will create a mandatory certification process for police officers in Massachusetts, as well as processes for decertification, suspension of certification, or reprimand in the event of certain misconduct.
The Commission, created by a law passed in December 2000, requires the Governor and Attorney General to appoint three members each and appoint the final three members jointly.
Members appointed by the Governor
Judge Margaret R. Hinkle
Governor Baker appointed Judge Hinkle to be chairperson of the Commission.
Since her retirement in 2011, Judge Hinkle has worked as a Case Manager for JAMS, a private alternative dispute resolution provider, serving as an arbitrator, mediator and discovery master.
Hinkle served as a Justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts from 1993 to 2011. She also served terms as the Administrative Justice of the Business Litigation Session and as the Suffolk County Regional Administrative Justice for Civil Business.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Hinkle served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston on the Economic Crimes Unit from 1989 until 1993. She was Director of the US Department of Justice’s New England Bank Fraud Task Force from 1992 until 1993.
Michael J. Wynn
Wynn is the Chief of Police of the Pittsfield Police Department, a position he accepted in 2007. He started as a Patrol Officer held positions as Shift Supervisor, Shift Commander and Administrative Captain of the Pittsfield Police Department.
Wynn has also served as both a subject matter and drill instructor at multiple police academies.
Charlene D. Luma
Luma is a licensed social worker who has served since 2019 as the Chief of the Victim Witness Assistance Program for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Luma worked from 2012 until 2019 for the Justice Resource Institute in Boston. She started as a Senior Clinician for the SMART Team, which provides in-home therapy and support for local young people who are victims and survivors of homicide and community violence.
Luma then served as Program Director for the SMART Team from 2014 until 2015, and as Program Director for Boston Trauma Response from 2015 until 2019
Appointees of the Attorney General
Lawrence “Larry” Calderone
Calderone is Chair & President of the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Policy Group, and President of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association.
Calderone served as a Boston Police Officer since 1994, working in the communities of Roxbury and Mattapan, and with the Special Operations Motorcycle Unit & SWAT Team.
Calderone’s current assignment is in West Roxbury, where he previously focused on motor vehicle and pedestrian safety and traffic reconstruction.
Calderone has been a representative of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association for over twenty years and served previously as the Legislative Director for the Association.
Larry Ellison
Since 2005, Ellison served as Detective in the Boston Police Department’s School Unit. He became an officer in 1983 and held positions as a Detective in the Narcotics Division, and a Detective in the Brighton district.
Ellison previously served as the President of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers from 2010 until 2018.
Marsha V. Kazarosian
Kazarosian is an experienced trial attorney who has been practicing in Massachusetts since 1982, handling multiple high-profile cases that have gained her recognition in New England and across the country.
Kazarosian is currently a Partner at Kazarosian Costello LLP, where her practice areas include civil rights law, discrimination cases, and police misconduct cases.
She was President of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, and the Essex County Bar Association. She currently co-Chairs the Civil Rights & Social Justice Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association.
Joint Appointees of the Governor and Attorney General
Dr. Hanya H. Bluestone
Bluestone is a licensed psychologist who has served since 2016 as CEO of Labyrinth Psychological Services, PC, in Holden, providing specialized trauma and behavioral medicine treatments to patients of all ages. Dr. Bluestone previously served from 2007 until 2016 as a Psychologist IV for the Department of Mental Health, where her responsibilities included conducting mental health and substance abuse evaluations, testifying in the District and Superior Courts, and providing clinical consultations to families, probation and judges.
Clementina M. Chéry
Chéry is an ordained senior chaplain and the Co-Founder & CEO of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Boston, a center of healing, teaching and learning for families and communities impacted by homicide, trauma, grief and loss. The Institute carries the name of Chéry’s son, Louis. Louis lost his life in the crossfire of a shootout in 1993.
Chéry is a recognized expert on best practices in homicide response and has extensive experience training public health professionals and law enforcement officials to better serve families impacted by murder and interrupt cycles of retaliatory violence.
Kimberly P. West
West has served since 2019 as a Partner of Ashcroft Law Firm in Boston. She represents clients in investigations involving federal and state agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice and Department of the Treasury.
Prior to private practice, West served from 2015 until 2019 as Chief of the Criminal Bureau of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General. She led a team of over 120 attorneys, support staff and State Police in the strategic prosecution of a wide range of crimes and serving on the Office of the Inspector General’s Council providing oversight of state agencies.
Image Credit: Hsin Ju HSU, Massachusetts Statehouse, CC BY-SA 3.0
