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the-hindu-times · 7 months

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Shrek The Musical - New Victoria Theatre, Woking - 31/10/23

On Halloween, with Christmas fast approaching, Shrek opened like a pantomime would but as the production proceeded, it actually lacked the full festive fun you’d expect.

Although the show didn’t quite measure up, the supposedly small Lord Farquaad ironically did; as the actor playing the role is no longer on his knees, to fit in with the musical’s well mannered moral. James Gillan possibly was the shortest person on stage but wasn’t noticeably enough for the one reference joke to work. Despite wishing these two elements were switched around, he was fantastic; simultaneously rescuing and stealing the show in the second half.

In fact, the shortfall was in the substance, which meant that the panto-style simplistic set felt more substandard than chic. Having seen many phenomenal productions over the past few months at the New Vic, it’s no wonder it felt dulled down.

Cherece Richards had her fan club with her in the audience as she transitioned from the smaller Rhoda McGaw Theatre (on opposite side of the room to the rear stalls entrance) to the main stage, to take on the role as the dragon. Antony Lawrence did an adequate job as Shrek, as he returned to the area he trained in acting, whilst Strictly Come Dancing’s Joanne Clifton (Princess Fiona) left the top twirling to the talented tribe of fairytale misfits.

With the orchestra pit consisting of drums, double bass, ukulele, trumpet, flugel, clarinet, sax, acoustic and electric guitars, the mediocre melodies in Himelstein/Darnwell’s boring ballads made these forgettable songs a chore to sit through until the “Shrektacular” finale we were promised; with an all dancing singalong for ‘I’m A Believer’. Written by Neil Diamond, and released by the Monkees in 1967, it proved that the old ideas are still the best; there was nothing for the children to really relish, let alone get involved with, up until this end point. When you think that such a simple showbiz idea, such as the 1899 folk song ‘Bobbing Up And Down Like This’, has worked so well at these young family affairs for years, it’s surprising that something as straightforward, yet excitingly enjoyable for the kids as being able to bob and down in their own theatre seats, wasn’t used here.

Shrek continues in Woking until Saturday, before heading to Eastbourne, Cardiff, York, Blackpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Coventry, Sunderland, Liverpool, Southampton, Milton Keynes, Hull, Cheltenham, Nottingham, Norwich, Belfast, Birmingham, Derry and Northampton, whist the New Voctoria Theatre prepare for The Magic of Motown, Frankie Boyle, Judi Love, BBC Rado 2 Sounds of the 80s, Fairytale of New York, Fastlove - A Tribute to George Michael, Cirque - The Greatest Show, The Drifters Girl and Pretty Woman all in this month of November.

Nic Bennett

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impossiblyizzy · 2 years

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today’s entry on the list of things I’m never going to get around to writing a fic about - what’s the deal with Gina and Milton? did they meet at Boyle family thanksgiving? on the trip to Aruba? (what happened on that trip?) why is he never mentioned after season 4? does Gina secretly have a thing for short men who wear a lot of beige??

#and why did nobody notice she was pregnant lol

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seagreen-meets-grey · 6 years

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It’s gravity that pulls the rain down

Every B99 finale gets more dramatic, we all know that. I recently had an idea for the next one, after watching probably too many MsMojo Top 10 videos and a very specific scene from Pretty Little Liars.

I told @astrangetypeofchemistry about it, then wrote it, then she made me post it. Get ready for some fluff and angst.

Amy was floating. She was walking on clouds, the war between her feet and her shoes completely forgotten, banished into another dimension, one where she was no bird, no eagle, levitating high up in the sky, soaring through the fluffiest clouds to ever grace the skies. What was gravity even? It certainly didn’t seem to affect her anymore.

I do.

She couldn’t stop smiling, couldn’t contain the bounce in her every step. The actually cloudy sky outside wouldn’t faze her. If it rained, the eagle would simply fly higher, until it broke through the clouds, waiting for the rain to wash away the last remnants of any recent stress and worries, before it could dive back into the sea of cotton candy. (Amy didn’t know much about eagles.)

I do.

Three letters. Two words. One second. She couldn’t tell what was more intoxicating, saying those words herself or hearing him say them. Each time, she felt like her chest would swell so much it would explode any moment, creating a path for the billions of butterflies that were dancing inside her so wildly. They were in their own little bubble, far away from the rest of the world. She felt the slight tremble of both their hands, felt his thumb lightly stroke her knuckles, absentmindedly lingering on the new golden band on her ring finger.

The kiss they shared brought this moment to completion. Amy wrapped her arms around Jake’s neck and he pulled her close, their bodies pressed together, both of them holding onto the other for dear life, not giving in to their weak knees. Amy could taste the love on his lips, warm and soft and perfect, while her entire body was tingling, and she was sure she just ascended from the ground, ready to join the stars in the sky. A second later, however, her feet touched the ground again and somewhere in the back of her head she realized Jake had picked her up, but the rest of her mind was busy melting when they broke their kiss and she fell into a pool – no, two pools – of warm, brown sparkles, like a chocolate pudding made of love. Any other day, this comparison would have sounded too Charles to her, but right now, she knew nothing but him. Her husband.

On this day, nothing could bring her down. Not Charles’ over-enthusiastic comments about their wedding night, not the rain drops increasing in size and amount every other second, not her parents fighting with Karen and Roger over the right way to pour wine, or that Gina had finally annoyed the DJ so much that he simply gave in and played her playlist.

She was in the middle of a conversation with her great-aunt when the volume of the music suddenly peaked, prompting everyone who wasn’t on the other side of the room, far away from the DJ’s desk and a shocked Gina who quickly drew her hands away from it, to cover their ears.

That was when she felt it. For the first time since she woke up this morning, a frown crept onto Amy’s face. Something wasn’t right. She had a weird feeling in her gut, one that felt hauntingly similar to the tight strings pulling on her heart and tightening her chest and stomach that she usually associated with danger – more precisely, Jake and danger. She’d felt it when Geoffrey Hoytsman had abducted him, when he and Charles were trapped in that store during a robbery at Christmas, when he’d gotten that phone call from Figgis that sent him away from her for months, and of course at the horrible sound of that one little word – guilty.

Amy scanned the room for Jake but came up short. Her muscles just wouldn’t relax, and her heart was beating so hard she was sure it was visible, as if she were in a cartoon and–

She didn’t see Milton Boyle pull Gina away from the DJ, didn’t notice the music return to an agreeable volume, didn’t hear her great-aunt try to continue their conversation. She only saw Rosa. Her frown matched Amy’s as she warily eyed a door on the side. Amy ignored her great-aunt and made a bee-line for Rosa who was aiming for the door.

“Rosa, have you seen Jake?”

“I think he went outside, like, ten minutes ago.” She lowered her voice, frown deepening. “I think I just heard a gun go off.”

Amy’s heart jumped into her throat. Her gut twisted even more.

Rosa saw her paling. “Either that, or your husband’s playing with firecrackers outside. It’s probably that. Nothing to worry about.”

Amy nodded reluctantly. No need to panic. Everything was fine. This was her wedding day, the best day of her life. The only thing that could go wrong on this day, other than Gina messing with the music, was her husband (she loved the sound of that) destroying his suit and other people’s cars with firecrackers. Knowing him, he was probably planning something. Something involving firecrackers, and presumably fireworks and ridiculous music. He wasn’t in a fight with Figgis or Hawkins, that was impossible, no matter what her mind came up with.

Nevertheless, her weird gut feeling didn’t go away. So, just to prove to herself that everything was indeed fine, she opened the door and rushed through the small hall toward another door that led to the parking lot behind the venue, Rosa following her.

The rain had gone over into a drizzle. With half a mind not to ruin her dress and hair, Amy stopped in the doorway, the hand that had opened the door falling to her side.

The first thing she saw was cars, cars upon cars. Not far to her left, Jake stood with his back to her and Rosa who appeared only a second later. Amy didn’t see a fire or broken glass anywhere, and she heard no car alarm. Whatever Jake was doing out here, whatever Rosa had heard, it was fine. No matter what her gut told her.

“Jake?”

At first, he didn’t react. Just when Amy thought he hadn’t heard her, he spoke, murmuring something about the rain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rosa take a step forward, half into the drizzle that was now rapidly transitioning into a steady pour.

“What the hell are you doing, Peralta?” Rosa shouted over the rain. “It’s raining like crazy, come inside!”

Jake seemed to shake off whatever trance he’d been in and slowly turned around.

First, she noticed his dull eyes and pale face that suddenly turned into a grimace, as if he just now realized something. Then, as his eyes trailed down his body, hers followed him, stopping at a red stain on his white shirt, right where the buttons of his jacket had opened. The red stain kept growing, however, and Jake’s eyes widened slightly, as if surprised by what he was seeing.

Then he collapsed.

Amy couldn’t tell who screamed. If it was Rosa with a loud curse, or if it was her who forgot about the rain and stumbled to his side, dropping to the ground, no thoughts wasted on her white dress getting dirt all over it.

She pressed her hand on the ever-growing blood stain on his stomach. His eyes fluttered closed, losing their struggle to stay opened.

“Jake! Jake, open your eyes!” Amy raised one hand, now covered in blood, to his face. “Don’t you dare close your eyes, Peralta! Look at me!” Her voice cracked over the last words and she pressed her thumb down on his cheek, unbeknownst to the tears trailing down her own face. She didn’t hear Rosa call 911, didn’t register the rain soaking her dress, or her hair falling into her face.

Her hand left his face, grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Please, Jake… Don’t do this to me! Open your eyes, talk to me, please stay with me!” The blood was now covering half his shirt. Some of it was on her dress; if it came from her hand or was soaking in from his wound, she didn’t know.

She was sobbing now, panicking, screaming his name, begging him to open his eyes. And then he did.

His eyelids fluttered open halfway, locking with hers. Amy felt a light squeeze on her hand. Then it went limp and his eyes closed again, head lolling to the side.

In the stories, this would have been the moment the dying character wanted to see his loved ones one more time before… No. This wasn’t the stories. This was real life, this was her and Jake’s wedding day, they just got married, despite everything their lives kept throwing at them, and maybe even because of that. They were one. And she wasn’t going to lose her other half, not now, not ever.

The next sob got stuck in her throat. Her mouth opened and shut, as if to keep screaming, but no sound came out. She was still squeezing his hand, waiting for him to squeeze back again, but it remained slack.

Someone tried to pull her away from him. She struggled against it, not ready to leave his side, never ready to do that. Several pairs of strong hands grabbed her and, against her kicking and screaming, moved her under a canopy from where she watched two paramedics stretcher Jake off into an ambulance, out of her sight.

Amy was floating. But not between clouds. She was floating in brackish water, the stream pulling her down, down. A wet grave. The eagle wasn’t soaring anymore. It had been shot. Had plummeted through the clouds, like a stone. Fast, faster, until it crashed, until it hit the water, hard. She was drowning in the rain, in her tears, in her fear.

And gravity pulled her down.

We all know that main characters won’t die, especially not Jake. So I’m all in for this scenario. Btw he was attacked. It was probably some enemy from the latest storyline or a lackey or just some mugger or whatever. Anyway, they probably wrestled and when the gun went off the attacker fled the scene, and it all went very fast. It’s your imagination.

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ginaqueenetti · 7 years

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I had a dream about b99 season 5...

Where a scene took place in some new house we never seen before, it was big and had a lot of rooms. The first thing I saw was a baby boy, like 4 months old, holding a fake iPhone toy. Gina suddenly appeared, laid beside him and used her own phone too.

Later came Milton Boyle looking stressed af, he said he had to make a call and left Gina and the baby. But Gina followed close only to find him calling another woman. Somehow Milton went to jail (for cheating? Idk) and Rosa got out of jail but since all her stuff were moved out of her apartment she had to stay with Gina for a while.

They were getting along very well, Rosa had a soft spot for the baby and she kept on holding him and kissing his forehead. Gina was completely charmed.

She also told Rosa about Milton cheating and insisted on getting revenge. So they went together to visit Milton in jail, Rosa intimidated him, Gina said she wanted nothing to do with him and he should give money once a week for the baby.

At the end, in my dream, Rosa and Gina were laying on bed while watching dance moms and the baby was sleeping over Rosa's chest.

A very random dream but it was AMAZING

#dianetti #rosa x gina #gina x rosa #gina linetti #rosa diaz #ginas baby #milton boyle #b99 #brooklyn nine nine #brooklyn 99 #dream

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mrsmatthewcrawley · 7 years

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Can I just say that Gina being pregnant adds nothing to the show? Like the entire subplot of the finale could have just been her bf. But now they added a whole new thing. And Chelsea's maternity leave could have just been her on a vacation to the beach with Milton. Like unless this kid saves Jake and Rosa imma be super pissed bc Gina and Rosa belong together.

#like I'm happy for Gina but still #brooklyn nine nine #b99 spoilers #Rosa Diaz #gina linetti #dianetti #Jake Peralta #Milton Boyle #b99

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joysmercer · 4 years

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dreamt of gina dealing with both jake and rosa being sent to prison and woke up feeling irrationally sad

#and there are a lot of fics of amy during prison time #and we saw a bit of charles on the show #but gina?? pregnant/hormonal gina who always stays irritatingly calm in every scenario but whose immediate rxn was to comfort amy??#she must have been a mess #jake is like a brother to her #and rosa’s the only one in the precinct who operates at a similar wavelength #and now she’s about to have a kid and her first choices for godparents are going to be in jail for 15 years #and as much as she’d like to say she is #she’s not a cop. and there are some things she doesnt know or understand. and she must have been scared out of her mind.#oh my god #imagine her going w amy to tell karen where her son is #and telling her own mom (bc jake was like a son to her too)#and trying to track down pimento bc how DARE this man just disappear #she cant bring herself to visit them in prison (& eventually dhe’s put on bed rest)#and like milton gets it but he also doesnt bc he doesnt know rosa like gina does and all he knows about jake is from boyle so he doesnt #understand why ginas all worried about how they’ll cope #bc ones the scariest person on the planet and the other is the greatest cop in the nypd right??#brooklyn nine nine #myposts #my writing

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sarcasmcloud · 7 years

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“Oh, they’re dancing now.” - Brooklyn Nine-Nine s04e21

#b99 #brooklyn nine nine #gina linetti #ryan phillippe #dancing #milton boyle the dweeb #awww #spoilers #421

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pandaemoniumpancakes · 2 years

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Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep: All these with ceaseless praise his works behold Both day and night: how often from the steep Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard Celestial voices to the midnight air, Sole, or responsive each to other’s note Singing their great Creator: oft in bands While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk With Heav’nly touch of instrumental sounds In full harmonic number joined, their songs Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven. Thus talking hand in hand alone they pass'd On to thir blissful Bower; it was a place Chos'n by the sovran Planter, when he fram'd All things to mans delightful use; the roofe Of thickest covert was inwoven shade Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side Acanthus, and each odorous bushie shrub Fenc'd up the verdant wall; each beauteous flour, Iris all hues, Roses, and Gessamin Rear'd high thir flourisht heads between, and wrought Mosaic; underfoot the Violet, Crocus, and Hyacinth with rich inlay Broiderd the ground, more colour'd then with stone Of costliest Emblem: other Creature here Beast, Bird, Insect, or Worm durst enter none; Such was thir awe of Man. In shadie Bower More sacred and sequesterd, though but feignd, Pan or Silvanus never slept, nor Nymph, Nor Faunus haunted. Here in close recess With Flowers, Garlands, and sweet-smelling Herbs Espoused Eve deckt first her Nuptial Bed, And heav'nlyly Quires the Hymenæan sung, What day the genial Angel to our Sire Brought her in naked beauty more adorn'd More lovely then Pandora, whom the Gods Endowd with all thir gifts, and O too like In sad event, when to the unwiser Son Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnar'd Mankind with her faire looks, to be aveng'd On him who had stole Joves authentic fire. Thus at thir shadie Lodge arriv'd, both stood Both turnd, and under op'n Skie ador'd The God that made both Skie, Air, Earth and Heav'n Which they beheld, the Moons resplendent Globe And starrie Pole

John Milton, from Book IV in Paradise Lost, lines 684-724.

line 688. divide the night: into watches. Roman armies sounded a trumpet when changing the watch; angelic guards do it to multipart music (”full harmonic number”).

line 690. blissfull bower: cf. Spenser’s account of the bower within the Garden of Adonis where Venus sequesters the mortally wounded Adonis from “stygian gods” (FQ III.6.43–49).

❧

“But wondrously they were begot, and bred Through influence of th'heauens fruitfull ray, As it in antique bookes is mentioned. It was vpon a Sommers shynie day, When Titan faire his beames did display, In a fresh fountaine, farre from all mens vew, She bath'd her brest, the boyling heat t'allay; She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew, And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew.

Till faint through irkesome wearinesse, adowne Vpon the grassie ground her selfe she layd To sleepe, the whiles a gentle slombring swowne Vpon her fell all naked bare displayd; The sunne-beames bright vpon her body playd, Being through former bathing mollifide, And pierst into her wombe, where they embayd With so sweet sence and secret power vnspide, That in her pregnant flesh they shortly fructifide.”

(Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene, Book III.6.6-7)

❧

“There wont faire Venus often to enioy Her deare Adonis ioyous company, And reape sweet pleasure of the wanton boy; There yet, some say, in secret he does ly, Lapped in flowres and pretious spycery, By her hid from the world, and from the skill Of Stygian Gods, which doe her loue enuy; But she her selfe, when euer that she will, Possesseth him, and of his sweetnesse takes her fill.”

(Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene, Book III.6.46)

❧

hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras, “on that, under the towering rock, the woodman’s song shall fill the air” [canet ad auras—cf. “Celestial voices to the midnight air”]

(Vergil, Eclogues I.57, trans. H. R. Fairclough and G. P. Goold)

❧

“Such places the neighbours imagine to be haunted by goatfoot satyrs and nymphs, and they say there are fauns, by whose night-wandering noise and jocund play they commonly declare the voiceless silence to be broken, with the sound of strings and sweet plaintive notes, which the pipe sends forth touched by the player’s fingers; they tell how the farmers’ men all over the countryside listen, while Pan, shaking the pine leaves that cover his half-human head, often runs over the open reeds with curved lips, that the panpipes may never slacken in their flood of woodland music.”

(Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.580-89)

Haec loca capripedes satyros nymphasque tenere/ finitimi fingunt, et faunos esse loquuntur,/ quorum noctivago strepitu ludoque iocanti/ adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi,/ chordarumque sonos fieri dulcisque querellas,/ tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum,/ et genus agricolum late sentiscere, quom Pan,/ pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans,/ unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hiantis,/ fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam.

#john milton #milton #paradise lost #vergil #lucretius #spenser #faerie queene

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sexycraisinthanos · 2 years

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Getting my friend to watch Brooklyn Nine Nine and I’m at the episode where they find out Gina is pregnant and when Milton Boyle came on screen he audibly gasped and went “oh damn”

#b99

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bobmccullochny · 1 year

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History

January 25, 1533 - King Henry VIII married his second wife, Anne Boleyn, in defiance of Pope Clement who had refused to annul his first marriage. The King later broke all ties with Rome and became Supreme Head of the Church of England.

January 25, 1579 - Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Friesland, Groningen and Overyssel formed the (Protestant) Dutch Republic with the signing of the Union of Utrecht to defend their rights against Catholic Spain.

January 25, 1947 - Gangster Al Capone, who once controlled organized crime in Chicago, died in Miami at age 48 from syphilis.

January 25, 1959 - An American Airlines Boeing 707 made the first scheduled transcontinental U.S. flight, traveling from California to New York.

January 25, 1961 - President John F. Kennedy conducted the first live televised presidential news conference, five days after taking office.

January 25, 1971 - In Uganda, a military coup led by Idi Amin deposed President Milton Obote. Amin then ruled as president-dictator until 1979 when he was ousted by Tanzanian soldiers and Ugandan nationalists. During his reign, Amin expelled all Asians from Uganda, and ordered the execution of more than 300,000 tribal Ugandans.

Birthday - Scientist Robert Boyle (1627-1691) was born in Lismore, Ireland. He formulated Boyle's Law concerning the volume and pressure of gases.

#Todays Smile

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rapeculturerealities · 3 years

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The woman wanted help.

In a call late one night in September 2016, she told a 911 dispatcher that her husband — a Boston Police Department captain — was “extremely emotionally and verbally abusive” and refused to leave their West Roxbury home. What’s more, she said, her husband had abused her in the past, according to police dispatch records obtained by the Globe.

The officers who arrived that night — all of whom worked under her husband’s command — took his gun and removed him from the home without arrest. The department’s spokesman recently called it a verbal dispute, not a crime. Despite a Boston police policy requiring a domestic violence unit supervisor be on-scene, no one from that unit ever showed up.

A week after the incident, the veteran police captain was quietly reassigned, tasked with leading another major BPD district. The domestic violence unit would find no fault or no issues, and no internal affairs investigation would take place.

As for the allegation that the captain had previously been abusive? Internal affairs never launched an investigation.

This case, just one of many reviewed by the Globe, highlights what many criminal justice experts and domestic violence advocates say is the haphazard — and historically lax — response by law enforcement to the longstanding issue of domestic violence within the policing ranks, where abuse is vastly underreported, experts say, and often overlooked by those in power.

“Most departments,” said Lou Reiter, a policing consultant and former deputy police chief with the Los Angeles Police Department, “want to just shut their eyes and cover their ears.”

Even as Massachusetts’ largest law enforcement agencies tout “zero-tolerance” for domestic abuse among their own, a Globe review raises questions about how officers here are investigated and how diligently policies are enforced.

Of the dozens of State Police and Boston police officers who have been investigated over the past decade for domestic-abuse-related offenses, more than half have gone entirely undisciplined, records show — while some have remained on the job despite multiple allegations against them.

At least twice, women officers with the Boston police have complained that the department didn’t take seriously their allegations of abuse against their husbands — also BPD officers. And while the department and Mayor Martin J. Walsh have praised recent proposed reforms, a department spokesman now says it’s unclear if one of those key initiatives will be implemented — reclassifying domestic violence claims against officers so they are treated as possible cases of excessive force.

The issue has taken on added urgency in the wake of a pair of high-profile, domestic violence controversies that have engulfed the two of the state’s largest departments.

Last month, newly appointed Boston Police Commissioner Dennis White was abruptly placed on paid leave after details surfaced of a 1999 allegation that he had pushed and threatened to shoot his then-wife, who is also an officer. Just four days earlier, a veteran State Police supervisor, Sergeant Bryan Erickson, was jailed in New Hampshire, accused of choking and headbutting a woman — as well as leading police on a high-speed chase from the scene.

Those cases stand out because of the prominence of the officers involved, but there are many more allegations of similar kind.

Since 2010, the BPD’s internal affairs unit has investigated at least 68 cases of alleged domestic violence against officers, according to figures provided by the department. Of those, just 22 — or less than a third — have been sustained by internal investigators, with nine cases currently pending.

Only two Boston police officers have been fired for domestic-violence-related offenses in the last decade, and one of those was later reinstated through the Civil Service Commission.

Sergeant Detective John Boyle, a department spokesman, declined to provide the names of officers investigated — or disciplined — as alleged perpetrators of domestic violence. Boyle cited a state law that protects the privacy of domestic violence victims.

Boyle was responding to a Globe review of internal affairs records, court filings, and past media reports that found that a variety of officers who have faced serious accusations remain on the force today.

Among them:

♦ Captain Timothy Connolly, who in 2019 was arrested and charged with two counts of assault and battery of a household member after his wife, an attorney, said he’d repeatedly pushed her and hit her once across the back of the head as she packed to leave their Milton home.

Charges were dropped last year when she declined to appear in court. Connolly is currently on full duty; an internal investigation is pending.

♦ Officer Ramon Kelly-Chalas, the focus of a June 2010 call from a woman who was found “crying and hysterical” outside her West Roxbury home, according to a police report. She told officers that when she’d declined Kelly-Chalas’s repeated sexual advances, he “pulled out a large kitchen knife above his head and stated she would be bloody if she didn’t sleep with him.”

Kelly-Chalas denied threatening her, telling police he was “just fooling around.” He later admitted to some of the facts in the case, though criminal charges were eventually dismissed. He remains on the force.

♦ Detective Windell Josey, who while working in the BPD’s domestic violence unit in 2008, was arrested and charged with assaulting his girlfriend at his Randolph home. Though criminal charges were eventually dismissed, an internal charge of unreasonable judgment was sustained, a department spokesman said. Josey received a one-day suspension. In 2019, he was among the city’s highest-paid employees, taking home $325,187.

Through Boyle, the department spokesman, all three officers declined to comment.

In a statement, Boyle said the department takes seriously any instance of domestic violence, and that its first priority is ensuring victim safety.

“Our rules and regulations make clear that no person is exempt, whatever his or her occupation, from the consequences of their actions that result in a violation of our code of conduct,” he said.

That commitment to victim safety, however, has been called into question by two women officers.

In 1999, the then-wife of BPD Commissioner White — also an officer with the BPD — said in an interview with a department investigator that she felt “the department was not taking her seriously,” according to an internal report.

White denied the woman’s claims and was not charged criminally. He is currently on leave as an independent investigation, spurred by Globe questions about his past, plays out. His former wife, who is still on the force, has declined to comment.

Those concerns were echoed a decade later, when a former BPD officer who’d left the department two years earlier alleged that then-BPD officer Leonard Brown, had been allowed to repeatedly violate a restraining order she’d taken out against him.

When she sought assistance from a department captain, she recalled in court filings, she was told to be sure she always carried her gun. She said the department showed little concern for her situation.

State Police, too, have routinely found themselves investigating allegations of abuse among their own.

At least 35 State Police employees — ranging in rank from trooper to lieutenant — were investigated for domestic-abuse-related offenses between 2010 and the spring of 2020, according to records obtained by the Globe through public records requests. Roughly half of those troopers had findings sustained, meaning investigators found sufficient evidence to prove at least one of the allegations against them.

At least two current troopers — George Driscoll and John Hanna — have faced multiple domestic-violence-related investigations in the past decade. Supervisors found fault in at least one case for each man; Driscoll’s discipline is pending, according to the agency, while Hanna was suspended 45 days without pay. Details on their cases remain unclear and are not outlined in the records obtained by the Globe.

State Police spokesman David Procopio responded to only some Globe questions, and declined a request for an interview with someone in State Police leadership.

“We have no tolerance for domestic violence and thoroughly investigate any allegation of such conduct by Department personnel,” Procopio said in a statement. “Protecting and serving victims and survivors of domestic violence is a priority and an integral part of our mission, and our policies reflect this steadfast commitment.”

The true scope of domestic violence within the larger world of policing remains difficult to gauge, experts say, muddled by vague police policies, inconsistent record-keeping, and a lack of transparency within agencies. What few studies do exist suggest those in law enforcement are as much as four times more likely than members of the general public to become violent with an intimate partner.

Police possess a skill set that can make them “particularly good abusers,” said Leigh Goodmark, director of the Gender Violence Clinic at Maryland Carey School of Law.

Officers are taught how to command, control, restrain, and track people. Their badge grants them credibility and unique access to the criminal justice system, where they have relationships with prosecutors, judges, and social workers — as well as their fellow officers. That stature and implicit power can frighten victims into silence.

“They’re terrified” of calling the police, said Philip Stinson, a former officer and current criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. “Because it’ll be his buddies that come out.”

As national views on domestic violence have evolved, some departments have taken steps to address the issue within their ranks.

Boston Police, for instance, adopted a nine-page policy in 2006 requiring any officer accused of domestic violence or facing a restraining order to immediately turn over his or her department-issued firearm, as well as any personal firearms as required by law. The officer’s district or unit commander is charged with ensuring those weapons are collected.

Asked to review the policy, Reiter, whose work includes helping agencies craft their own domestic violence policies, described it as, on paper, stronger than most.

How diligently it is enforced, however, remains unclear.

In 2016, a woman obtained a restraining order against Cesar Abreu, a Boston officer with a lengthy record of misconduct, after she said he hit her in the face during an argument and drove past her workplace, violating previous verbal orders from two judges to stay away from her.

“He carries a gun with him at all times, even when he is off duty,” the woman wrote in a petition for the protective order. “I am afraid he will get into one of his angry moods [and use] it against me.”

In April of 2017 — long after department policy dictated that Abreu’s personal and professional firearms should have been confiscated — department officials conducting a scheduled audit of station lockers discovered a Ruger 9mm handgun, 29 rounds of ammunition, and two magazines inside Abreu’s locker, according to court documents. Police officials resealed the locker and continued with the audit, Abreu’s attorney noted in court records, before a lieutenant assisting with the search “suddenly remembered” that Abreu was the subject of an active restraining order.

Abreu’s attorney, Peter Pasciucco, said that before the restraining order was issued, Abreu’s father had asked his son to remove the gun — which belonged to the father — from the father’s home. Abreu then put it in his department locker.

Internal charges tied to several misconduct allegations, including this one, were brought and sustained, and he served a five-day suspension. Abreu was also charged criminally with violating a restraining order, though charges were later dropped after his attorney successfully argued that the search of his locker was unlawful because there was no warrant obtained. Abreu, who has faced at least nine internal investigations since 2010, remains an officer in the department today.

Reforms sparked by last summer’s nationwide protests over police brutality have aimed to bring greater scrutiny to police misconduct.

A state police accountability bill signed by Governor Charlie Baker in December, for instance, gave a civilian-led panel the power to investigate alleged misconduct and revoke officer certification for certain violations. And in Boston, Mayor Walsh announced late last year that he was accepting all of the recommendations put forth by an 11-member task force that had examined the culture and policies of the Boston Police Department.

Among those recommendations: that acts of domestic violence by BPD employees be classified as the use of excessive force.

Task force member Jamarhl Crawford, who pushed for the recommendation, said it would ensure instances of domestic violence go on an officer’s personnel record, better allowing the department to track problem officers. The task force called for the reform to be in place within 90 days, or by mid-January.

But in an interview recently, Boyle, the department spokesman, said that change hadn’t been implemented — and couldn’t say whether it would be. Boyle said the department was currently reviewing both the task force recommendations and state police reform legislation to determine if that change, and others, are feasible.

Regardless, some experts said, even the most stringent policies mean little without a culture in which cases of domestic abuse by police are taken seriously.

“From the highest levels, people have to think that these cases are important, they have to be intolerant of abuse,” said former prosecutor Jennifer Long, chief executive officer of AEquitas, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit working to improve the handling of cases of sexual and domestic violence, stalking, and human trafficking.

“When reports are made of abuse they have to commit to investigations to ensure the truth is uncovered and abuse isn’t tolerated.”

#police #domestic violence #intimate partner violence #victim blaming

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