Police Non-Profit Retracts Arlington Lieutenant's Columns

ARLINGTON, MA – The suspensions are mounting for an Arlington police lieutenant who wrote a series of controversial columns, including one in which he called for meeting "violence with violence." A day after the Arlington Police Department announced it had placed Lt. Richard Pedrini on paid administrative leave, the Massachusetts Police Association posted a statement to its website saying it has suspended Pedrini, who serves on the executive board and published his writings in the non-profit's newsletter.

Pedrini is a veteran police officer who has been a "strong advocate for the law enforcement community" throughout his career, according to the MPA. But the organization added that Pedrini's latest columns do not reflect its values and retracted them.

The writings, originally published in an issue of The Sentinel newsletter honoring slain Massachusetts officers Sgt. Sean Gannon of the Yarmouth Police Department and Sgt. Michael Chesna of the Weymouth Police Department, took aim at criminal justice reform, elected officials and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

"I am sick and tired of the social justice warriors telling us how to do our jobs," he wrote in one column. "It's time we forget about 'restraint', 'measured responses', 'procedural justice', 'de-escalation', 'stigma-reduction', and other feel-good BS that is getting our officers killed. Let's stop lipsynching, please! Let's meet violence with violence and get the job done."

Pedrini told WBUR his columns were intended to be "tongue-in-cheek political satire" for MPA members and "not meant to be taken word for word." But Arlington officials didn't see it that way, relieving the longtime officer of his duties.

State Sen. Cindy Friedman, who represents Arlington, said the department made the right call suspending Pedrini.

"Such inflammatory rhetoric and behavior has absolutely no place in our police force or our community," she said in a statement Wednesday.

Previously: Arlington Police Lt: Cops Should Meet 'Violence With Violence'

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