In a training session Monday, officers in the Boston area studied lessons to be learned from the Holocaust and the role law enforcement played.

The training, created in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, examines how police were used to legitimize and enforce Nazi policies.

The program, called “What You Do Matters,” provides information about how Adolf Hitler rose to power and how his regime exploited people’s fears.

Todd Larson and Timothy Tomczak, both former law enforcement officers, led the training.

They explained how an arson attack on the parliamentary building in Berlin, the Reichstag, in 1933 prompted a decree that suspended various constitutional protections. Tomczak described it as being akin to suspending the 1st and 4th Amendments of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution, effectively taking the reins off of law enforcement and expanding the authority of the German Reich.

The leaders listed a number of laws that followed targeting Jewish people, including a law that revoked the citizenship of naturalized Jews and other groups of people and another that limited the number of Jewish students to prevent overcrowding.

“The Nazi party ran on a crime-free platform. They wanted to remove crime from society,” said Larson during his presentation.

“Almost everything done was lawful,” said Tomczak.

The “Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” exhibit at the Castle at Park Plaza tells firsthand stories of the people who lived, worked, died and survived Auschwitz, the biggest death factory of the Holocaust.

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Their presentation included images of a Berlin police officer on patrol with a member of the SS, an officer escorting a Nazi official collecting racial data and police officers directing groups of people who were being deported.

Whether they were directly involved in the activities, or standing alongside the perpetrators, the trainers suggested the presence of their uniform could have been perceived as adding legitimacy, describing it as a representation of restoration of public order. The discussion was interactive prompting local officers to share their reflections on the subject.

“It was very emotional to see the damage that was done back in the 30s and 40s, and it makes you think of law enforcement today, why we are in the position that we are in and what we’re doing to help others,” said Mike McCartney, a Suffolk University police officer. “It’s really gratifying to see everyone coming together, working together as a group to prevent something like what happened before in the future.”

“If it was driving prisoners to wherever, or standing guard, they still played a role, and obviously, it was through intimidation,” said McCartney. “As a supervisor, I’m going to question what’s being told to me, and I would expect my officers to question me if they don’t believe something is right.”

“I think it was really helpful to the officers to see that and see what failure to provide proper ethics and the results that can happen when they don’t do the right thing,” said Chief Jim Connolly of the Suffolk University Police Department.

Connolly partnered with the Holocaust Legacy Foundation to bring the training to Boston.

“As we say, history repeats itself, so we really need to examine the past in order to connect to the present to make sure that we have a better future,” said Jody Kipnis, co-founder, CEO and president of the Holocaust Legacy Foundation. “They were doing what they thought would be great for their country, and these were not monsters, these were very educated people that were doing these things. It’s really hard to think about what humans are capable of doing to other humans.”

She said she hopes to continue offering the training and expand to other fields, such as medical professionals, politicians and teachers.

The Boston Red Sox have made some strong moves this winter, but they have still yet to flex whatever spending power they possess these days.

Trading for Garrett Crochet could be the most impactful move any team makes this winter, and the Red Sox deserve a pat on the back for that. But the fact remains that they’ve yet to commit to any free agent for more than two years, or more than $21.05 million.

There are plenty of ways to make an impact signing, and the bullpen is one area for Boston to consider. Relief pitching woes cost the Red Sox double-digit wins after the All-Star break this past season, which kept them out of the playoffs.

Tanner Scott, a 2024 All-Star who finished the season with a 1.75 ERA, is the top reliever available on the market. And because the Red Sox are still the Red Sox, and because they don’t have a clear-cut closer, shouldn’t they be expected to go hard in their pursuit of Scott?

Such is the view of The Athletic insider Jim Bowden, who installed the Red Sox as the favorites to land Scott in a free-agency predictions column on Monday.

“The Red Sox are the clear front-runners for Scott,” Bowden wrote. “Their chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, was a left-handed reliever in his playing days and seems obsessed with corralling lefty pitchers: He’s already signed three of them in free agency… and acquired two more via trades.”

“Red Sox manager Alex Cora prefers a single closer and Scott is the best one available.”

Scott, 30, has a 2.04 ERA since the start of the 2023 season, when he seemed to get some of his early-career control problems out of the way. He has struck out 188 batters in 150 innings in that time frame.

Bowden projected Scott for a four-year, $60 million contract earlier this winter. Later, it was reported that the lefty is looking for closer to $80 million, so perhaps Boston is waiting to see if the divide can be bridged.

It’s wise to look for friendly deals, but the Red Sox have done too much penny-pinching in recent years. If they think Scott is the guy to take them over the top, they have to do what it takes to get him in a Boston uniform.

More MLB: Red Sox Predicted To Land Nolan Arenado And $15M For Top Prospect In Massive Trade

A man barricaded himself in a home early Monday morning in the Hyde Park section of Boston, prompting a large response by the city’s police department, a police spokesperson has confirmed.

The incident began around 3:30 a.m. Monday at a home on Hopewell Road. Boston police said that the suspect fired a round at some point during the incident.

The man is the only person in the home, according to police.

Community members are being urged to stay away from the area as the situation remains ongoing.