Back in June 2020, when the Cambridge City Council unanimously decided to create an “alternative public health response” to traditional policing, it was seen as a bold move to rethink how the city handles public safety.
After then-City Manager Louis A. De Pasquale set up a task force to figure out how to put this plan into action, the idea for the Cambridge Community Safety Department came about. Then in 2023, they launched the department’s Community Assistance Response and Engagement Team (CARE): a group made up of unarmed social workers and mental health professionals trained specifically to calm situations without police carrying weapons.
By July 2024, CARE had responded to its first emergency call through 911.
“We are really so grateful to have the opportunity to be on these calls,” CSD director Elizabeth Speakman told us in a July 2024 interview. “We’ve already just seen the impact of having a different response that has a little bit more time, a little bit more capacity, and a little bit more of that expertise around mental health assessment.”
But just as CARE got started, another alternative team emerged – one created by the Cambridge Police Department itself.
The police department actually began working on its own co-response program back in late 2022 – nearly a year before CARE publicly announced its staff. This co-response team pairs armed officers with licensed mental health clinicians and responds together to many of the same types of mental health calls as CARE.
CSD staff only learned about these formal plans weeks before co-response launched, multiple insiders confirmed. Since then, officials have wrestled with how two similar teams can exist side-by-side when their work overlaps so much.
“They’re these two organizations who are focused on similar work have been pitted against each other by these two ends of the political spectrum – one which is calling for less policing, and one who’s calling for more policing, or at least a continuous of the status quo,” said Niko Emack, consultant for CSD, during an April interview.
City data and emails obtained by The Crimson through public records requests – plus meeting notes and correspondence we got separately – show how this overlap has stirred tension between departments.
And from talking with nearly a dozen current and former city officials, councilors, employees, and people linked with both CSD and CPD, it’s clear their relationship has been rocky since day one.
The police-backed co-response team has access to CPD’s $81 million budget plus established clinical resources. They’re now handling calls that CARE could also take on. Staff from CARE say they don’t have much room left to grow or compete because of this imbalance.
City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 acknowledged this conflict in a statement Thursday afternoon. “I believe there is a role for Police Co-Response, in addition to Community Safety,” he wrote. “Though I recognize that there is a need to better clarify some potential areas of overlap.”
‘Running Like A Startup’
The policy push in 2020 sparked efforts that eventually created CSD-but it took over four years before CARE was answering 911 calls. Meanwhile, CPD quietly built their own program during that time.
A 2021 Public Safety Task Force report recommended creating “Cambridge Department of Community Safety” with primary responsibility for certain kinds of emergency calls involving mental health crises, homelessness issues, crisis counseling needs or nonviolent drug incidents.
The city named Elizabeth Speakman head of CSD in February 2023. By September she’d grown CARE into five responders readying themselves for spring 2024 dispatches.
“With any new organization there will be growing pains and lots you learn along the way,” said Emack. “In many ways Community Safety is running like a startup.”
At almost the same time but under-the-radar though, the police were busy shaping their co-response team too-CPD began talks about it back in November 2022 according to Superintendent Frederick Cabral.
The department didn’t announce it right away though; early public hints only showed up in February 2024 within a nonprofit report from Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) after last year’s police shooting incident involving Sayed Faisal recommended considering such systems for some mental-health calls.
A note added days after PERF’s final version admitted report writers later found out CPD had started piloting co-response as early as January 2024.
Lately James Barrett who directs CPD’s Clinical Support Unit explained via email that police were planning co-response at least since January last year too.”
‘Holding Back The Growth Of CSD’
BOTH TEAMS officially answered emergency calls starting summer 2024 but despite responding often side-by-side-one armed squad alongside unarmed specialists-they rarely coordinated closely.
Crew from several departments met frequently before launches: folks from CSD , CPD , Emergency Communications , Fire Department , and unions representing cops & dispatchers.
“The goal here was coordination,” said Superintendent Cabral but even during months reviewing CARE prior launch , co-response came up hardly ever across meetings per internal notes gotten by The Crimson.
Earliest joint mention between CSD & CPD happened March14th ’24 – three months pre-CARE launch according meeting minutes.
CSD folks say they were blindsided by cops launching their project ; two insiders asked not named confirmed.<
CSD only got full details weeks before August launch per internal emails obtained here.
City spokesperson Jeremy H. Warnick added CPD shared internal notice with CSD July ’24 ahead start-of-August go-live.
But public announcement went out Nov ’24 without prior heads-up given per documents viewed through records request.<
“Did Community Safety get wind about announcement? Expect questions on how co-responses mix/supplement each other,” Warnick emailed former CPD spokesperson Robert Goulston soon after alert sent.<
“Probably shoulda sent CM’s alert list we do for news events,” Goulston replied referencing City Manager’s email list.<
This quiet rollout led Emack calling CPD involvement “conflict of interest” negotiating call responses surrounding CARE.”
“Community Safety can’t expand without blessing – if you wanna call it that – from cops,” he explained.<
“You’ve got conflict cause they’re growing doing similar stuff while also stunting growth elsewhere,” he added.<
‘Hurting The Work Of Community Safety’
Tensions over overlapping missions between teams have been voiced inside city halls long ago.
Councilor Patty Nolan ’80 raised alarm December emailing City Manager Huang after seeing video from CPD showcasing co-response where social worker wore bulletproof vest alongside cop uniformed officer.
“I was distressed.. no mention at all about CARE or resources people can reach out regarding mental health,” Nolan wrote.”Showing only bulletproof vests & social worker with officer goes against all we’ve done ensuring some calls send directly care instead cops.”
Nolan asked city ask police dept collaborate better addressing community’s needs re mental health/emergency calls.
Huang replied acknowledging “underlying tension” between groups due partly “commitment doing this well” tied PD’s clinical support efforts hinting at challenges internally
<Care handles specific types like needle pickups wellness checks nonviolent MH emergencies; Co-response unit within PD can respond any cop call.
Around Aug-Dec ‘24 roughly ten percent outta nearly191 partially redacted dispatches handled by cops fit criteria Care handles says data reviewed here.
>”Hope cops fully support… rollout slow tho,” Nolan told us.”Many emergencies missing going Care oughta be.”
Emack noted Cambridge’s broad network requires compromise balancing roles giving space allowing trial/errors growth freedom needed at times.”
>Spoekperson Warnick stressed city’s commitment supporting both programs:”Priority helping most vulnerable folks – ways differ depending situations safe approach best suited.”
<Tufts prof Samuel Gebru who helped kickstart original steering committee doesn’t think police mean harm but agrees overlaps hurt community safety effort stating:"Whether PD means harm or not …they're undermining work community safety does."
<For some close allies fundraising fears rise: If both try coexist esp expanding there's worry money divided causing friction says Emack.
>Cops plan expanding too: Cabral & Barrett hopeful run operations sixteen hours/day five days/week eventually.”
Warnick defended dual presence:”Having different specialized skilled teams helps improve outreach serving our most vulnerable citizens better overall,” he concluded. -Staff writer Matan H. Josephy reachable [email protected]. Follow X @matanjosephy. -Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart contact [email protected]. Follow X @laurelmshugart.
Source link
