[ROLL CALL]
[00:00:03]
I AM CALLING TODAY'S FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING TO ORDER.
THE CALL OF TODAY'S MEETING IS TO REVIEW AND DISCUSS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET FOR FY 27 BEFORE IT IS SUBMITTED TO THE CITY MANAGER AS REQUIRED UNDER CAMBRIDGE MUNICIPAL COACH, CHAPTER 2.7 4.040.
THE FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS IS A ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS PRESENT.
PRESENT, PRESENT, VICE ABSENT.
ABSENT, COUNCILOR SABRINA WHEELER.
YOU HAVE FIVE MEMBERS RECORDED AS PRESENT, AND FOUR RECORDED IS ABSENT.
UM, PURSUANT TO CHAPTER TWO OF THE ACTS OF 2025, ADOPTED BY MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL COURT AND APPROVED BY THE GOVERNOR, THE CITY IS AUTHORIZED TO USE REMOTE PARTICIPATION AT MEETINGS OF THE CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL AND ITS COMMITTEES.
PLEASE NOTE, THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDS THIS MEETING AND MAKES IT AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC FOR FUTURE VIEWING.
IN ADDITION, THIRD PARTIES MAY ALSO BE AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING THIS MEETING.
IN ADDITION TO HAVING MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL PARTICIPATE REMOTELY, WE HAVE SET UP ZOOM TELECONFERENCE FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.
EACH SPEAKER WILL HAVE THREE MINUTES.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENT, VISIT THE CITY COUNCIL SECTION OF THE CITY'S WEBPAGE.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOW TO SIGN UP TO SPEAK ARE POSTED THERE.
ONCE YOU'VE COMPLETED SIGNUP PROCEDURE, YOU'LL RECEIVE A LINK TO THE ZOOM MEETING.
IF YOU'RE ALSO PRESENT IN PERSON, YOU CAN SIGN UP AND PLEASE, UH, CONFER WITH, UH, NAOMI STEPHAN, WHO'S IN THE CORNER THERE TO WATCH THE MEETING.
PLEASE TUNE INTO CHANNEL 22 OR VISIT THE OPEN MEETING PORTAL ON THE CITY'S WEBSITE.
WITH THAT, ALL OF TODAY'S VOTES, IF THERE ARE ANY, WILL BE BY ROLL CALL.
SO THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE.
I SEE A BIG TEAM IN FRONT OF ME FROM, UH, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, AS HAS BEEN THE PRACTICE OF THIS COMMITTEE OVER THE LAST FOUR YEARS.
WE ARE HOLDING THIS MEETING TO DISCUSS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET BEFORE IT IS SUBMITTED TO THE CITY MANAGER, WHICH IS A REQUIREMENT OF OUR, UH, PRAB, OUR POLICE REVIEW ADVISORY BOARD ORDINANCE.
AS NOTED IN THE A CALL OF THE MEETING, 2.7, 4.040 B, THE BOARD AND THE CITY COUNCIL SHALL REVIEW THE DEPARTMENT BUDGET BEFORE TO SUBMIT IT TO THE CITY MANAGER.
THANK YOU TO COUNSELORS WHO SUBMITTED QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE.
THOSE WERE FORWARDED TO COMMISSIONER ELO AND HER TEAM SO THEY COULD BETTER PREPARE FOR TODAY'S DISCUSSION.
SO, AS PER JUST THE AGENDA AND THE ROLLOUT, UH, WE WILL GO AFTER THIS TO THE COMMISSIONER FOR OPENING REMARKS AND HER TEAM FOR A PRESENTATION.
THEN WE'LL HAVE PUBLIC COMMENT.
RIGHT NOW WE HAVE JUST ONE PERSON SIGNED UP, AND THEN WE'LL HAVE DISCUSSION, COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS FROM THE COUNCIL.
UM, I ALSO HOPE THAT THE COMMISSIONER INTRODUCES HER, HER, AT LEAST HER TEAM IN, IN FULL, IN, UH, IN, SO THAT WE KNOW WHO'S IN THE ROOM WITH US.
AND I WILL NOTE THAT PAST PRESENTATIONS, UH, DID INCLUDE A FAIRLY EXTENSIVE COMPARISON TO OTHER CITIES AND HOW IT IS THAT THE BUDGET FITS INTO OUR, UM, OUR CITY COMPARED TO SOME OF THE OTHERS, WHICH IS NOT IN THIS PRESENTATION, BUT, UH, FULLY ON RECORD FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED.
SO WITH THAT, UM, I DO HAVE SOME, UM, I DID SUBMIT SOME QUESTIONS AS WELL, BUT, UH, WE'LL JUST GO OVER THAT WHEN WE HAVE THE COMMENT SECTION.
[COMMUNICATIONS FROM OTHER CITY OFFICERS]
SO I'M TURNING IT OVER TO COMMISSIONER ILO AND OUR TEAM.UH, I WOULD LIKE TO START WITH INTRODUCTIONS.
I AM CHRISTINE ILO, AND I'M GOING TO MOVE IT OVER TO OUR DIRECTOR, ANGELA ALFRED.
I AM THE, UM, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING BUDGET AND PERSONNEL FOR THE DEPARTMENT.
I'M THE SUPERINTENDENT OF OPERATIONS AT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND ALSO JOINING US.
WE HAVE SEVERAL TEAM MEMBERS IF WE CAN STAND UP OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM, PLEASE.
YOU GUYS STAND UP AND LEAF LEADERSHIP TEAM COME UP AND JUST BRIEFLY INTRODUCE YOURSELF WITH THE MIC.
I'M JAMIE BARRETT, DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL SUPPORT.
JIM MULCAHY, DIRECTOR OF THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS UNIT AND THE TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION UNIT.
GOOD MORNING, BUCKLE AND DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT NIGHT OPERATIONS.
GOOD MORNING, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT, JOHN BOYLE, COMMANDING OFFICER, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION.
GOOD MORNING, MICHAEL LOGAN, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT NIGHT OPERATIONS.
I'M THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES SECTION, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT.
MICHAEL MADERO, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION.
AND NOW I WANNA TURN IT OVER TO ANGELA ALFRED.
UH, GOOD MORNING, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT STEVE MEES, UH, DAY OPERATIONS IN THE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT.
NOW I'D LIKE TO TURN IT OVER TO ANGELA ALFRED, WHO WOULD LIKE TO THANK SOME PEOPLE WHO HELPED US
[00:05:01]
WITH THIS PRESENTATION.AND BEFORE YOU DO THAT, I WANNA ACKNOWLEDGE THAT OUR CFO, UH, SPINNERS HERE AS WELL AS, UH, BUDGET DIRECTOR JENNINGS.
UM, LIKE COMMISSIONER ELO SAID, I DO WANNA START BY THINKING AND RECOGNIZING AND REALLY APPRECIATING EVERYONE WHO HAS HELPED US, UM, PREPARE FOR THIS PRESENTATION TODAY.
UM, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER FOR FINANCE, CLEAR SPINNER, UM, BUDGET DIRECTOR TAHA JENNINGS, PRINCIPAL BUDGET ANALYST, DANIEL LISS, LEO CAMELIA FROM THE STRATEGY TEAM AND OVER AT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
UM, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR PLANNING BUDGET AND PERSONNEL.
ELIZABETH DIAZ AND LEO ER, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT FINANCIAL ANALYST.
AND WITH THAT, I'M GONNA GO INTO SOME BRIEF OPENING REMARKS, AND THEN WE WILL DO THE BUDGET PRESENTATION.
SO I WANNA BEGIN BY TALKING BRIEFLY ABOUT HOW OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT ARRIVED AT THE MODEL THAT YOU SEE HERE TODAY WITH THE FAMILY SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION IN THE CLINICAL SUPPORT UNIT.
WHEN I FIRST BEGAN MY CAREER IN THE 1990S, IT WAS SHORTLY AFTER THE STATE HAD CLOSED A LOT OF THE MENTAL HEALTH FACILITIES.
UM, AND MANY INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS WERE OUT ON THE STREETS WITHOUT THE PROPER SUPPORT.
AT THAT TIME, THE ONLY PEOPLE CONSISTENTLY RESPONDING TO THOSE CALLS WERE THE POLICE.
IF A CRIME OCCURRED AUTOMATICALLY, WE WOULD ARREST.
IF SOMEBODY WAS A THREAT TO THEMSELVES, WE WOULD AUTOMATICALLY TAKE THEM TO THE HOSPITAL OR WE WOULD DO NOTHING.
AND WHAT WE SAW IN THE NINETIES, WE WERE JUST LOOKING AT OUR BRIDGE STAT REPORT, IS THAT VIOLENT CRIME WAS SKY HIGH.
THE COURTS WERE A REVOLVING DOOR.
WE WOULD ARREST PEOPLE FOR MENTAL ILLNESS, THEY'D COME RIGHT BACK OUT AGAIN AND AGAIN, STILL HARM OUR COMMUNITY.
AND AS A CITY, WE HAD THOUGHT, HOW DO WE APPROACH THESE SITUATIONS MORE INTENTIONALLY? AND WE BROUGHT IN SOME PARTNERS.
THE CITY MANAGER WAS INVOLVED, THE POLICE COMMISSIONER WAS INVOLVED, PUBLIC HEALTH WAS INVOLVED.
WE STARTED WITH DR. BARRETT AT THE TIME, REALIZING IF WE PARTNER WITH CLINICIANS RIGHT, WE CAN HELP BREAK THAT CYCLE.
HE WAS INITIALLY PARTNERING WITH THE DEPARTMENT FROM OUTSIDE AND REALLY OUTSIDE TO HELP GUIDE OUR CASES THROUGH THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM AND ENSURE THAT PEOPLE RECEIVE THE SUPPORTS THAT THEY NEED.
AT THE SAME TIME, OUR OUTREACH OFFICERS WHO ARE OUT THERE NOW BEGAN ENGAGING INDIVIDUALS IN THE COMMUNITY WHO WE WERE REPEATEDLY ENCOUNTERING.
THE GOAL WAS SIMPLE, INTERVENE EARLY, CONNECT PEOPLE TO SERVICES AND PREVENT SITUATIONS FROM ESCALATING INTO CRISIS.
THESE COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS GREW OVER TIME.
AND EVENTUALLY IN 2018, YOU'LL SEE THIS IN ONE OF THE SLIDES THAT WE HAVE.
IT, UH, CREATED THE, THE FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION.
AND WE ADDED DR. BARRETT AS A PERMANENT MEMBER IN 2018, UH, WITH THE CLINICAL SUPPORT UNIT AND OUR EMBEDDED SOCIAL WORKERS.
WERE WORKING ACTIVELY WITH OUR OFFICERS ON THE STREET.
HOW DO WE GUIDE THESE SYSTEMS? HOW DO WE GUIDE THESE CASES THROUGH THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM AND AGAIN, GET THE, THE PEOPLE THE SUPPORT THAT THEY NEED.
AND WHEN DR. BARRETT CAME ON BOARD AND WE WERE KIND OF HANDLING THINGS THROUGH THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM INTENTIONALLY WITH OUR SOCIAL WORKERS, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT CAME UP, IT'S LIKE, WHAT IF WE ADDED A SOCIAL WORKER? HOW WOULD A SOCIAL WORKER RESPOND TO THIS IF THEY'RE RESPONDING WITH THE POLICE? AND WE'RE TALKING ONLY ABOUT CALLS THAT THE POLICE CAN GO TO, THEY INVOLVE A CRIME, THEY INVOLVE SOME SORT OF A SAFETY ISSUE.
WHAT IF WE PARTNERED WITH HAVING, AND IT WAS OUR CO RESPONSE.
WE, EVERY MODEL, IF YOU LOOK ACROSS THE COUNTRY, THEY ALL LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT THE CAMBRIDGE MODEL.
WE INTEGRATED SOCIAL WORKERS INTERNALLY, AND THEN WE WANTED TO ADD 'EM TO THE CALLS FOR SERVICE.
AND LET ME TELL YOU, WHEN WE ADDED OUR CO RESPONSE, AN OFFICER WOULD GO TO A CALL WHERE THERE WAS AN ACUTE CRISIS.
THEY WERE SAYING, AND THIS IS NOT A CALL THAT YOU COULD SEND CARE TO, WE NEED A SOCIAL WORKER.
AND THAT'S WHERE CO RESPONSE CAME IN TO GO INTO THOSE CALLS, HELP DIFFUSE AND KEEP PEOPLE STABILIZED IN THEIR HOME.
SO ADDING THE CLINICAL SUPPORT, ADDING THE CO RESPONSE HELPED US DIVOR, DIVERT EVEN MORE PEOPLE FROM THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM AND FROM THE HOSPITALS.
WITH OUR CO RESPONSE MODEL, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STABILIZE PEOPLE IN THEIR HOME.
AND SO I JUST REALLY WANTED TO THOUGHT, I REALLY WANT TO, UM, HIGHLIGHT THAT.
I ALSO WANNA EMPHASIZE THAT THE WORK THAT WE'RE DOING IS COLLABORATIVE.
OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CARE TEAM IS VERY STRONG.
WE REFER CASES TO CARE ALL THE TIME.
WHEN A POLICE, UM, UH, A POLICE RESPONSE IS NOT NEEDED, CARELY ALSO REFERS CASES TO THE POLICE.
WHEN THERE IS A SAFETY CONCERN, WE WORK COLLABORATIVELY AND COORDINATE, UM, TOGETHER AT EVERY LEVEL.
THE WORK THAT WE DO TODAY REFLECTS MORE THAN 30 YEARS OF LEARNING AND EVOLUTION.
CLINICAL SUPPORT IS NOT, IS NO LONGER SOMETHING THAT WE'D LIKE TO HAVE.
IT HAS BECOME AN ESSENTIAL PART OF HOW WE SAFELY RESPOND TO SOME OF THE MOST COMPLEX CASES IN OUR COMMUNITY.
SO WITH THAT CONTEXT, I'M GONNA START NOW AND INTRODUCE YOU TO OUR 2027 BUDGET.
[00:10:03]
ACTUALLY, BEFORE YOU GO, UH, I NOTE THAT COUNCILOR FLAHERTY HAS JOINED THE MEETING.DO YOU WANNA COUNCILOR FLAHERTY PRESENT? OKAY.
AND WITH THAT, I'M GONNA TURN IT OVER TO DIRECTOR ALFRED.
SO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET OVER THE COURSE OF 10 YEARS FROM FY 16 TO FFY 26 HAS HAD A MODEST GROWTH OF 57% COMPARED TO THE OVERALL CITY BUDGET GROWTH OF 87%.
THE POLICE BUDGET SHARE OF THE CITY BUDGET AND FY 16 WAS 6.7%.
AND AN FY 26, THAT DID DECREASE TO 5.6% OF THE OVERALL BUDGET.
UM, DURING THIS PERIOD OF 10 YEARS, MANY DEPARTMENT BUDGETS HAVE GROWN FASTER THAN BOTH THE CITY'S OVERALL BUDGET.
AND, UM, THE POLICE BUDGET EXAMPLES IS ILLUSTRATED HERE ON THIS SLIDE WILL SHOW YOU THAT THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT BUDGET GREW, GREW BY 71% FROM FY 16 TO FY 26.
UM, DHSP GREW 144% FROM FY 16 TO FY 26.
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE EARLY CHILDHOOD INITIATIVE THAT WAS ROLLED OUT, UM, THE LAST COUPLE YEARS.
AND, UM, CDD HOUSING DEPARTMENT AND THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY, UM, FROM FFY 16TH FY 26 DID GROW BY 592%.
AND WE ALSO ARE TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THAT THERE WAS AN ACCOUNTING CHANGE TO FUND THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FROM CAPITAL TO OPERATING.
THE POLICE FY 27 PROPOSED BUDGET IS $57.4 MILLION, WHICH IS APPROXIMATELY $1.5 MILLION OR 2.7% INCREASE OVER THE FY 26 BUDGET.
HERE ON THE SLIDE, THE BUDGET IS BROKEN OUT BY STATUTORY CATEGORIES WITH SALARY AND WAGES MAKING UP 91% OF THE OVERALL BUDGET.
AND, UM, AND THAT SALARY AND WAGE STATUTORY CATEGORY IS ALSO DICTATED A LOT BY UNION CONTRACTS AND OTHER ORDINARY MAINTENANCE, WHICH IS THE BULK OF OUR OPERATING, IS $4 MILLION AT 7% OF THE POLICE BUDGET.
THE TOTAL PROPOSED FY 27 POLICE BUDGET TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE 2.1% BUDGET SAVINGS, WHICH COMES TO $600,000 FOR THE POLICE CADET PROGRAM AND $600,000 FROM THE OVERTIME BUDGET.
SO THIS SLIDE BREAKS DOWN THE OPERATIONS IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AS ILLUSTRATED HERE ON THE, ON THE SLIDE, PATROL OPERATIONS IS THE LARGEST DIVISION FUNDED AT $29.9 MILLION OR 52% OF THE POLICE BUDGET.
THE OTHER 48% SUPPORT SEVERAL OTHER FUNCTIONS AND UNITS IN THE DEPARTMENT.
AND I WILL PASS IT ON TO COMMISSIONER ELO FOR MORE DETAILS.
AND WHAT I WANNA TALK ABOUT HERE IS WHAT WE ARE GETTING FOR OUR 57.4 MILLION, HOW THIS MONEY REALLY WORKS TO SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY.
AS DIRECTOR ALFRED STATED, THE MAJORITY OF OUR CALLS COME IN, OR THE MAJORITY OF OUR BUDGET IS PATROL OPERATIONS.
AND I'M GOING TO ACTUALLY, I THINK I'M JUST GONNA TURN IT OVER TO SUPERINTENDENT WELLS TO GIVE A BRIEF ABOUT, UH, OPERATIONS SUPERINTENDENT.
GOOD MORNING AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR HAVING US HERE, UM, THROUGH YOU.
UM, I'M GONNA SPEAK NOW ABOUT, UH, THE OPERATIONS SECTION OR THE PATROL OPERATIONS SECTION FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
UM, PATROL OPERATIONS ARE THE PRIMARY PUBLIC FACING PART OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
OUR WORK IS GUIDED BY THE PRINCIPLES OF 21ST CENTURY POLICING, BUILDING TRUST, BEING TRANSPARENT, WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE COMMUNITY, AND ENSURING OFFICES ARE PREPARED AND WELL-TRAINED.
OUR PATROL OFFICES ARE DESIGNED, ARE ASSIGNED THROUGH THE CITY, THROUGHOUT THE CITY TO PROVIDE A VISIBLE, APPROACHABLE PRESENCE.
THEY RESPOND TO ALL TYPES OF CALLS, EMERGENCY AND NON-EMERGENCY, ADDRESS, QUALITY OF LIFE CONCERNS, AND TAKE ON A PROACTIVE ASSIGNMENTS BASED ON CRIME TRENDS AND COMMUNITY FEEDBACK.
EACH YEAR, OFFICERS RESPOND TO MORE THAN A HUNDRED THOUSAND CALLS FOR SERVICE AND ALL OFFICERS WEAR AXON BODY-WORN CAMERAS.
TO SUPPORT TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
WE USE A DATA DIFFERENT APPROACH, DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH TO PLACE OFFICERS WHERE THEY ARE MOST NEEDED.
PATROL WORK EMPHASIZES DEESCALATION ALTERNATIVES TO ARREST WHEN APPROPRIATE AND STRONG AWARENESS OF MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS.
OFFICES RECEIVE SPECIALIZED TRAINING SUCH AS CRISIS INTERVENTION TRAINING, TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICES THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE DEPARTMENT.
AND ICAT, WHICH IS WHAT, WHICH IS A DEESCALATION TOOL WHICH STRENGTHEN STRENGTHENS COMMUNICATION, ASSESSMENT AND DECISION MAKING DURING
[00:15:01]
COMPLEX HIGH RISK ENCOUNTERS.A CENTRAL PART OF PATROL OPERATIONS IS OUR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MODEL, WHICH PRIORITIZES FAMILIARITY, ACCESSIBILITY, AND A CONSISTENT PRESENCE.
OFFICES CONDUCT INTENTIONAL FOOT PATROLS AND WALK AND TALK MICRO PATROLS IN SCHOOLS, BUSINESS CORRIDORS AND PEDESTRIAN ZONES LAST, IN THE LAST TWO YEARS, WE HAVE DONE BETWEEN 35 AND 40,000 OF THOSE PER YEAR.
THESE INTERACTIONS ARE RELATIONSHIP FOCUSED RATHER THAN ENFORCEMENT DRIVEN OFFICES INTRODUCE THEMSELVES, THEY LISTEN AND WORK COLLABORATIVE COLLABORATIVELY,
PATROL OFFICES ALSO USE AN OFFICER LED COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING MODEL, ADDRESSING RECURRING QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES SUCH AS TRAFFIC CONCERNS AND NOISE COMPLAINTS THROUGH THOUGHTFUL COMMUNITY CENTERED STRATEGIES RATHER THAN HEAVY ENFORCEMENT OFFICES DOCUMENT THEIR EFFORTS TO SUPPORT ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRACK PROGRESS.
THIS IS, UH, THIS IS COMPLIMENTED BY OUR ADOPT A BLOCK AND ADOPT A BUILDING APPROACHES WHICH ASSIGN OFFICES TO CONSISTENT GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS TO PROMOTE FAMILIARITY AND LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP BUILDING.
AND AN EXAMPLE OF THIS IS LAST SUMMER WHEN WE HAD THE COMMUNITY, UM, ACTION TEAM IN CENTRAL SQUARE AND A A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THEM.
IT WAS A, IT WAS A 90, A 90 DAY INITIATIVE WAS CONDUCTED BETWEEN JUNE AND SEPTEMBER FOCUSED ON ENFORCING LOCAL ORDINANCES AND ADDRESSING SHOPLIFTING, QUALITY OF LIFE CONCERNS AND OPEN AIR DRUG ACTIVITY IN CENTRAL SQUARE.
THROUGH HIGH VISIBILITY PATROLS, DATA-DRIVEN ENFORCEMENT AND PROACTIVE OUTREACH OFFICES CONDUCTED 703 ENCOUNTERS WITH 343 INDIVIDUALS RESULTING IN 182 ARRESTS, INCLUDING 41 FOR SHOPLIFTING AND 64 FOR DRUG RELATED OFFENSES.
BUT CSI COLLABORATION WITH THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS SUCH AS THE CENTRAL SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, UM, TARGET, THE SPECIALIZED DISTRICT ATTORNEY, UH, WHICH INCLUDED ADULT VERSION AND THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT CLINICAL SUPPORT UNIT AND OUR CARE TEAM LEADING TO 30 PLUS COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS AND EXPANDED SUPPORT FOR VULNERABLE INDIVIDUALS.
APPROXIMATELY 65% OF THOSE ENCOUNTERED RECEIVED REFERRALS TO MEDICAL, MENTAL HEALTH OR SUBSTANCE USE SERVICES.
COMMUNITY FEEDBACK FROM RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES, INCLUDING TIGRE AND THE CENTRAL HOUSE.
YMCA WAS STRONGLY POSITIVE SETTING IMPROVED SAFETY AND REDUCED DRUG ACTIVITY.
MEASURABLE OUTCOMES INCLUDED A 34% DECREASE IN QUALITY OF LIFE 9 1 1 CALLS IN 24 AND 25, UM, UH, AS A, AS A AS COMPARED TO, AND 191% INCREASE IN OFFICER INITIATED ACTIVITY REFLECTING MORE PROACTIVE POLICING.
OVERALL, THE, THE INITIATIVE ESTABLISHED A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR SUS SUSTAINED PUBLIC SAFETY EFFORTS WITH THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT PLAN INTO INTEGRATED STRATEGIES INTO ONGOING OPERATIONS, UH, FOR MORE TO SUPPORT A MORE SAFER AND VIBRANT CENTRAL SQUARE.
AND, UM, ONE THING I WANTED TO EMPHASIZE TOO IS THAT PATROL OPERATIONS IS ALSO THE CENTRAL CONDUIT TO EVERY OTHER UNIT IN THE DEPARTMENT.
RIGHT? PATROL OFFICERS ARE THE FIRST TO IDENTIFY EMERGING TRENDS, EMERGING ISSUES, AND COMMUNITY NEEDS.
WHAT THEY SEE AND THEY HEAR ON A DAILY BASIS FLOWS DIRECTLY TO THE SPECIALIZED UNITS BEST EQUIPPED TO RESPOND.
WHETHER THAT'S INVESTIGATIONS FSJS, THE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT, CLINICIANS AND OUTREACH OR CARE DISCONNECTION ENSURES THAT INFORMATION MOVES QUICKLY AND ACCURATELY, THAT RESOURCES ARE DEPLOYED WHERE THEY WILL GIVE THE GREATEST IMPACT, AND THAT THE DEPARTMENT OPERATES AS A COORDINATED CITYWIDE SYSTEM RATHER THAN SEPARATE SILOED UNITS.
PATROL'S CONSTANT PRESENCE IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS MAKES IT A FRONTLINE SOURCE OF SITUATIONAL AWARENESS AND LONG-TERM PROBLEM SOLVING.
I DO WANT TO READ YOU, UH, A QUICK, UM, EMAIL.
UM, FROM A RESIDENT TO ONE OF OUR LIEUTENANTS ON THE DESK DAY, LIEUTENANT GALLAGHER, I AM WRITING TO FORMALLY COMMEND OFFICER X FOR HIS OUTSTANDING CONDUCT AND PROFESSIONALISM.
DURING A RECENT INTERACTION THAT TOOK PLACE IN EARLY JANUARY.
I WAS IN A VERY VULNERABLE STATE AT THE TIME, AND OFFICER X HANDLED THE SITUATION WITH EXCEPTIONAL GRACE, GENUINE CARE, AND REMARKABLE DEESCALATION SKILLS.
HIS CALM DEMEANOR, KINDNESS, AND EMPATHY MADE A PROFOUND DIFFERENCE.
HE TOOK THE TIME TO LISTEN WITHOUT JUDGMENT, VALIDATED MY FEELINGS, AND ENSURED THAT I FELT HEARD, RESPECTED, AND AT PEACE.
OFFICER X DEMONSTRATED TOP TIER COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EXEMPLIFIED WHAT IT TRULY MEANS TO PROTECT AND SERVE HIS ABILITY TO CONNECT WITH COMPASSION WHILE MAINTAINING PROFESSIONALISM REFLECTS THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF LAW
[00:20:01]
ENFORCEMENT.THE KEY HE SHOWED WAS NOT ONLY REASSURING, BUT DEEPLY IPAC IMPACTFUL DURING A MOMENT WHEN IT MATTERED MOST.
HE'S TRULY THE EPITOME OF AN OFFICER DEDICATED TO THE WELLBEING OF THE COMMUNITY, AND HIS ACTIONS DESERVE RECOGNITION.
I AM AN EXTREMELY GRATEFUL FOR THE WAY HE CONDUCTED HIMSELF ON IN THE SENSE AND FOR THE SENSE OF SAFETY AND DIGNITY HE PROVIDED.
I'M GOING TO NOW GO INTO QUICKLY THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS UNIT THAT ALSO RUN, COMES UNDER, UH, THE PATROL OPERATIONS.
UH, THERE'S FOUR SPECIALIZED UNITS THAT ADDRESS INCIDENTS EXCEEDING ROUTINE PATROL CAPACITY, UM, AND THAT WOULD BE SPECIAL OPERATIONS.
AND THE FIRST ONE IS OUR EXPLOSIVE ORDINANCE DISPOSAL UNIT, OUR SPECIAL RESPONSE TEAM, OUR TACTICAL PATROL FORCE, AND OUR CRISIS NEGOTIATION TEAMS. AND, UH, ONE OF THE WHY DOES CAMBRIDGE NEED SPECIAL OPERATIONS? WELL, CAMBRIDGE IS HOME TO 13 PLUS RADIOLOGICAL SOURCES, A SIX MEGAWATT NUCLEAR REACTOR, THREE MAJOR UNIVERSITIES, NINE BUSINESS DISTRICTS, AND 250 PLUS BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANIES.
THE CITY REGULARLY HOSTS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DIGNITARIES.
AND OUR TACTICAL PATROL FORCE SUPPORTED THE LAST DNC AND ITS AS A FINALIST FOR THE DNC, UM, COMING UP IN IN 28.
I AM GONNA QUICKLY GO INTO THE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT, WHICH ALSO COMES ONTO PATROL OPERATIONS.
THE PURPOSE AND THE CORE PRINCIPLES OF THE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT ARE TO ENHANCE SAFETY FOR ALL ROAD USERS.
BASICALLY, THIS, THE, THE, THE, THE CENTRAL MISSION IS TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF AND SEVERITY OF TRAFFIC COLLISIONS AND IMPROVE OVERALL SAFETY FOR MOTORISTS, BICYCLES, AND PEDESTRIANS THROUGHOUT CAMBRIDGE.
THIS FOCUS ALIGNS WITH THE BROADEST CITY SAFETY GOALS, SUCH AS VISION ZERO, WHICH DRIVES TO ELIMINATE SERIOUS TRAFFIC INJURIES AND DEATHS.
ENFORCEMENT WORK IS DRIVEN BY DATA CRASH TRENDS AND THE COMMUNITY FEEDBACK AS WELL AS OUR CITY PARTNERS TO MAKE THE STREETS SAFER AND MORE EQUITABLE.
UH, COMMUNITY RESPONSIVE ENFORCEMENT, IT'S, UH, THE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT THAT WE DO IS NOT RANDOM.
IT'S RESPONSIVE TO COMMUNITY COMPLAINTS, PATENTS OF CRASHES, AND IDENTIFIED HAZARDOUS AREAS, UH, VISIBLE AND STRATEGIC ENFORCEMENT.
THE UNIT USES A MIX OF VISIBLE PATROLS, DIRECTIVE DIRECTED ENFORCEMENT AND STATIONARY OBSERVATION TO DETER UNSAFE BEHAVIOR AND ENFORCE THE LAWS.
THIS ALSO, UM, INCLUDES, UM, UH, EDUCATION.
UM, AS YOU KNOW, THE, THE STREETS IN CAMBRIDGE ARE, ARE, UM, CAN BE DIFFICULT TO
BUT, UH, EDUCATION COUPLED WITH THE ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS IN THE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT, BALANCE ENFORCEMENT WITH EDUCATION, THEY ISSUE WARNINGS AND OFFER GUIDANCE ABOUT NEW INFRASTRUCTURE AND KEEPING, HELPING PEOPLE LEAVE TRAFFIC STOPS BETTER INFORMED ABOUT THE SAFETY LAWS AND THE SAFETY RULES.
UM, THEY ALSO COMPLETE, UH, INVESTIGATING TRAFFIC CRASHES.
UM, THEY ARE THE MAIN BODY THAT DOES THAT, UM, ESPECIALLY THOSE INVOLVING SERIOUS INJURIES, UH, INCLUDING GATHERING EVIDENCE AND DETERMINING CONTRIBUTING FACTORS.
WE HAVE A SPECIALIZED ACCIDENT INVESTIGATOR JUST FOR THAT, WHO WORKS VERY CLOSELY WITH THE, UM, DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, SOME OF THE SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS THAT THE TRAFFIC UNIT ALSO CARRIES OUT.
UM, OUR DIGNITARY AND FUNERAL ESCORTS COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENFORCEMENT CHILD SAFETY SEAT PROGRAM, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TRAFFIC RESTRICTED ROAD ENFORCEMENT, SUPPORTING TRAFFIC WITHIN SCHOOL ZONES AND SPECIAL EVENTS, SCHOOL CROSSINGS, SUPERVISION OF SCHOOL CROSSING PERSONNEL, UM, COLLABORATING WITH OUR CRIME ANALYSIS UNIT AND USING, WE HAVE A CRASH.
UM, WE HAVE A, AN EXPERT IN THE CRIME ANALYSIS UNIT AS WELL.
AND WE USE THAT CRASH ENFORCEMENT DATA TO IDENTIFY THE RELATED HOTSPOTS AND DETERMINE WHETHER ENFORCEMENT SHOULD BE PRIORITIZED AND CONDUCTING ANY REVIEWS TO ASSESS EFFECTIVENESS AND ADJUST THE STRATEGIES AS WE GO.
AND OBVIOUSLY, THE CORE GOALS ARE TO INCREASE ROAD SAFETY FOR EVERYONE RESPONDING TO COMMUNITY TRAFFIC CONCERNS.
WE LITERALLY GET CALLS EVERY DAY, YOU SHOULD BE HERE, YOU SHOULD BE THERE.
AND WE GO, WE COULD SET UP A SPEED TRAILER DEPENDING ON WHAT THE PROBLEM IS, AND GATHER THE DATA SO THAT WE CAN RETURN THAT INFORMATION TO THE FOLKS THAT WERE, UM, CONCERNED ABOUT THAT PARTICULAR LOCATION.
UH, USING DATA AND STRATEGY TO GUIDE ENFORCEMENT, PAIRING ENFORCEMENT WITH EDUCATION AND SUPPORTING, UM, VERY MANY, UM, PUBLIC SAFETY AND COMMUNITY EVENTS THAT HAPPEN IN THE CITY EVERY YEAR.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I WANNA KIND OF UNDERSCORE WITH WHAT SUPERINTENDENT WELLS TALKED ABOUT WAS THE QUALITY OF THE INTERACTIONS.
I THINK PROCEDURAL JUSTICE, HOW WE TRAINED OUR OFFICERS, MAKING SURE THAT, YOU KNOW, UH,
[00:25:01]
CRISIS INTERVENTION TRAINING, TRAUMA-INFORMED TRAINING.WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT OUR OFFICERS KNOW HOW TO RESPOND EFFECTIVELY TO, UM, OUR MOST VULNERABLE POPULATIONS.
AND SO WHAT I WANNA TALK ABOUT NEXT IS HOW THIS WORK KIND OF FUNNELS UP INTO OUR SPECIALIZED UNITS AND HOW OUR SPECIALIZED UNITS SUPPORT PATROL.
SO I'M GONNA CALL UP MIKE EROS AND DR. BARRETT, WHO ARE GONNA GIVE, UM, UH, SUMMARIES OF THEIR UNITS AND HOW THAT WORK SUPPORTS PATROL.
THE ONE THING THAT I WANNA HIGHLIGHT IS A BIG PIECE OF THE WORK THAT WE DO IS ABOUT DOCUMENTATION.
THESE ARE, AGAIN, CALLS THAT COME IN ON THE, ON THE EDGE OF THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.
SO THEY NEED TO HAVE A POLICE RESPONSE.
AND THEN THE, THE SUBSEQUENT FOLLOW UP TO KEEP PEOPLE DIVERTED AND DEFLECTED FROM THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
GOOD MORNING, CHAIR NOLAN COUNSELORS.
THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK ABOUT THE EXTRAORDINARY WORK THE FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION DOES ON A DAILY BASIS.
FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION FOCUSES ON SUPPORTING SOME OF THE MOST VULNERABLE MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY, INCLUDING YOUTH UNHOUSED INDIVIDUALS, THOSE LIVING WITH MENTAL HEALTH OR SUBSTANCE USE CHALLENGES AND SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
THE SECTION REALLY BRINGS TOGETHER TWO UNITS, THE FAMILY JUSTICE SECTION AND THE SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION.
BOTH OF THOSE TEAMS WORK COL WORK COLLABORATIVELY USING A PERSON CENTERED CASE MANAGEMENT APPROACH THAT RECOGNIZES EVERY SITUATION IS DIFFERENT AND REQUIRES A COORDINATED RESPONSE.
THE FAMILY JUSTICE UNIT IS STAFFED AND FOCUSES ON PROTECTING OUR VULNERABLE INDIVIDUALS IN SUPPORTING FAMILIES WHO ARE EXPERIENCING CRISIS OR VICTIMIZATION.
THE UNIT OVERSEES TWO PRIMARY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT UNIT, AND THE YOUTH RESOURCE OFFICER PROGRAM.
THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT UNIT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR INVESTIGATING CRIMES INVOLVING INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT, WHILE PROVIDING COORDINATED SUPPORT FOR SURVIVORS.
DETECTIVES CONDUCT DETAILED INVESTIGATIONS, GATHER EVIDENCE, AND WORK CLOSELY WITH THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE TO HOLD OFFENDERS ACCOUNTABLE.
VICTIM ADVOCATES ARE ASSIGNED TO THE UNIT AS WELL, AND PLAY A CLEAR, A CRITICAL ROLE IN SUPPORTING SURVIVORS THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS BY CONNECTING THEM WITH SAFETY, PLANNING, COUNSELING, HOUSING, RESOURCES, AND OTHER SERVICES.
THE UNIT OPERATES USING A TRAUMA INFORMED APPROACH THAT PRIORITIZES BOTH INVESTIGATIVE INTEGRITY AND SURVIVOR SUPPORT.
BECAUSE OF THESE CASES OFTEN INVOLVE ONGOING SAFETY CONCERNS AND COMPLEX FAMILY DYNAMICS.
THE UNIT WORKS CLOSELY WITH THE COURTS, ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS TO ENSURE VICTIMS RECEIVE THE SUPPORT THEY NEED WHILE THE CASE IS MOVE THROUGH THROUGH THE LEGAL PROCESS.
OUR YOUTH RESOURCE OFFICER PROGRAM FOCUSES ON BUILDING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUNG PEOPLE WHILE INTERVENING EARLY.
WHEN CHALLENGES ARRIVE, ROS ARE ASSIGNED TO ALL CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND YOUTH PROGRAMS WHERE THEY SERVE AS MENTORS, EDUCATORS, AND PROBLEM SOLVERS FOR STUDENTS, FAMILIES, AND SCHOOL STAFF.
IN ADDITION TO ADDRESSING SAFETY CONCERNS WITHIN THE SCHOOLS, ROS HELP IDENTIFY YOUTH WHO MAY BE STRUGGLING WITH BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ISSUES, FAMILY CHALLENGES, OR EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE THROUGH COLLABORATION WITH SCHOOL OFFICIALS, COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS, AND DIVERSION PROGRAMS. THE YRO TEAM WORKS TO GUIDE YOUNG PEOPLE TOWARDS POSITIVE OUTCOMES AND PREVENT DEEPER INVOLVEMENT IN THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
THE OTHER HALF OF OUR UNIT IS COMPRISED OF THE SOCIAL JUSTICE UNIT.
SOCIAL JUSTICE UNIT FOCUSES ON ADDRESSING COMMUNITY CHALLENGES THAT INTERSECT WITH PUBLIC SAFETY, INCLUDING, UH, THOSE WHO ARE UNHOUSED BE LIVING WITH BEHAVIORAL HEALTH OR QUALITY OF LIFE CONCERNS AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION.
THE UNIT AS A WHOLE CLOSELY WORKS WITH SERVICE PROVIDERS, HOUSING AGENCIES, AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS TO HELP STABILIZE INDIVIDUALS WHILE IMPROVING SAFETY AND QUALITY OF LIFE THROUGHOUT THE CITY.
THE UNIT IS COMPRISED OF THE COMMUNITY ACTION TEAM AND OUTREACH OFFICERS AND FOCUSED DETERRENCE INITIATIVE, EACH OF WHICH ADDRESSES DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THESE COMPLEX CHALLENGES.
THE COMMUNITY ACTION TEAM AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH TEAM ADDRESSES REOCCURRING COMMUNITY CONCERNS AND QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES THROUGH A PROBLEM SOLVING AND OUTREACH BASED POLICING MODEL.
CAT OFFICES WORK CLOSELY WITH RESIDENTS, BUSINESSES AND SERVICE PROVIDERS TO UNDER, UNDER IDENTIFY UNDERLYING ISSUES AND DEVELOP COORDINATED RESPONSES.
MUCH OF THEIR WORK INVOLVES ADDRESSING CRIME RELATED SUBSTANCE USE, UNHOUSED AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ISSUES IN HIGH IMPACT AREAS OF THE CITY.
RATHER THAN FOCUS FOCUSING SOLELY ON ENFORCEMENT, CAT AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH OFFICERS WORK COLLABORATIVELY WITH OUTREACH TEAMS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS TO STABILIZE SITUATIONS AND CONNECT INDIVIDUALS WITH APPROPRIATE RESOURCES.
OUR FOCUS DETERRENCE INITIATIVE IS A COLLABORATIVE
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VIOLENCE PREVENTION STRATEGY THAT BRINGS TOGETHER LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS, AS WELL AS PROSECUTORS TO ADDRESS INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE AT HIGHEST RISK OF INVOLVEMENT IN VIOLENT CRIME.THROUGH THIS APPROACH, INDIVIDUALS ARE OFTEN ARE OFFERED A CLEAR MESSAGE THAT VIOLENCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED, BUT SUPPORT SERVICES ARE AVAILABLE TO HELP THEM CHANGE COURSE.
DETECTIVES WORK CLOSELY WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS TO PROVIDE OUTREACH RESOURCES AND INTERVENTION OPPORTUNITIES WHILE COORDINATING ENFORCEMENT WHEN NECESSARY.
THE GOAL IS TO PREVENT VIOLENCE BEFORE IT OCCURS BY COMBINING ACCOUNTABILITY WITH OPPORTUNITY FOR SUPPORT AND POSITIVE CHANGE.
MUCH OF THE WORK THAT THE FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE UNIT DOES USES A DIVERSION SERVICE FOR REFERRAL AND SPECIALTY COURT SESSION WHENEVER APPROPRIATE TO PREVENT DEEPER INVOLVEMENT IN THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
ULTIMATELY, THE WORK OF FSJS IS FOCUSED ON STABILIZING PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY BEFORE SITUATIONS ESCALATE INTO REPEATED CALLS FOR SERVICE ARREST OR INCARCERATION.
MUCH OF THE WORK WE DO IS HARD TO QUANTIFY, BUT WHAT I CAN DO IS GIVE A SMALL ANECDOTE OF ONE OF THE STORIES THAT CAME THROUGH MY OFFICE VIA EMAIL.
IT WAS AN OFFICER WHO RECOGNIZED THAT A SENIOR CITIZEN AT ONE OF OUR LOCAL SENIOR CITIZEN GAME NIGHTS WAS IN SOME SORT OF DISCOMFORT AND PAIN.
UPON QUESTIONING WHAT THE ISSUE WAS, THE RESIDENT SAID THAT THEY HAD BEEN SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR FOR SEVERAL WEEKS BECAUSE THEY THEIR BED.
AND SO, AND MATTRESS WAS NO LONGER ABLE TO BE SLEPT ON.
THAT OFFICER CAME BACK TO THE FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION, AND AS A WHOLE, IN OUR ENTIRETY IN OUR GROUP, HE WAS ABLE TO UTILIZE HIS PARTNERSHIP WITH MATTRESS FIRM IN THE COMMUNITY AND GATHER ENOUGH MONEY FROM ALL OF US IN OUR FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION AND PURCHASE AND PUT TOGETHER THAT MATTRESS AND BOX, SPRING AND BED FOR THAT INDIVIDUAL.
SO THEY HAVE A BED TO SLEEP ON.
THAT'S JUST ONE OF THE STORIES THAT I CAN TELL YOU ABOUT.
ANOTHER STORY IS, UH, LAST YEAR OR THE YEAR BEFORE, AN ELDERLY LADY, UM, IT WAS A HOT SUMMER NIGHT AND, UM, SHE DID NOT HAVE AIR CONDITION.
AND THE OFFICERS IN MY UNIT, AGAIN, COLLECTIVELY GATHERED FUNDS, PURCHASED AN AIR CONDITIONER, AND INSTALLED IT FOR THAT INDIVIDUAL.
TWO OR THREE YEARS PRIOR TO THAT, A YOUTH HAD HER BICYCLE STOLEN.
A DETECTIVE IN OUR, AT THAT TIME WAS A JUVENILE DETECTIVE, AND AT THAT TIME, UH, PURCHASED AND PUT TOGETHER THE BICYCLE FOR THAT JUVENILE IN THAT YOUTH SO SHE COULD HAVE A BICYCLE BACK.
THAT'S JUST SOME OF THE EXAMPLES OF WHAT THE, UH, FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION DOES ON A DAILY BASIS.
UH, AND I'M GONNA GO AHEAD AND TURN IT OVER TO DR.
JAMIE BARRETT TO TALK ABOUT HIS UNIT.
I'M JUST GONNA BRIEFLY TOUCH ON CLINICAL SUPPORT.
UH, CLINICAL SUPPORT CURRENTLY HAS FIVE FULL-TIME, UH, POSITIONS.
THERE'S MYSELF, WE HAVE TWO LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKERS.
WE HAVE A DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS, AND THE LAST POSITION THAT WAS ADDED TO CLINICAL SUPPORT WAS IN 2021 WHEN WE ADDED A CASE MANAGER.
UM, THE CO RESPONSE CLINICIAN IS AN EMPLOYEE OF NORTH SUFFOLK THAT IS FUNDED THROUGH A STATE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH GRANT.
UM, SO YOU WON'T SEE THAT IN OUR FTE COUNT.
I'M, I'M JUST WANNA BRIEFLY TOUCH ON THE SCOPE AND THEN THE DEPTH OF THE WORK OF CLINICAL SUPPORT.
SO WE TRACK POLICE REPORTS BY YEAR THAT COVER THREE TYPES OF MENTAL HEALTH ENCOUNTERS.
SO OUR INVOLUNTARY TRIPS TO THE HOSPITAL, UH, ON A SECTION 12 WHEN PEOPLE ARE SENT VOLUNTARILY TO THE HOSPITAL, AND THEN WHAT WE CALL MENTAL HEALTH ENCOUNTERS.
SO FOR 2025, THAT'S 1,282 AND 24 WAS 1,208.
SO WHAT'S UP? YOU KNOW, JUST FEWER THAN, UH, ABOUT 80, UH, REPORTS.
UM, IN TERMS OF CASES, LAST YEAR, CLINICAL SUPPORT WORKED WITH 1,360.
UM, I FEEL LIKE BOTH THOSE NUMBERS WOULD BE HIGHER.
AND THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR THAT WE'VE WORKED CLOSELY WITH COMMUNITY SAFETY WHO'VE BEEN ABLE TO RESPOND TO SOME OF THOSE MENTAL HEALTH CALLS THAT PROBABLY PATROL WOULD'VE GONE TO LOWERING THAT NUMBER A BIT.
AND THEY'RE ALSO TAKING THE CASE, UH, LEAD AND FOLLOW UP ON, UH, FOLLOW UP WITH OUR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS THAT DO NOT REQUIRE A POLICE PRESENCE.
SO, UM, I THINK THAT'S REFLECTED IN THE NUMBERS, UH, IN TERMS OF THE DEPTH OF THE WORK.
SO IT'S WHAT THEY DO ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS.
AS, AS, UM, MIKE DESCRIBED IS REALLY WORKING WITH THE COURTS, WITH OUR DETECTIVES, WITH OUR OFFICERS, UH, IN TERMS OF, UH, OUR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS
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WHEN THEY INTERACT WITH POLICE, WHETHER THEY'RE COMMITTING CRIMES, VICTIMS OF CRIMES, OR ONE THING THAT WE HAVE IN THE CITY, AND THIS JUST CAME UP IN A RECENT MEETING WE HAD, IT'S A HIGH ACUITY OF INDIVIDUALS SUFFERING FROM A PARANOID DISORDER, UH, IN SOME OF OUR SUPPORTING HOUSING PROGRAMS, WHICH LEADS TO THEM FILING MULTIPLE POLICE REPORTS, UH, FEELING THAT THEY'RE BEING SURVEILLED OR WATCHED.UM, SO WE HAVE TO WORK CLOSELY WITH OUR DETECTIVES TO MAKE THEM FEEL HEARD AND UNDERSTAND.
WE'RE GOING TO INVESTIGATE, UH, TO OUR FULL CAPACITY, BUT THEN ALSO TRY TO BRING THAT SUPPORT ANGLE IN, WHICH IS WHY IT'S REALLY CRITICAL TO HAVE THIS SERVICE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
UM, AND THAT PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY SAFETY REALLY ALLOWS CLINICAL SUPPORT TO FOCUS ON ITS CORE MISSION, WHICH IS THAT INTERSECTION BETWEEN MENTAL HEALTH AND POLICING AND THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I JUST WANNA HIGHLIGHT FROM, UH, THE LAST CONVERSATIONS IS THAT ALTHOUGH WE HAVE NOT GROWN, AS WE SAW IN THE, IN THE BEGINNING, OUR, OUR DEPARTMENT HAS NOT GROWN THE WORK THAT WE HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN, NOT ONLY PUBLIC SAFETY HAVE HAS CHANGED AND SHIFTED AND INCREASED IN THE 10, 12, 16 YEARS THAT WE'VE BEEN INVOLVED IN THIS WORK.
AND I THINK THAT, UM, IS REALLY CRITICAL TO STATE WE'RE NOT DOING LESS, WE'RE DOING MORE WITH LESS.
UM, I ALSO THINK IT'S, THERE'S REALLY AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO EXPAND THE RELATIONSHIP THAT WE HAVE WITH CARE.
AND I THINK WORKING MORE COLLABORATIVELY IS, I THINK, A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS.
UH, WE ARE NOW KIND OF REALLY FUNCTION IN A WAY WHERE THEY'RE DIVERTING CASES TO US, WE'RE SENDING CASES TO THEM.
AND I FEEL LIKE THE CORE IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT IS THE CLINICAL SUPPORT UNIT.
SO IT REALLY IS ABOUT HOW DO WE FIND SOMETHING THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE? AND I THINK WE CAN FIND A MODEL, AND IT'S NOT LIKE ONE FOR ONE BECAUSE I THINK THE CASES ARE REALLY COMPLEX.
SO IF YOU ADD ONE CARE, CAN YOU, CAN YOU MINUS ONE OFFICER? I THINK IT'S KIND OF APPLES AND ORANGES WITH THE KIND OF CASES THAT WE RESPOND TO.
AND REALLY THE ULTIMATE GOAL FOR US IS HOW DO WE HELP OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS? WHAT IS THE RECIPE THAT WE HAVE TO PUT TOGETHER THAT'S GONNA OFFER THE MOST SUPPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS? AND WHAT WE'RE ASKING FOR IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS FOR THOSE, PARTICULARLY THOSE REALLY CRITICAL CASES, IS MORE CLINICAL SUPPORT AND TO HELP US DEFUSE AND AGAIN, DIVERT AND, UM, UH, PEOPLE AWAY FROM THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
SO THE NEXT UNIT THAT I WANNA TALK ABOUT, YES, WE DO A LOT OF DIVERTING AND DEFLECTING AWAY FROM THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM, BUT WE ALSO HAVE CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS.
AND I'M GONNA BRING UP DEPUTY JOHN BOYLE, WHO'S GONNA TALK ABOUT THE WORK THAT OUR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION DOES IN THE PROSECUTIONS.
WE'VE ACTUALLY HAD A PRETTY INCREDIBLE YEAR WITH OUR INVESTIGATIONS.
WE'VE SOLVED SEVERAL VIOLENT CRIMES.
WE'VE HAD SEVERAL GUN RELATED INCIDENTS THAT RESULTED IN, UM, ARRESTS IN COMPLAINTS, WHICH I THINK IS EXCELLENT.
UH, AND WE ALSO, TWO HOMICIDES BOTH SOLVED OR ONE.
UH, GOOD MORNING, UH, THROUGH YOU, MADAM CHAIR.
MY NAME'S DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT JOHN BOYLE, COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION.
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION, UH, HOUSES THE DEPARTMENT'S DETECTIVE BUREAU.
IT'S CURRENTLY STAFFED WITH SEVERAL SUPERVISOR OR FOUR SUPERVISORS, TWO LIEUTENANTS, TWO SERGEANTS ACROSS THE DAY SHIFT AND THE NIGHT SHIFT, AS WELL AS 18 DETECTIVES, FIVE OF WHICH ARE A FEDERAL TASK FORCE OFFICERS, TWO CYBER CRIME DETECTIVES, AND THE REST ARE GENERAL ASSIGNMENT DETECTIVES.
UH, THE DETECTIVES, UH, THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR, UH, ALL REPORTED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AND POLICE REPORT INVESTIGATING ALL CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AND POLICE REPORTS WITHIN THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
THESE INVESTIGATIONS RANGE FROM ROUTINE CASES TO COMPLEX SERIOUS CRIMES, INCLUDING HOMICIDE, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, FIREARMS, POSSESSION ON CHILD, ONLINE, CHILD EXPLOITATION, AND FINANCIAL CRIMES.
IN FISCAL YEAR 2025, THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION CONDUCTED 4,306 INVESTIGATIONS.
NOTABLY, THERE WERE NINE SHOTS FIRED INCIDENTS DURING THIS YEAR, WHICH RESULTED IN SIX ARRESTS A SEVENTH THAT WAS CRIMINALLY CHARGED THROUGH THE COURTS WITH A WARRANT.
ADDITIONALLY, THE CITY RECORDED 331 AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS WITH THE DETECTIVES ACHIEVING A 60% CLEARANCE RATE ON THOSE CASES.
THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION ALSO WORKS CLOSELY WITH THE MIDDLESEX COUNTY DISTRICT'S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE TO PLACE OFFENDERS WHO QUALIFY IN THE EMERGING ADULT OFFENDERS PROGRAM.
IN FY 25, THERE WERE FIVE INDIVIDUALS DEFERRED TO THIS PROGRAM.
AND THAT'S A, UH, BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE WORK DONE BY OUR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS.
UH, THE NEXT SECTION THAT I'M GONNA BRING UP IS OUR ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION.
SO IF I CAN BRING UP, UH, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT DAVID BROWN TO TALK ABOUT OUR ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION.
UH, THE ADMINISTRATIVE S SECTION, UH, DID THEM TURN ON THE MIC? JUST PRESS THE BUTTON.
UH, THE ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES SECTION, UH, HOUSES SEVERAL DIFFERENT SECTIONS.
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SECTION, THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT SECTION RECORDS, UM, PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND COURT PROSECUTION.SO I'LL START WITH OUR FLEET MANAGEMENT SECTION.
WE, UH, WE'RE MANAGING 105 VEHICLES IN MOTORCYCLES.
OF THAT 14 ARE FULLY ELECTRIC MOTOR VEHICLES.
THAT'S 22% OF OUR FLEET IS, UH, COMMITTED TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY RESOURCES IN, UH, DECREASE IN GAS CONSUMPTION.
UH, AS I MOVE ON TO OUR RECORDS MANAGEMENT SECTION, UH, OUR RECORDS MANAGEMENT SECTION NAVIGATED LAST YEAR, 13,000 EMAIL REQUESTS FROM CITIZENRY REGARDING, UH, PUBLIC RECORDS, INQUIRIES, BILLING INQUIRIES, LICENSE TO CARRY INQUIRIES, UH, COUPLED BY THE VOLUMOUS VISITS TO OUR PUBLIC RECORDS DESK, UH, AND ALSO PHONE CALLS TO OUR STAFF TO NAVIGATE THE SIMILAR INQUIRIES.
WE MANAGED 323 LICENSING CARIES IN THE YEAR 2023.
WE PROCESSED VOLUMOUS RECORDS REQUEST, AND WE HAVE ADDED A PUBLIC RECORDS ACCESS OFFICER, WHO IS NOW WORKING COLLABORATIVELY WITH OUR LAW DEPARTMENT TO NAVIGATE SOME MORE OF A COMPLEX, UH, RECORD REQUESTS.
WE MANAGED FALSE ALARM BILLING, SUNDAY WORK PERMITS, AND WE, UM, MANAGED JUST UNDER $72,000 IN THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT OFFICE FOR VARIOUS REASONS.
THE, UH, IN, IN OUR DAILY FUNCTION IN THE YEAR 2025, WE ALSO, UH, ENTERED JUST UNDER 8,600 CITATIONS IN THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT OFFICE AND MANAGED, UH, ROUGHLY 10,000 DETAIL REQUESTS THROUGH THE ME THE OFFICE.
THIS IS, UH, PROVIDING VITAL SUPPORT FOR FUNCTIONS THAT SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY AND THE DEPARTMENT.
CLEARLY, UH, OUR FACILITY IS MANAGED, UH, BY AN INDIVIDUAL WHO, UM, MANAGES OUR SAFETY OF OUR BUILDING AND, UH, OPERATIONAL SPACES TO MAINTAIN A SAFE WORKING SPACE FOR ALL OF OUR EMPLOYEES.
AND WE MAY, WE MAINTAIN A LEAD SILVER RATING, WHICH ADDS COMPLEXITY TO THAT TASK.
THE COURT PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE REVIEWS, POLICE REPORTS, CASE DOCUMENTATION, COORDINATES WITH ARRESTING OFFICERS, AND ORGANIZES EVIDENCE AND ASSIST WITH THE PROSECUTION OF OUR CASES THAT IT HELPS ENSURE THE CASES ARE BROUGHT BY THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT IN SUPPORTED THROUGH THE JUDICIAL PROCESS.
FOR THE FOLKS ON ZOOM, IF YOU CAN TALK DIRECTLY INTO THE MIC, I APOLOGIZE.
PROPERTY AND EVIDENCE, WE MANAGE ALL ASPECTS OF PROPERTY AND EVIDENCE CONTROL FOR THE DEPARTMENT IN THAT UNIT.
THE EVIDENTIARY PROCESS IS FUNDA FUNDAMENTAL TO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.
THE WORK PERFORMED BY THIS UNIT IS METICULOUS, IT'S STRICT ADHERENCE TO EVIDENCE, PROTOCOLS IN CLOSE COORDINATION WITH OFFICERS AND DETECTIVES IS CRITICAL.
DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT DAVE BROWN.
UH, AND NEXT ONE, BRING UP DIRECTOR JIM OCA, WHO IS GONNA TALK ABOUT OUR ACADEMY AND OUR PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS UNIT.
I JUST WANNA MENTION, OUR ACADEMY IS A ACADEMY THAT WE STARTED, I WANNA SAY 20 18, 20 19, 20 19.
IT IS NOW ONE OF THE BEST ACADEMIES, POLICE ACADEMIES IN THE STATE WHERE WE'RE HAVING MORE PEOPLE COMING IN, WHERE IT'S PROCEDURAL JUSTICE MODEL, EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, DEALING WITH, YOU KNOW, UNHOUSED AND HOW TO, UM, DIVERT AND DEFLECT PEOPLE FROM THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM ALL ABOUT 21ST CENTURY POLICING.
AGAIN, IT IS THE MODEL THAT ACADEMIES IN THE STATE ARE, ARE REACHING TOWARDS.
SO I'LL TURN IT OVER TO DIRECTOR MOHI.
UM, I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT UNITS THAT I OVERSEE.
THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS UNIT, AS WELL AS THE TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION UNIT.
THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS UNIT OVERSEES INTERNAL AFFAIRS, INVESTIGATIONS, BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS, AS WELL AS OUR ACCREDITATION UNIT.
THE CORE FUNCTION OF PSU IS OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
UH, AT ITS CORE, PSU INVESTIGATES CITIZENS' COMPLAINTS, UH, WHETHER THEY'RE, UH, DIRECTED, UH, IMMEDIATELY THROUGH THE POLICE DEPARTMENT OR WHETHER OR NOT THEY'RE DIRECTED THROUGH THE POLICE REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARD, UH, OR THE POST COMMISSION.
UH, PSU INVESTIGATES ON AVERAGE ABOUT 21 CASES, UH, A YEAR.
UH, BUT IN ADDITION TO THIS INVESTIGATORY WORK, UH, PSU ALSO CONDUCTS, UH, AUDITS AND ANNUAL REVIEWS TO ENSURE QUALITY CONTROL LEGAL, AS WELL AS POLICY COMPLIANCE FOR ALL, UH, DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES.
THESE AUDITS AND REVIEWS ARE CRITICAL.
UH, THEY ENSURE COMPLIANCE ON HIGH LIABILITY TOPICS, UH, SUCH AS USE OF FORCE VEHICLE PURSUIT, UH, AS WELL AS EVIDENCE STORAGE, AND A REVIEW OF THE DEPARTMENT'S EARLY INTERVENTION SYSTEM.
UH, IN ADDITION TO THESE INVESTIGATORY AND OVERSIGHT FUNCTIONS, UH, PSU IS ALSO A LIAISON BETWEEN
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THE DEPARTMENT AND THE POST COMMISSION.UH, ONE OF ITS PRIMARY ROLES IS ENSURING THAT NEW OFFICERS ARE CERTIFIED BY POST, UH, THAT ALL CURRENT OFFICERS ARE RE-CERTIFIED, UH, EVERY THREE YEARS.
UH, AND THAT BEFORE ANY OFFICER, UH, INVOLVED GETS INVOLVED IN ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY, MEANING HANDCUFFING, POLICE WORKER, OTHERWISE, UH, THAT THEY ARE CERTIFIED BY POST.
UH, IN ADDITION TO THAT, AND AS PART OF OUR LIAISON FUNCTION, UH, WITH THE POST DEPARTMENT, UH, PSU IS ALSO TASKED WITH PROVIDING EMPLOYEE STATUS, UH, UPDATES, UH, AS WELL AS ANY DISCIPLINARY ACTION, UH, OR INVESTIGATIONS, UH, TO POST.
UH, A SECONDARY FUNCTION OF PSU, UH, IS ALSO BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS.
UH, NOT ONLY DOES PSU HANDLE THE BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS FOR, UH, THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT, UH, WHETHER IT BE SWORN PERSONNEL OR PROFESSIONAL STAFF, UH, THE BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS SECTION A PSU ALSO HANDLES BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, PUBLIC SAFETY, IT, UH, CONSTABLES, UH, AS WELL AS ANY OTHER CITY AGENCIES THAT ARE SEEKING, UH, ASSISTANCE ON BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS.
UH, LAST YEAR ALONE, THE PSU CONDUCTED MORE THAN 75 BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS.
UH, FINALLY ALSO HOUSED WITHIN, UH, PSU IS THE ACCREDITATION UNIT.
UH, THIS UNIT WAS ESTABLISHED, UH, FOR TWO CORE FUNCTIONS, UH, ONE TO REWRITE THE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, RULES AND REGULATIONS, AS WELL AS THE CODE OF CONDUCT FOR THE DEPARTMENT, UH, AS WELL AS TO SEEK NATIONAL ACCREDITATION THROUGH THE COMMISSION FOR, UH, ACCREDITATION FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
UH, OVER THE COURSE OF NUMEROUS YEARS, UH, PSU, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF MEMBERS ACROSS THE ENTIRE DEPARTMENT, UH, DID REWRITE AND REWORK, UH, THE ENTIRE POLICY MANUAL FOR THE DEPARTMENT.
AND IN JANUARY OF 2025, UH, THE COMMISSIONER DID ISSUE, UH, AN ENTIRELY NEW POLICY AND PROCEDURE MANUAL, UH, ALL UNDER THE GUISE OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND TRANSPARENCY.
UH, ONCE THAT TASK WAS COMPLETE, UH, THE DEPARTMENT MOVED ON WITH SEEKING, UH, ACCREDITATION THROUGH CLEA.
UH, AND IN NOVEMBER OF 2025, THE DEPARTMENT WAS AWARDED ADVANCED LAW ENFORCEMENT ACCREDITATION THROUGH, UH, KALIA, WHICH IS THE GOLD STANDARD, THE HIGHEST STANDARD OF ACCREDITATION, UH, NATIONALLY.
UH, IN ORDER TO DO THAT, UH, THE DEPARTMENT HAD ALL OF ITS NEW POLICY MANUAL, UH, REVIEWED EXTERNALLY, UH, BY KALIA AUDITORS.
UH, AND THEN IN THE SUMMER OF LAST YEAR, AUDITORS FROM KALIA ALSO CAME OUT ON SITE, UH, AND WENT THROUGH, UH, STEP-BY-STEP THROUGH THE BUILDING, UH, AND REVIEWED OUR FUNCTIONS, OUR PROPERTY, AND AGAIN, A REVIEW OF COMPLIANCE WITH ALL OF OUR POLICIES, UH, AND PROCEDURES.
UH, IN TOTAL, UH, THE DEPARTMENT HAD TO, UM, SEEK COMPLIANCE, UH, WITH MORE THAN 460 STANDARDS, UH, THROUGH CLEA.
UH, AND AGAIN, THE DEPARTMENT WAS AWARDED THAT ADVANCED LAW ENFORCEMENT ACCREDITATION IN NOVEMBER OF LAST YEAR.
UH, AS A RESULT OF THAT, WE ARE NOW THE LAW, UH, LARGEST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IN MASSACHUSETTS, UH, THAT HAS RECEIVED ADVANCED LAW ENFORCEMENT ACCREDITATION.
UM, SO THAT WAS A, A SIGNIFICANT, UH, TASK AND SOMETHING THAT WE WILL ALSO, UH, UPHOLD IN, UH, THE COMING YEARS.
UH, TO THAT POINT, UH, IN THE UPCOMING FISCAL YEAR, PSU WILL BE TASKED WITH, UH, REVIEWING AND UPDATING ALL OF OUR POLICIES AND PROCEDURES TO ENSURE THAT THEY, UH, MAINTAIN COMPLIANCE WITH ALL OF, UH, ALIA'S CURRENT AND UPDATED, UH, STANDARDS FOR POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, AS WELL AS PROOFS OF COMPLIANCE KEY FUNCTION OF CLEA ACCREDITATION.
UM, THERE ARE NUMEROUS BENEFITS, UM, SOME OF THEM BEING, UH, IMPROVEMENT IN LAW ENFORCEMENT MANAGEMENT, UM, REDUCTION IN LIABILITY, UH, BUILDING COMMUNITY TRUST, UM, THROUGH SHOWING PROOF OF COMPLIANCE OF NATIONALLY VETTED AND RECOGNIZED, UH, STANDARDS.
UM, SO AGAIN, THERE ARE, UH, MANY BENEFITS IN TERMS OF NOT ONLY SEEKING ACCREDITATION, BUT ALSO MAINTAINING IT.
UH, NEXT I'D LIKE TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION UNIT, UH, WHICH IS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS, UH, SECTION, UH, THE TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION UNIT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR COORDINATING, UH, AND DIRECTING, UH, ALL TRAINING FOR OFFICERS AND STAFF, UH, WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT.
AND WE DO THAT MUCH LIKE PSU, UH, UTILIZING BOTH SWORN AS WELL AS PROFESSIONAL STAFF.
UH, AGAIN, THE CORE FUNCTION OF THE TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION UNIT, UH, IS TO IMPLEMENT ALL STATE MAN MANDATED TRAININGS.
UH, AS I'M SURE YOU'RE AWARE, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THOSE, UH, FOR OUR SWORN STAFF.
UH, OUR OFFICERS NEED TO HAVE A MINIMUM
[00:50:01]
OF 40 HOURS, UH, OF IN-SERVICE TRAINING, UH, EVERY YEAR.UH, AND THAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION, UH, TO MAKE SURE NOT ONLY THAT THE OFFICERS RECEIVE THAT 40 HOURS OF TRAINING, UH, BUT WE BELIEVE THAT OUR OFFICERS SHOULD HAVE, UH, MORE TRAINING THAN JUST THE 40 HOURS.
UH, AS A RESULT OF THAT, UH, WE ENSURE THAT THE 40 HOURS IS COMPLETED, AND THEN ALSO PROVIDE TRAINING BULLETINS, LEGAL UPDATES, AND DO A SERIES OF, UH, ON SHIFT TRAININGS, INCLUDING SCENARIO BASED TRAININGS TO ENSURE THAT ALL OF OUR OFFICERS HAVE, UH, A SIGNIFICANT KNOWLEDGE BASE AS WELL AS PROFICIENCY IN ALL THE FUNCTIONS THEY NEED TO CARRY OUT.
UH, IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING THIS TRAINING AND DIRECTING THE TRAINING, UH, WE ALSO SERVE AS A LIAISON BOTH TO THE MUNICIPAL POLICE, UH, TRAINING COMMITTEE, AS WELL AS POST, UH, FOR ALL TRAINING RECORDS.
UH, SO NOT ONLY DO WE ENSURE THAT THE TRAINING IS EXECUTED, UH, BUT WE MAKE SURE THAT ALL THE APPROPRIATE RECORDS ARE PROVIDED, UH, TO BOTH THE MPTC AND POSTS SO THAT ALL OF OUR OFFICERS, UH, MAINTAIN THE APPROPRIATE, UH, CERTIFICATION, UH, AS THE COMMISSIONER NOTED AS WELL.
UH, WE ALSO HOUSE WITHIN THE TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION UNIT OUR CAMBRIDGE NORTHEASTERN POLICE ACADEMY.
UH, WE ARE, UH, I WOULD SAY BOTH STATE AND NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FOR, UH, HOW WE, UH, EXECUTE AND PERFORM OUR FUNCTIONS WITHIN THE CAMBRIDGE NORTHEASTERN POLICE ACADEMY.
WE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, UH, WE SAW A PARAMILITARY STYLE OF TRAINING THAT WAS OCCURRING IN MOST OF THE STATE ACADEMIES, AND IT WASN'T REPRESENTING ALL OF OUR CORE VALUES AS A POLICE DEPARTMENT IN CAMBRIDGE.
UH, WE MET WITH NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, AND THEY HAD A SIMILAR PHILOSOPHY IN TERMS OF TRYING TO EX, UH, EXPAND HOW WE WERE TRAINING POLICE OFFICERS.
UH, AND AS A RESULT, WE WERE ABLE TO OBTAIN MPTC CERTIFICATION TO RUN OUR OWN ACADEMY IN CONJUNCTION WITH NORTHEASTERN.
UH, CURRENTLY WE HAVE A 40 STUDENT OFFICER, UH, ACADEMY, UH, IN WHICH WE PROVIDE OVER 800 HOURS, UH, OF INSTRUCTION, UH, OVER THE COURSE OF APPROXIMATELY, UH, 22 WEEKS.
UH, YOU DON'T HAVE TO LOOK MUCH FURTHER, UH, THAN THE NEWS, UH, WHETHER IT BE ONLINE, UH, PRINT, OR SOME OF THE STORIES YOU HEAR IN THE MEDIA TO SEE WHY WE SHOULD BE RUNNING, UH, THIS POLICE ACADEMY.
UH, THERE HAVE BEEN MANY OTHER AGENCIES THROUGHOUT, UH, THE COMMONWEALTH THAT HAVE HAD SIGNIFICANT ISSUES, WHETHER IT BE HAZING, UH, MISTREATMENT, OTHER STUDENT OFFICERS, UH, OBVIOUSLY THE MOST PROMINENT BEING A RECENT DEATH IN ONE OF THE STATE, UH, ACADEMIES, UH, AS WELL AS DEFICIENCIES WITH, UH, INSTRUCTORS ACROSS THE STATE.
THAT IS NOT AN ISSUE YOU'LL SEE WITH THE CAMBRIDGE, UH, NORTHEASTERN POLICE ACADEMY.
UH, AGAIN, WE ARE WIDELY RECOGNIZED AS BEING A MODEL OF BOTH INSTRUCTION AS WELL AS CONTENT.
BY BEING ABLE TO RUN OUR OWN ACADEMY, WE CONTROL THE CONTENT, THE DELIVERY, THE MESSAGING, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, FOR OUR STUDENT OFFICERS, THE SAFETY OF THOSE STUDENT OFFICERS.
UH, THE MPTC AFTER HAVING A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT ISSUES WITH THEIR OWN ACADEMIES, HAS COME TO US AND OUR STAFF IN THE ACADEMY SEEKING ADVICE TO ESTABLISH BEST PRACTICES FOR HOW TO RUN, UH, POLICE ACADEMIES.
UH, I COULD SAY I'VE ALSO PERSONALLY BEEN INVOLVED AS WELL IN HELPING TO REWRITE SOME OF THE CURRICULUM THAT IS INVOLVED, UH, IN THE POLICE ACADEMY, SO THAT WE ARE PROVIDING THE BEST CONTENT, UH, TO OUR POLICE OFFICERS.
UM, SO AGAIN, THE KEY BEING THAT WE ARE CONTROLLING THE CONTENT AND THE MESSAGING, UH, THROUGH THE LENS OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND TRANSPARENCY, AND MAKING SURE THAT WHEN OUR OFFICERS ARE OUT ON THE STREET, THEY UNDERSTAND THE CORE VALUES OF CAMBRIDGE AND ARE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE, UH, WITH THE COMMUNITY.
UM, FINALLY, I WOULD ALSO NOTE IN OUR ACADEMY, WE'VE BEEN A LEADER ALWAYS IN CAMBRIDGE IN TERMS OF, UH, THIS REGION, UH, IN TERMS OF HOW, UH, WE TRAIN IN OUR ICA TRAINING, AND IT'S SOMETHING WE'VE PRESENTED ON BEFORE, UH, WE STARTED INCORPORATING ICAT INTO OUR POLICE ACADEMY, UH, WELL BEFORE THE STATE DID.
UH, AND THAT IS ALSO ONE OF THE CORE DIFFERENCES THAT WE HAVE, THAT ALL OF OUR OFFICERS, STUDENT OFFICERS, WHETHER, UH, THEY'RE FROM CAMBRIDGE OR GOING TO ANOTHER REGIONAL, UH, AGENCY, ARE GOING TO BE TRAINED, UH, IN I A, UH, AND ALL THE UP-TO-DATE, UH, TRAINING THAT IS ASSOCIATED, UH, WITH THAT.
SO, UH, IN THAT REGARD, AS WELL AS SEVERAL OTHER COURSES WE EXCEED, UH, WHAT OTHER STATE, UH, ACADEMIES, UH, HAVE FOR THEIR STUDENT OFFICERS.
UH, THE FINAL TWO, UH, THINGS THAT I WOULD TOUCH ON IN TERMS OF THE TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION UNIT, UH, WOULD BE THE CADET PROGRAM IS ALSO HOUSED, UH, WITHIN TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.
UM, AND THAT IS A TWO YEAR PROGRAM, UH, THAT OFFERS CAMBRIDGE RESIDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE ON-THE-JOB TRAINING, ACADEMIC TRAINING, AS WELL AS FITNESS TRAINING, UH, TO SEE WHETHER OR NOT THEY WANT TO PURSUE, UH, A CAREER IN LAW
[00:55:01]
ENFORCEMENT.WE'VE HAD A GREAT DEAL OF SUCCESS, UH, WITH THAT PROGRAM.
UH, WE'VE HAD EIGHT OF OUR CADETS BOTH ATTEND AND GRADUATE THE CAMBRIDGE NORTHEASTERN POLICE ACADEMY.
WE CURRENTLY HAVE ONE OTHER CADET WHO'S IN THE ACADEMY.
UH, WE HAD ONE, UH, CADET WHO CHOSE, UH, TO MOVE ON FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT, BUT IS NOW, UH, A DISPATCHER IN EMERGENCY, UH, COMMUNICATIONS, UH, AND ANOTHER CADET WHO MOVED ON AND IS NOW A MEDIC, UH, HERE IN CAMBRIDGE.
SO, UM, THE, UH, BENEFITS OF THE CADET PROGRAM, UH, HAS CLEARLY BEEN SEEN, UM, IN TERMS OF, UH, REINITIATING IT BACK IN FY UH, 20.
UH, THE FINAL UNIT THAT I'LL TOUCH ON WITHIN, UH, TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION IS OUR FIREARMS AND ARMORS UNIT.
UH, AND THAT IS IN CHARGE OF, UH, DELIVERY, INSPECTION, UH, MAINTENANCE AND TRAINING FOR ALL FIREARMS, AS WELL AS, UH, LESS, UH, LESS LETHAL, UH, WEAPONS.
AS PART OF THE 40 HOURS OF MANDATED TRAINING, UH, THAT I MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, UH, ALL OF OUR OFFICERS ARE REQUIRED TO, UH, QUALIFY AND TRAIN ON THEIR FIREARMS TWICE A YEAR.
UH, THAT'S A MORE RECENT REQUIREMENT, UM, BY THE STATE TO DO IT, UH, TWICE A YEAR AS OPPOSED TO ONCE A YEAR.
UH, AND ADDITIONALLY, UH, OUR OFFICERS NEED TO QUALIFY ONCE A YEAR, UH, ON LESS LETHAL, UM, UH, ANY LESS LETHAL WEAPONS.
UH, THAT BEING SAID, ALTHOUGH THERE ARE MINIMUM MANDATES FOR, UH, TRAINING, UH, BY THE STATE, UM, WE'VE ALWAYS EXCEEDED THAT.
UM, WE DO SCENARIO BASED TRAINING ON OUR TI MACHINE, UH, IN-HOUSE IN THE DEPARTMENT.
WE UTILIZE A SIMULATION TRAILER WITH THE MIDDLESEX SHERIFF'S, UH, DEPARTMENT EVERY YEAR.
UH, AND WE HAVE ALSO DONE OTHER DEESCALATION AND LESS LETHAL TRAINING UTILIZING SPACE WITHIN OUR BUILDING AND OUR TI MACHINE.
FINALLY, THE LAST THING I WOULD NOTE ABOUT THIS UNIT.
UM, ALTHOUGH IT'S NOT HEAVILY STAFFED, UH, IT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THAT TRAINING COORDINATION.
AND IN ADDITION TO THAT, UH, OUR ARMORS ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE AS WELL, UH, FOR DOING, UH, INSPECTIONS AND LIVE TEST FIRES, UH, WITH DEFENSE EXPERTS ON CERTAIN FIREARMS, UH, THAT ARE SEIZED AND ARE GOING TO BE U UTILIZED IN PROSECUTION.
UM, SO THERE ARE OTHER, UM, SIGNIFICANT REQUIREMENTS FOR THOSE OFFICERS CONTAINED WITHIN THAT UNIT.
UM, AND THAT IS A SUMMARY OF BOTH OF THOSE SECTIONS.
I WILL NOTE, I REALLY HOPE WE'RE GETTING TO THE END BECAUSE THIS IS NOT JUST TO LET PEOPLE KNOW CO-CHAIRS, AND I DID NOT KNOW THESE PRESENTATIONS WE'RE GONNA BE PART OF IT, SO IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO, FOR, TO HAVE A LOT OF TIME FOR A COUNCIL.
I'M JUST, WE STILL HAVE A FEW PAGES OF THE PRESENTATION TO GO THROUGH.
I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S OTHER UNITS, BUT I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE WE GET TO ROBUST DISCUSSION.
UH, I HAVE TWO MORE SECTIONS THAT I'M GONNA GET THROUGH.
I THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE EXPLAIN WHAT OUR BUDGET IS AND WHY WE'RE DOING IT.
SO THE TWO FINAL SECTIONS, RIGHT? SO IT WOULD BE GOOD TO ACTUALLY TIE IT TO THE BUDGET.
I KNOW THE NUMBERS ARE HERE, BUT YEAH, I HAD TO GO BACK AND FORTH TO EVEN KNOW HOW MANY FTES WERE THERE.
SO LET'S MAKE SURE WE'RE ALL COORDINATED.
WE'RE TRYING REALLY HARD, UH, CHAIR, AND WE'LL DO, WELL, I'LL TRY TO DO BETTER.
SO THE NEXT UNIT THAT I WANNA TALK ABOUT IS OUR BODY WOR CAMERA UNIT.
UH, THE COMMANDER IS, IS NOT HERE TODAY, SO I'M GONNA DO THE BEST I CAN TO TALK ABOUT OUR B-W-C-B-W-C UNIT, WHICH IS BODY-WORN CAMERA.
AND I HAVE MIKE HORGAN WHO'S HERE, WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO FILL IN ANY OF THE BLANKS WHEN WE HAVE SOME QUESTIONS.
SO WE STARTED OUR BODY-WORN CAMERA UNIT APRIL 1ST, 2025.
AND SINCE THEN, WE HAVE UPLOADED A TOTAL OF FIFTY SEVEN ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO VIDEOS, UH, 56,310 SERVICE RELATED RECORDINGS.
SO THAT WAS CALLS FOR SERVICE 882 OF THOSE WERE FOR TESTED OR TRAINING, UH, RECORDINGS, 681.
UM, BODY-WORN CAMERA VIDEOS WERE USED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW.
WE HAD 339 DISTRICT ATTORNEY REQUESTS FULFILLED IN 244 PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST.
WHAT WE REALLY WANNA HIGHLIGHT IN THE BODY-WORN CAMERA UNIT IS HOW LABOR INTENSIVE THE WORK IS WHEN WE GET A PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST.
AND ON AVERAGE IT TAKES FOUR TO SIX MINUTES TO REVIEW ONE MINUTE OF OFFICER VIDEO.
SO WE HAVE, I KNOW YOU HAD ASKED THE QUESTION IN OUR THING, DO WE HAVE SIX PEOPLE? WE ACTUALLY HAVE FOUR PEOPLE, UM, IN OUR BODY-WORN CAMERA UNIT THAT ARE IN CHARGE OF REVIEWING, UM, THIS CAMERA.
AND WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT, WHEN WE RESPOND TO A CALL FOR SERVICE, IT'S NOT JUST ONE BODY-WORN CAMERA THAT YOU'RE VIEWING, BUT YOU'RE VIEWING MULTIPLE FROM DIFFERENT LENSES.
SO TO REDACT THAT AND GET IT OUT WITHIN THE 10 DAYS THAT WE'RE REQUIRED THROUGH THE PUBLIC RECORDS LAW, IT IS A VERY LABOR INTENSIVE PROCESS.
SO I JUST REALLY WANNA EMPHASIZE THAT AS WE THINK ABOUT THE QUESTIONS.
I THINK THE LA NOT, I THINK, BUT THE LAST PIECE THAT I WANNA GO OVER, AND, UH, THERE WERE SOME CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WHAT WE DID TO REDUCE OUR OVERTIME, UM, I'M SORRY, TO REDUCE, TO GET THE 1.5 MILLION REDUCTION.
[01:00:01]
AND I WANNA TALK ABOUT THAT BECAUSE WE TOOK THAT PROCESS, YOU KNOW, VERY, VERY SERIOUSLY.AND AS A DEPARTMENT, WE WENT IN AND TALKED TO THE ENTIRE TEAM SAYING, WE NEED TO FIND THIS 1.5 MILLION.
AND WE ACTUALLY SENT THEM OUT TO SAY, FIND OUT, GIVE US SOME SAVINGS, AND COME BACK TO US.
AND WHAT THEY ENDED UP DOING IS THEY'D COME BACK AND SAY, WELL, WE CAN SAVE MONEY IF WE, YOU KNOW, STOP DOING, YOU KNOW, THIS COMMUNITY EVENT.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I SAID IS, WE ARE NOT GONNA, WE DO NOT WANNA IMPACT COMMUNITY EVENTS WHEN IT COMES TO OVERTIME.
ANYTHING WHERE OFFICERS ARE OUT ON THE STREET, THOSE ARE SERVICES THAT OUR COMMUNITY WANTS AND EXPECTS.
SO WE'RE GONNA MAKE SURE THAT WE GO OUT THERE AND I WANNA SAY ALL OF OUR COMMUNITY EVENTS THAT WE HAVE, WHETHER IT'S THE DANCE PARTY, THE 4TH OF JULY, CARIBBEAN CARNIVAL, THE JAZZ FESTIVAL, ALL OF THOSE OVERTIME, ALL OF THOSE ASSIGNMENTS, SECURITY ASSIGNMENTS COME OUT OF OUR OPERATIONAL BUDGETS.
SO WE DON'T CHARGE ANYBODY THAT IS ALL, ALL OVERTIME, RIGHT? THAT WE HAVE TO PAY TO OUR OFFICERS.
SO THAT'S PART OF THE OVERTIME BUDGET.
SO WE DIDN'T WANNA TOUCH THAT AND WE'RE, I WAS REALLY ASKING OUR OFFICERS TO, OR OUR SUPERVISORS TO GO IN AND FIND OUT WHERE IS THE DISCRETIONARY OVERTIME, WHERE, YOU KNOW, IS THERE SOMETHING THAT, UM, WE CAN DO DURING THE SHIFT? SO REALLY DIGGING DEEP INTO THAT AND THROUGH THAT, THEY, THEY REALLY THROUGH, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AT THAT, WE WERE ABLE TO SAVE OVER $600,000 AND IT WAS LOOKING AT THINGS, IT'S REALLY KIND OF SMALL, BUT WE'RE, WE'RE THINKING ABOUT THINGS.
HOW CAN WE, YOU KNOW, EITHER LESS OFFICERS AT AN EVENT.
UM, BUT IT REALLY, IT FEELS LIKE WE'RE NICKLING IN DIMING WHEN IT COMES TO OUR OVERTIME, BECAUSE WE NEED TO HAVE OUR OFFICERS PRESENT AT THESE EVENTS.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE DEFINITELY GONNA DO IN 2026 TO SAVE ON OUR OVERTIME WILL BE HIRING.
WE HAVE, WE HAVE, I BELIEVE WE HAVE ENOUGH, UH, PATHWAYS FORWARD IN 2026 TO FILL ALL OF OUR VACANCIES, I THINK, WHICH WILL REALLY HELP, UM, OUR, HOW WE PROVIDE OUR SERVICES.
UM, I LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT.
SO I THINK THAT'S IT FOR, OH, OVERTIME.
SO WHEN WE LOOKED AT THE OVERTIME BUDGET, AND I WANNA TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OVERTIME, WHAT DO WE DO THAT FOR? SO WE HAVE OPERATIONAL VACANCIES, UH, FOR COUNSELOR ZUBIE.
THAT IS OUR BACKFILL THAT WE HAVE.
AND THAT'S ABOUT, YOU KNOW, UH, GENERALLY ABOUT 60% OF OUR OVERTIME.
AND THEN ALL OF OUR OFFICERS HAVE A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT SPECIALIZED AS ASSIGNMENTS AS SUPERINTENDENT WELLS TALKED ABOUT OUR TPF, OUR TACTICAL PATROL FORCE, AND OUR SPECIAL RESPONSE TEAM THAT, UM, RESPOND TO THE MOST CRITICAL INCIDENTS THAT WE HAVE IN THE CITY.
THOSE ARE OVERTIME ASSIGNMENTS.
AND I THINK, I DON'T KNOW IF PAULINE WELLS TALKED ABOUT IT, BUT THE REASON WHY WE HAVE THESE SPECIAL RESPONSE TEAMS IN THE CITY IS BECAUSE WE DID NOT WANNA PARTNER WITH REGIONAL RESPONSE TEAM, REGIONAL RESPONSE TEAMS. WHEN WE HAVE A CRITICAL INCIDENT, WE WANT CAMBRIDGE OFFICERS TRAINED THE CAMBRIDGE WAY TO GO IN AND EXECUTE SEARCH WARRANTS OR ARREST WARRANTS FOR POTENTIALLY, YOU KNOW, DANGEROUS FELONS.
WE DID NOT WANT PEOPLE FROM THE COMMUNITY THAT, AGAIN, DIDN'T UNDERSTAND OUR VALUES GOING IN AND, UM, UH, SERVICING THESE WARRANTS.
SO THAT'S WHY WE STARTED OUR TPF.
I THINK IT'S STILL, UH, A VERY, AGAIN, WE TRAIN OUR TPF, UH, VERY SPECIFICALLY TO THE CAMBRIDGE VALUES.
SAME THING WITH OUR TACTICAL PATROL FORCE, WHICH IS THE ONES THAT DO MOST OF THE PROTESTS.
I THINK WE DO A GREAT JOB AT PROTESTS, PARTICULARLY SOME OF THE ONES THAT GET, UM, REALLY, UM, ESCALATED.
AND AGAIN, A LOT OF THOSE, ALL THOSE PROTESTS THAT YOU SEE ARE ON OVERTIME THAT IS NOT USING, WE'RE NOT USING OPERATIONAL, UH, RESOURCES FOR THAT.
OUR, THE PEOPLE THAT YOU SEE OUT IN OPERATIONS ON THEIR DAILY SHIFT, THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT YOU SEE IN THE PATROL CARS.
THEY'RE RESPONDING TO CALLS FOR SERVICE, THAT'S THEIR JOB.
UM, AND THEN THEY DO SOME PROACTIVE WORK.
SO WHEN WE WERE ABLE TO REALLY, WHAT WE DID, UH, I FEEL LIKE I'M ALL OVER THE PLACE, BUT TO GET CONTROL OVER THE TI OVER TIME, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE DID IT IS BEST PRACTICE IS TO MAKE SURE WE HAD A PRE-APPROVAL PROCESS.
PRIOR TO THAT WE, WE, IT WASN'T PRE-APPROVED.
AND SO WE UNDERSTAND THERE WAS DEFINITELY SOME AREAS WHERE WE COULD, UH, IMPROVE OUR CHECKS AND BALANCES TO MAKE SURE THAT IT GOT PRE-APPROVED TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO REDUCE.
SO WE PUT, WE IMPLEMENTED THAT.
WE ALSO MADE SURE THAT WE KICKED UP OUR APPROVAL PROCESS TO THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE LEVERS.
SO ONLY THE SUPERINTENDENTS, UM, MYSELF AND, UH, DIRECTOR MULKEY HAD THE ABILITY TO APPROVE OVERTIME.
SO THROUGH THAT, WE WERE ABLE TO REDUCE THE OVERTIME, UM, OVER $600,000.
AND WE DO SEE THAT WHEN WE HAVE A NEW PROCESS INVOLVED.
ANOTHER THING THAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE'VE ADDED IS WE NEED A LOT MORE DETAIL, UH, WHERE WE'RE TALKING TO OUR LEO PENTER, IT'S LIKE, WE NEED, WHAT DO YOU USE THIS OVERTIME FOR? WE CAN'T JUST WRITE ADMIN.
WE NEED MORE INFORMATION SO WE CAN CLASSIFY IT APPROPRIATELY.
I THINK SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE WANT, WANNA LOOK AT IS, ARE WE ASKING FOR WHAT WE NEED IN OUR BUDGET? RIGHT? AND IF WE'RE NOT, LET'S ASK FOR IT.
SO MOVING FORWARD, WE'RE REALLY GONNA DO A MUCH BETTER JOB ON CATEGORIZING OUR OVERTIME SO WE KNOW EXACTLY WHERE IT'S COMING FROM, SO THAT
[01:05:01]
WE KNOW IN THE BUDGET WHERE WE MIGHT NEED TO ASK FOR MORE.UH, THE CADET PROGRAM THAT WE ORIGINALLY BUDGETED FOR, IT WAS A MILLION DOLLARS FOR 15 SLOTS.
WE HAVE BEEN TRYING, TRYING, TRYING TO FILL THOSE 15 SLOTS AND BASICALLY WE JUST DON'T HAVE THE INTEREST IN THE CITY.
WE'RE OUT THERE TRYING TO GET, UM, YOUNG PEOPLE.
WE DON'T WANNA REDUCE IT, LIKE ELIMINATE IT, BUT WE THINK REDUCING IT SIGNIFICANTLY TO ABOUT FIVE SLOTS, UH, WE ARE JUST NOT SEEING THE NUMBERS, UH, TO, TO KEEP IT AT 15.
UH, I DON'T KNOW THAT WE'RE GONNA EVER GET TO 15 CADETS.
I THINK KEEPING IT AT A MORE REASONABLE NUMBER OF FIVE, THAT WAS THE OTHER PLACE, UM, THAT WE GOT OUR REDUCTIONS.
SO WITH THAT, UM, CHAIR NOLAN, I WILL SAY WE ARE ACTUALLY, I CAN GO OVER BRIEFLY.
LEMME MAKE SURE I'M LOOKING AT THE RIGHT SIDE SHOW.
SORRY, I'M, SO, GO TO PAGE SIX OF THE SLIDE.
SO PAGE SIX, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, UM, THE SALARY GO.
DO YOU WANNA TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT PIECE? THE NEXT ONE? YEAH.
SO THE SALARY GROWTH, UM, OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS HAS BEEN $7.9 MILLION.
1.2, UM, MILLION IS THE REDUCTION OF THE 2.1% EXERCISE THAT WE, UM, THAT COMMISSIONER ELO JUST SPOKE ABOUT.
UM, NON-SALARY BUDGET GROWTH HAS BEEN APPROXIMATELY $1.5 MILLION FROM 22 TO 27.
AND WE'VE LISTED, UM, SOME OF THE AREAS THAT WE HAVE, UM, IMPLEMENTED THAT HAS GROWN OUR BUDGET.
UM, OTHER SELECTED INITIATIVES, WE JUST LISTED A FEW IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS MM-HMM
WHICH, UM, COMMISSIONER ELO WILL GO THROUGH, UM, A LITTLE BIT MORE DETAIL.
SO, UM, AS WE TALKED ABOUT THE NON-SALARY GROWTH, YOU HEARD, UH, WE TALKED ABOUT OUR BODY-WORN CAMERA PROGRAM.
YOU SEE THE BUDGET FOR THAT CLEAN FLEET.
UH, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT DAVE BROWN TALKED ABOUT THAT.
THE DATA TRANSPARENCY AND ANALYSIS IS OUR, UH, THE PORTAL THAT WE HAVE AROUND OUR ARREST CITATIONS, UM, AND TICKETS.
JUST HOW ARE WE TREATING OUR COMMUNITY? THAT WAS ANOTHER TRANSPARENCY, UH, PIECE.
AND, UH, THAT COSTS MONEY, UH, PARTNERSHIP WITH ROCA, UH, THAT HAS BEEN REALLY, REALLY ROBUST.
I WILL SAY OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, THEY HAVE, UM, A NEW, UH, PERSON IN THERE THAT'S HELPING US WITH THAT.
UH, JIM REFERRED TO THE LESS LETHAL TRAINING THAT WE HAD.
THAT WAS WHEN WE ADDED THE LESS LETHAL LAUNCHES TO OUR, UM, TO OUR TRUE BOX AFTER, UM, OUR FATAL INVOLVED SHOOTING.
UH, SO WE, THE REDUCTION IN TRAVEL AND TRAINING.
CAN YOU JUST EXPLAIN THAT? TRAVEL AND TRAINING REDUCTION? YES.
SO WE DO HAVE A REDUCTION IN TRAVEL AND TRAINING, WHICH IS REALLY OFFSET WHAT'S INCREASES IN OTHER AREAS.
SO WE REDUCE OUR OUT OF, UM, STATE TRAVEL, BUT WE ALSO HAVE INCREASED OUR TUITION REIMBURSEMENT, AND THAT IS PER THE, UM, PATROLS, UM, BARGAINING UNIT CONTRACT.
AND BOTH PAGE, THE BOTTOM OF PAGE SIX ARE SOME OF THE INITIATIVES THAT, YOU KNOW, SPEAK TO, UM, YOU KNOW, OUR ACCREDITATION AND THE QUALITY OF OUR DEPARTMENT.
WE'RE NOT JUST CHECKING BOXES.
WE'RE INVOLVED IN LIKE, THE DEEP WORK OF TRYING TO SUPPORT PEOPLE.
THE ALTERNATIVE HI, UM, HIRING PATHWAY.
THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT WE, THROUGH CIVIL SERVICE, THEY RECOGNIZED WE WERE NOT GETTING THE HIRING NUMBERS THAT WE NEEDED IN OUR COMMUNITIES.
THEY, UM, DEVELOPED AN ALTERNATIVE, UH, HIRING PATHWAY THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO ENGAGE IN.
AGAIN, THAT'S GONNA HELP US FULFILL OUR NUMBERS.
THESE ARE ALREADY GONNA BE TRAINED POLICE OFFICERS.
IT'S NOT GONNA COST THE CITY ANY MONEY, AND WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET 'EM ON THE STREET, UH, PRETTY QUICKLY.
BUT THE BIG PART OF THAT IS JUST MAKING SURE IT'S CONSISTENT WITH CAMBRIDGE VALUES.
UH, THE JAIL REENTRY INITIATIVE, SECOND CHANCE PROGRAM.
I, I REALLY WANNA HIGHLIGHT THE SECOND CHANCE PROGRAM.
THAT'S ANOTHER PIECE WITH OUR CLINICAL SUPPORT UNIT WORKING, UM, WITH THE POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE CRIMINALLY INVOLVED TO GET RECORD SEALED, TO GET PEOPLE HOUSED.
I MEAN, AGAIN, THE INTENTIONAL WORK THAT THIS POLICE DEPARTMENT IS INVOLVED IN IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE.
UM, CO RESPONSE PROGRAM, AS WE TALKED ABOUT THAT IS REALLY HELPING.
THAT IS, AGAIN, THE MOST ACUTE CRISIS CALLS THAT WE GO TO.
OUR OFFICERS ARE LOOKING FOR THAT L-I-C-S-W TO SAY, HOW CAN WE, YOU KNOW, REDUCE THE RISK CARE AND DEESCALATE THAT CALL, UH, POST OVERDOSE SUPPORT GRANT, YOU CAN ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT IN OUR COMMUNITY GAME NIGHTS.
UM, WE COULD, THE NEXT PAGE, PAGE EIGHT.
I'M JUST GONNA RUN THROUGH THESE REALLY, REALLY QUICKLY.
WE TALKED ABOUT OUR, YOU KNOW WHAT I, I, I REALLY THINK, DON'T WE NEED TO GET TO CONVERS? I MEAN, THESE ARE, I'M JUST, I'M JUST REALLY, WE ARE ONLY GOING TILL NOON.
I ALSO BELIEVE THE NEXT PAGE, WHICH IS UP, WE'VE ALREADY GONE OVER MOST OF THOSE.
I, I'M JUST REALLY GOING THROUGH REALLY, REALLY QUICK.
CAN I REALLY, REALLY QUICK, SHOULD I JUST FINISH? ALL RIGHT.
[01:10:01]
CAN READ THAT.THE NEXT PAGE, I REALLY WANNA HIGHLIGHT THIS LAST PAGE.
I, AGAIN, READ THIS ON YOUR OWN.
YOUR POLICE DEPARTMENT IS A LEADER IN THESE INITIATIVES WHEN IT COMES TO MEETING PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE AND FINDING ALTERNATIVES TO DIVERSION AND DEFLECTION WITHIN OUR CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
WE WORK COLLABORATIVELY, COLLABORATIVELY WITH THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND I JUST HOPE THIS PRESENTATION CAME ACROSS OF THE DEPTH OF THE WORK THAT WE ARE INVOLVED IN, AND HOW MUCH WE ARE COMMUNITY FOCUSED, RIGHT.
AND CARING FOR THE MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY.
WITH THAT, WE ARE READY FOR QUESTIONS.
AND SORRY TO, IT JUST, WE REALLY, IT MAY BE, WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS, BUT I THINK THIS WHOLE IDEA IS TO HAVE A BUDGET DISCUSSION RELATED TO ALL OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
AND I WILL SAY, IF WE COULD CALL CLERK, UM, I BELIEVE COUNCILOR SIMMONS AND VICE MAYOR ZEMA ONLINE, AND I KNOW THAT, UM, COUNCILOR MCGOVERN, WHO HAD A MEDICAL, UH, REASON FOR NOT BEING HERE EARLY.
I'M REALLY GLAD YOU WERE ABLE TO COME.
SO IF YOU COULD CALL THAT THE COUNCILOR SIMMONS AND VICE ENE COUNCILOR ZE, UM, PRESENT, PRESENT COUNCIL.
I, THIS WOULD LIKE TO BE NOTED THAT I WAS HERE AT, UM, 10 15.
UM, AND WE DO HAVE A PUBLIC COMMENT, SO WE WILL GO AND INSTEAD OF, UH, GIVEN THE TIME, INSTEAD OF THREE MINUTES EACH, EACH, WE'LL HAVE TWO MINUTES.
IF YOU COULD CALL THE, ANY THE PUBLIC COMMENT.
CAN YOU HEAR ME? WE CAN PLEASE GO AHEAD.
I LIVE ON MAGAZINE STREET HERE IN CAMBRIDGE.
I'M HERE BECAUSE I BELIEVE OUR BUDGET REVEALS CAMBRIDGE'S VALUES AND BELIEFS.
AND BECAUSE I BELIEVE THAT INCREASING FUNDING TO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT WITH ONE HAND WHILE TIGHTENING THE CITY'S PURSE STRINGS WITH THE OTHER, WOULD SEND THE MESSAGE THAT CAMBRIDGE PRIORITIZES SURVEILLING ITS CITIZENS OVER HOUSING AND EDUCATING THEM.
THE FIRST CAMBRIDGE CITY ISSUE THAT BROUGHT ME HERE TO PUBLIC COMMON IN CITY COUNCIL WAS THE CLOSING OF THE SPALDING TRANSITION WELLNESS CENTER HERE IN RESIDENCE EXPERIENCE OF HOW THE PROGRAM HAD ALLOWED THEM TO RESTART THEIR LIVES, RECONNECT WITH FAMILY, AND FIND EMPLOYMENT, MADE IT OBVIOUS THAT CAMBRIDGE HAS TREMENDOUS POWER TO HELP ITS RESIDENTS AND UPLIFT THEM.
AND WHILE I AM HAPPY AND THANKFUL FOR THE FUNDING AND HOUSING VOUCHERS EXTENDED TO SPALDING'S RESIDENTS, THE ULTIMATE DECISION TO SEIZE FUNDING TO THE PROGRAM REVEALED THAT CAMBRIDGE'S DECISIONS AROUND PROGRAMS LIKE THIS ONE STILL HAVE TO CONTEND WITH AUSTERITY MEASURES AND THE NEED TO, I GUESS, TIGHTEN THE BUDGET IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.
IT'S NOT JUST SPALDING, EITHER.
THE CITY AS A WHOLE HAS TO CUT ITS BUDGET IN RESPONSE TO FEDERAL BUDGET CUTS.
WHY THEN WOULD THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BE EXEMPT FROM THESE MEASURES WHEN IT IS SHOWN INSTINCT TO SPEND ITS MONEY ON PROGRAMS THAT SURVEIL RATHER THAN UPLIFT CAMBRIDGE'S RESIDENTS? I SAY THIS DUE TO EXTREME CONCERN OVER THE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S, PAST COLLABORATION WITH TWO ENTITIES THAT HAVE BEEN WILLING TO COLLAB, COLLABORATE WITH ICE AND DHS, NAMELY FLOCK AND SHOT SPOTTER.
SHOT SPOTTER HAS A HISTORY OF REGISTERING A HIGH RATE OF FALSE POSITIVES, IS DEPLOYED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY IN COMMUNITIES OF COLOR.
AND HE'S USED TO RECORD NOT ONLY GUNSHOTS, BUT PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS.
PROSECUTORS HAVE ATTEMPTED TO USE THESE RECORDINGS IN COURT.
FURTHERMORE, ITS DEVELOPMENT IN CAMBRIDGE WAS FUNDED BY A DHS GRANT, AND THE PARENT COMPANY HAS A HISTORY OF WORKING WITH FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
ADDITIONALLY, AS RELIEVED AS I AM ABOUT THE CITY'S DECISION TO TERMINATE THE CONTRACT WITH FLOCK SAFETY, THE DECISION TO AWARD THE CONTRACT TO A COMPANY WITH THE HISTORY OF WORKING WITH DHS IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND THE COMPANY'S SUBSEQUENT BREACH OF TRUST, SHOWS THAT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS PRIORITIZING SURVEILLANCE AND IS WILLING TO WORK WITH THE FEDERAL AGENCIES THAT ARE TERRORIZING COMMUNITIES, COMMUNITIES OF COLOR ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
I BELIEVE THERE IS A BETTER WAY TO SPEND THIS MONEY.
I BELIEVE THAT RATHER THAN FUNDING A DEPARTMENT WITH A RECENT HISTORY OF WORKING ON THIS TYPE OF SURVEILLANCE, WE CAN CONTINUE TO FUND OUR HOUSING PROGRAMS, EDUCATION PROGRAMS, AND IMPROVE THE CONDITIONS OF THE CITY FOR EVERYONE.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME, MADAM CHAIR.
THE OTHER PERSON WAS SIGNED UP FOR LAST NIGHT'S MEETING AND ERROR.
SO THERE'S NO ONE ELSE SIGNED UP FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.
I WILL NOW OPEN IT UP TO THE FLOOR FOR COUNCIL QUESTIONS, DISCUSSION, ANY KIND OF COMMENTS ON THIS? WHO WANTS TO START? COUNCILOR FLAHERTY.
AND THROUGH YOU, UH, MADAM CHAIR.
I THINK, UH, JUST IN CONTEXT OF MY COMMENTS, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE FOR THE RECORD THAT I'VE BEEN AN ATTORNEY PRACTICING WITH A CONCENTRATION IN CRIMINAL DEFENSE AND WHITE COLLAR FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS.
I'M A FORMER PROSECUTOR, AND I'VE GOT, UH, LOTS OF FAMILIARITY, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE WITH POLICE PRACTICES.
SO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT, I THINK,
[01:15:01]
TO SHARE SOME OF MY UNDERSTANDING ABOUT, UM, OTHER POLICE DEPARTMENTS AND HOW THEY OPERATE, MAYBE THE COSTS AND THE RETURN ON INVESTMENTS THAT OTHER COMMUNITIES HAVE.UM, AND, YOU KNOW, FULL DISCLOSURE, I'VE REPRESENTED POLICE OFFICERS IN THE PAST THROUGH REQUESTS BY UNIONS.
UH, I DON'T THINK I'VE EVER REPRESENTED ANYBODY WHO'S A MEMBER OF THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT, BUT I AM FAMILIAR WITH BEST POLICE PRACTICES LESS THAN BEST POLICE PRACTICES.
AND I CAN TELL YOU JUST, UM, BY COMPARISON THAT THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS THE GOLD STANDARD.
UM, I, I'VE BEEN INVOLVED WITH POLICE DEPARTMENTS FROM ESSEX COUNTY, NORFOLK COUNTY, MIDDLESEX COUNTY, SUFFOLK COUNTY, PLYMOUTH COUNTY, WORCESTER COUNTY, SPRINGFIELD, HAMPTON, BARNSTABLE.
AND I REALLY HAVE NOT SEEN IN MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, UH, ANY POLICE DEPARTMENT THAT HAS INVESTED.
UM, IT'S TIME MET AND EFFORT AND SORT OF THE COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, UH, THAT THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS.
AND JUST LISTENING, UM, QUICKLY TO THE PRESENTATION TODAY AND THE EFFORTS THAT THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS MADE, IT'S REMARKABLE.
THE, UM, AND I NOTE, UH, SUPERINTENDENT WELLS MADE A MENTION, UH, OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO HAVE AN EXCELLENT GOLD STANDARD POLICE DEPARTMENT, BIOHAZARDS, UM, WORLD RECOGNIZED, UM, WORLD RENOWNED UNIVERSITIES, DIGNITARIES HERE ON A DAILY BASIS, IN ADDITION TO A COMMUNITY OF 115,000 PEOPLE WITH ALL OF THE, UM, ELEMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT.
UH, AND TO DO WHAT WE'VE DONE WITH THE FAMILY SOCIAL JUSTICE UNIT, UM, HAVING EXPERT, UM, CLINICIANS IN THE CARE UNIT, UM, THE POLICE RESPONSIVENESS.
AND I'VE HAD PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH RECENTLY AN ATTEMPTED HOUSEBREAK AT MY OWN, UH, HOME.
AND THE RESPONSE BY THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE WAS OUTSTANDING.
SO, UH, I I SAY THIS, UM, TO CONTEXTUALIZE MY COMMENTS IN THAT FROM AN EXPERIENCED SORT OF MEASURED WAY, UH, WHEN I EXAMINED FROM THE DIRECT EVIDENCE IN FRONT OF ME ABOUT THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT, I THINK WE DO GET A GOOD BANG FOR OUR BUCK.
BUT I, I, UH, I, I DO HAVE, UH, ONE QUESTION, ACTUALLY A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS, BUT THE WALK AND TALK AND THE, UM, AND THE MICRO, UM, EFFORTS THAT WE'RE USING IN THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE, UM, I, I, I HEARD THE, UH, AMOUNT OF THE WALK AND TALK PATROLS THAT WE ARE DOING IS THERE, IS THERE AN ABILITY TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT THAT WE'RE DOING? BECAUSE I, I RECOGNIZE AND APPRECIATE THAT THE, UH, FUNDAMENTAL CARDINAL PRINCIPLE OF COMMUNITY POLICING IS RELATIONSHIPS AND DEVELOPING THOSE RELATIONSHIPS, UH, IN THE COMMUNITIES ALL THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
AND THERE IS A WAY, IS THERE A WAY THAT WE CAN INCREASE, UH, THE AMOUNT, UH, THE PRESENCE, UH, AND THE INVESTMENT IN THE WALK AND TALK PATROLS THROUGH YOU CHAIR NOLAN TO COUNCILOR FLAHERTY.
AND I, I WILL SAY THE, YOU KNOW, THE STANDARD FOR US, IT'S LIKE WE WANNA SPREAD OUR OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TO EVERY LEVEL OF THE DEPARTMENT, RIGHT? SO EVERYBODY SHOULD BE DOING IT.
IN A PERFECT WORLD, OUR DETECTIVES ARE PATROL OFFICERS, EVERYBODY WHO'S OUT THERE, IF YOU SEE SOMEBODY IN NEED, YOU, YOU SHOULD BE TRYING TO ENGAGE.
SO, UM, WAS THE QUESTION, DO WE NEED, WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO TO DO MORE OF THAT? UM, MORE PEOPLE, RIGHT? YEAH.
AND I THINK WE'RE GONNA BE SOLVING THAT, THAT PROBLEM ONCE WE HAVE THE ACADEMY CLASS COMING OUT NOW, AND THE ALTERNATIVE PATHWAY FOR THE SUMMER, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES DO, UH, TICK UP IN THE SUMMER, THERE'S A LOT MORE PEOPLE OUT MAKING SURE THAT WE HAVE OFFICERS ON THE STREET TO THE COUNCILORS POINT, DEVELOPING THOSE RELATIONSHIPS.
AND REALLY, YOU KNOW, THIS IS THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
THESE ARE THE EXPECTATIONS THAT IF YOU WANNA COME HERE, THIS IS WHAT WE EXPECT.
AND THAT'S THE WORK I THINK SUPERINTENDENT WELLS TALKED ABOUT THAT WE WERE DOING IN THE SQUARES.
WE WANT PEOPLE TO COME AND ENJOY OUR COMMUNITY.
WE UNDERSTAND THAT PEOPLE STRUGGLE.
WE WANNA MEET PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE, BUT ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE RULES, RIGHT? THAT YOU CAN'T, YOU KNOW, SHOOT DRUGS IN THE MIDDLE OF CENTRAL SQUARE, RIGHT? SO, AND IF YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN OUR SQUARE, THERE IS GONNA BE, YOU KNOW, POLICE INTERACTION.
SO WE'RE REALLY TRYING TO WALK THE BALANCE OF PROVIDING SERVICES AND MAKING SURE THAT OUR SPACE FAILS CLEAN, AND WE'RE ALWAYS TRYING TO INCREASE OUR, OUR EFFORTS.
AND THEN JUST THE, THE QUICK FOLLOW UP TO THAT IS THE, UH, COMMUNITY ACTION TEAM THAT WAS, UH, DEPLOYED AT THE CENTRAL SQUARE LAST YEAR.
[01:20:01]
I NOTED THE NUMBERS ARE PRETTY REMARKABLE, THAT THERE WAS 65% OF THE PEOPLE INTERACTED WITH WERE REFERRED THROUGH MENTAL HEALTH OR ADDICTION SERVICES, UH, UNHOUSED SERVICES, WHICH I THINK IS, UM, YOU KNOW, IN MY ESTIMATION IT'S, IT'S, IT'S PRETTY REMARKABLE.BUT HOW DO WE TAKE THAT MODEL, SORT OF THAT PILOT PROGRAM AND EXPAND IT TO, I MEAN, JUST OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, PORTER SQUARE, FOR INSTANCE, HOW, HOW DO WE DO THAT IN THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE? BECAUSE THE RESULTS THAT WE GOT FROM THAT TYPE OF DIRECTED SORT OF ENFORCEMENT ENHANCEMENT, I THINK REAPED GREAT DIVIDENDS.
AND IF WE CAN SEE THAT, YOU KNOW, IN EAST CAMBRIDGE AND NORTH CAMBRIDGE AND WEST CAMBRIDGE AND PORTER SQUARE, MAYBE, UM, MAYBE WE'LL GET EVEN MORE BANG FOR OUR BUCK FROM THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
SO WE MOVED THE UNIT TO OUR FAMILY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTION.
SO WE HAVE, AND I KNOW MIKE MADERO CAN TALK ABOUT THIS, EIGHT OFFICERS THAT ARE, ARE CHARGED TO GO OUT THROUGH THE CITY, BECAUSE WHAT WE ARE SEEING IS THAT THE PROBLEM MOVES.
SO WE HAD AN ISSUE IN CENTRAL SQUARE ONCE WE KIND OF REALLY, UM, UH, FOCUSED OUR EFFORTS IN CENTRAL SQUARE.
THE PROBLEM MOVED TO HARVARD SQUARE AND PORTER SQUARE.
SO WE HAD TO MOVE OUR, UM, APPROACH, UH, TO, TO THOSE PLACES.
SO IT REALLY IS ABOUT MANAGING, YOU KNOW, SOME OF OUR, THE ISSUES THAT WE HAVE IN THE SQUARE AND ACCESSING THE RESOURCES IN THE SYSTEM, UH, WHEN WE NEED TO.
YOU, UM, UH, FIRST I'LL GO TO, UH, COUNCILLOR SABRINA WHEELER, AND THEN COUNCILLOR SUZI.
THANKS, MADAM CHAIR THROUGH YOU.
UM, I HAD A QUESTION, A COUPLE QUESTIONS.
ONE, RELATED TO THE FUNDING SPENT ON, UM, BODY-WORN CAMERAS AND THE STAFF TIME TO REVIEW THE FOOTAGE.
UM, HOW, HOW MANY PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS, UM, HAS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT RECEIVED SO FAR? AND HOW MANY, UM, HAS THE DEPARTMENT RESPONDED TO? LET ME GET MY SLIDE.
AND, AND AS THAT COMES UP, IT WOULD BE REALLY HELPFUL.
I ASSUME ALL OF THE STATEMENTS THAT WERE MADE EARLY ON SHOULD BE SENT TO THE CLERK AS A MATTER OF PUBLIC RECORD.
'CAUSE THERE WAS A TON OF INFORMATION NOT IN THE PRESENTATION.
SO IF EVERYBODY WHO SPOKE COULD SEND THOSE, UH, ALL OF THEIR STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION TO THE CLERK SO THAT IT CAN BE FILED WITH IT, BECAUSE I KNOW SOME OF THOSE NUMBERS WERE THERE, BUT WE WENT BY IT REALLY QUICKLY.
BUT PLEASE, EVERYBODY WHO SPOKE, SEND YOUR STATEMENTS.
I'M GONNA TURN THIS OVER TO, UH, MIKE HORGAN, WHO IS OUR DIRECTOR IN CHARGE OF OUR BODY-WORN CAMERA UNIT.
UH, AS OF 2025, WE HAD 244 PUBLIC REQUESTS FOR BODY CAMERA AND OVERT CAMERAS OUT IN CENTRAL SQUARE.
A LOT OF THE REQUESTS PREDATED THE CAMERAS, SO WE HAD TO DENY THEM OF THE REQUESTS THAT WERE MADE.
39 DID GO OUT, BUT WE HAD A LOT OF REQUESTS FOR EXORBITANT REQUESTS FOR VIDEOS THAT THEY WANTED.
UH, SIX MONTHS OF THIS ONE PARTICULAR OFFICER IN THAT CASE IS A STATE STANDARD WHERE THE FIRST TWO HOURS ARE FREE, AND THEN WE CHARGE YOU FOR THE ADDITIONAL HOURS AND THE PEOPLE REFUSE TO COME UP WITH A FEE.
SO THERE WAS DENIALS BASED OFF OF THAT.
SO THE, UM, ONES THAT WERE NOT DENIED THAT WERE 39, YOU SAID THAT WERE RESPOND WITH POLICE, CORRECT? YES.
AND JUST A REMINDER, IF THOSE CAN BE TIED TO THE BUDGET, THAT WOULD BE, UH, IMPORTANT RELATED TO THIS PARTICULAR HEARING.
UM, AND THEN ANOTHER QUESTION I HAD WAS, UM, TOUCHED A LITTLE ON, UH, THE POLICE CO RESPONSE WITH THE, THE SOCIAL WORKER PROGRAM.
UM, UH, WHICH, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, WAS NOT ASKED, YOU KNOW, AS A, AS A REFRESHER SORT OF, YOU KNOW, WAS A PROGRAM SET UP BY THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, WAS NOT AN IN AN INITIATIVE FROM THE COUNCIL, OR SOMETHING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL HAD HAD ASKED FOR, UM, BUT WAS SET UP AND, AND DOES CONTINUE TO EXIST.
UM, MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THE, UM, FUNDING FOR THE SOCIAL WORKER PORTION OF THAT IS COMING FROM THE STATE GOVERNMENT.
UM, UH, BUT THE POLICE OFFICER PORTION, GIVEN THAT IT'S A, A CO RESPONSE, A SOCIAL WORKER AND A POLICE OFFICER THAT THE CITY IS PAYING FOR THE POLICE OFFICER PORTION OF THAT.
UM, SO FOR THE BUDGET, HOW MUCH OF THE CITY FUNDS ARE GOING TO THE, THE POLICE OFFICER PORTION OF, UH, THE CO RESPONSE? THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION.
SO IT'S JUST THAT POLICE OFFICER? YES.
THEY'RE ALREADY ON OUR STAFF AND WE, UM, ABSORBED LIKE CO RESPONSE INTO OUR CURRENT, UH, PROCESSES, RIGHT? SO THE POLICE OFFICER IS ALREADY ON OUR STAFF AND BY UTILIZING THAT RESOURCES, SO HOW MUCH THAT ONE OFFICER IS, IS THAT YOUR QUESTION? MM-HMM
DO WE KNOW HOW MUCH ONE OFFICER GOES? I DO NOT HAVE THAT OFFICER'S, UM, SALARY HERE WITH ME.
I WOULD HAVE TO, UM, SEND THAT TO IF YOU AT A LATER DATE, BUT THAT ONE OFFICER.
[01:25:01]
OUT FOR THAT, THAT INFO IF WE COULD, COULD GET THAT.UM, AND THEN ONE OTHER QUESTION.
UM, ONE OF THE SLIDES TALKED ABOUT, UH, TECHNOLOGY SPENDING INCREASE FOR PUBLIC SAFETY TECHNOLOGY IN THE FY 27 BUDGET.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THAT? SURE.
UH, UM, SO THROUGH YOU COUNSELOR NOLAN TO, UH, COUNSELOR SABRINA WHEELER FOR OUR PUBLIC SAFETY, UM, WE WANTED TO ADD TO OUR CURRENT CAPACITY.
SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE DID WHEN WE PUT OUT THE CENTRAL SQUARE, UH, PUBLIC SAFETY CAMERAS, PART OF THE GOAL WAS TO SEE IF WE COULD EXPAND IT TO OTHER SQUARES.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT HARVARD SQUARE AS A POTENTIAL, UH, NEXT SQUARE TO ADD OUR PUBLIC SAFETY CAMERAS, UM, TO, UH, UH, YEAH, TO HARVARD SQUARE.
THE OTHER PIECE THAT WE WANNA ADD TO IS OUR, UM, CELL PHONES ADDING OFFICERS WITH THE ABILITY TO USE CELL PHONES IN THEIR, UH, DUTY TO TAKE PICTURES, DOWNLOAD, UM, UH, POLICIES, PROCEDURES, AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE.
SO IT'S EXPANDING OUR ABILITY TO, UM, HAVE CELL PHONES ON THE ROAD AND OUR PUBLIC SAFETY EXPANSION.
AND I KNOW MIKE EROS DID A LOT OF WORK ON OUR CELL PHONES AND WHY WE NEED CELL PHONES OR HOW IT WOULD HELP OFFICERS AND IN TURN, HELP OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS, UH, WITH THE SERVICES THAT WE'RE PROVIDING OUT IN THE STREET.
AND HE CAN COME UP AND SPEAK TO THAT IF PEOPLE HAVE PARTICULAR QUESTIONS.
UM, I'LL, UH, YIELD FOR NOW, JUST, UH, SO OTHER COUNSELORS HAVE TIME TO, TO ASK QUESTIONS.
UM, SORT OF ECHO THE, UH, COMMENT FROM CHAIR NOLAN THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO HAVE MORE BUDGET NUMBERS TIED INTO THE, THE CONVERSATION.
AND THIS MEETING IS SORT OF SPECIFICALLY ABOUT POLICE BUDGET AND THE ANNUAL ALLOCATION AND THE FISCAL YEAR 27.
THERE ARE SORT OF OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO TALK ABOUT PROGRAMS FROM THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND WHAT'S WORKING OR WHAT, WHAT'S NOT, AND WHAT'S, YOU KNOW, THE, THE RESPONSE BEEN.
UM, HAVING THE, THE NUMBERS HERE I THINK IS, UH, REALLY IMPORTANT FOR THIS CONVERSATION.
AND THEN, UH, WE ARE TALKING NOW ABOUT, UH, YOU KNOW, REDUCTIONS IN SPENDING ACROSS DEPARTMENTS, ASKING EVERY DEPARTMENT TO, TO COME DOWN.
AND, UH, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS ONE OF THOSE.
I THINK, UH, YOU KNOW, NOT EXPANDING THE, THE, THE CAMERAS INTO HARVARD SQUARE IS A, UH, BUDGET SAVINGS.
WE SHOULD ACTUALLY BE, BE LOOKING AT THE POLICE OFFICER PART OF THE CO RESPONSE, WHICH, UM, YOU KNOW, WAS NEVER ASKED FOR BY THE COUNCIL.
THIS IS, UH, MONEY ON, ON SALARY AND BENEFITS FOR, UH, AN OFFICER FOR A PROGRAM WE DID NOT ASK FOR.
UM, SO I, YOU KNOW, I HOPE THAT, UM, IS SOMETHING WHERE, UM, I'M REALLY LOOKING FOR AND SOMETHING I'M GONNA BE LOOKING FOR.
UM, BUT I'LL YIELD BACK FOR NOW.
UH, COUNCILOR SABRINA RU, COUNCILOR ZZI, AND THEN, UH, VICE MAYOR AZI.
AND THEN, UH, COUNCILOR MCGOVERN.
I WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESENTATION TODAY AND FOR YOUR WORK.
AND CONGRATULATIONS ON THE CLEA, UM, ACCREDITATION, UH, MEETING 463 RIGOROUS STANDARDS.
I FEEL VERY PROUD THAT YOU ARE A POLICE DEPARTMENT, SO, UM, I THANK YOU.
UM, AND I ALSO WANTED TO JUST BUILD ON WHAT COUNSELOR FLAHERTY WAS SAYING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF WALK TALK, UM, OF HAVING OFFICERS, IF YOU COULD KEEP, OH, I'M SORRY.
HAVING OFFICERS, UM, OUT AND ABOUT AND AROUND THE CITY, UM, AS WE'VE HEARD FROM BUSINESSES LIKE, UH, WITH SHOPLIFTING, UM, WE NEED OUR, WE NEED PEOPLE TO FEEL SAFE IN, UH, ON OUR QUARTERS AND OUR RETAIL DISTRICTS.
AND I FEEL LIKE HAVING THOSE, THAT COMMUNITY POLICING ACTIVE, UM, MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
IT IMPACTS OUR ECONOMIC VITALITY AND, UM, AND OUR, OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES.
UM, WITH THAT, I, THE, THE THING I WONDER ABOUT, AGAIN, I THINK YOU'RE DOING FABULOUS, FABULOUS WORK, BUT I, I WAS JUST LOOKING AT THE POLICE NUMBERS BETWEEN FISCAL YEAR 26 AND 27.
AND SO WE'VE GROWN FROM HAVING 334 EMPLOYEES IN FISCAL YEAR 26 TO 354 EMPLOYEES IN 27.
SO THE DEPARTMENT SEEMS TO BE GROWING, AND I WAS LOOKING AT SOME STATS ONLINE, APPARENTLY, A ACCORDING I REALIZED THAT WE, YOU KNOW, WE'RE A BIOTECH CENTER, UM, THAT WE HAVE ALL WORLD FAMOUS LEADERS, CELEBRITIES, ALL COMING, VISITING OUR UNIVERSITIES.
AND YOU DO, YOU, YOU'RE COVERING A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS, BUT ACCORDING TO THE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, UM, YOU NEED ABOUT 1.6 OFFICERS PER A THOUSAND PEOPLE.
SO IF WE HAVE ABOUT 120,000 PEOPLE, THAT WOULD SUGGEST WE NEED ABOUT 192 OFFICERS RATHER THAN 354 OFFICERS.
SO I'D LOVE TO HEAR YOU SPEAK TO THAT.
I KNOW YOU'RE RESPONDING TO MANY CALLS AND YOU'RE DOING A FANTASTIC JOB, BUT I'D, I'D LOVE TO HEAR, UM, I'D LOVE TO HEAR YOU RESPOND
[01:30:01]
TO THAT.AND I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION, UH, THROUGH YOU, UM, MADAM CHAIR.
UH, I JUST WANNA PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT OF CONTEXT IN TERMS OF THE POSITION COUNTS.
SO IN FY 27, WE'RE ACTUALLY MOVING TOWARDS USING AN FTE MODEL FOR POSITIONS.
UM, SO THAT'S A FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT.
UH, AND THAT'S JUST IN ORDER TO GET A, A CLEARER SENSE OF THE OVERALL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES THROUGHOUT THE CITY.
AND THIS IS IN ALL DEPARTMENTS.
UM, WHAT YOU'RE COMPARING TO LAST YEAR ARE, IS OUR FULL-TIME POSITION COUNT.
SO WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED IN THAT NUMBER ARE ANY PART-TIME POSITIONS THAT MIGHT BE IN THE DEPARTMENT.
AND THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IN PARTICULAR HAS A NUMBER OF TRAFFIC SAFETY PERSONNEL WHO ARE PART-TIME, WHO IN THE FTE MODEL ARE NOW COUNTED AS, YOU KNOW, FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS.
SO IF SOMEONE'S WORKING, YOU KNOW, HALF OF A FULL-TIME, YOU KNOW, TWO HALF-TIME PEOPLE WILL BE ONE FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT.
SO THAT'S, UH, YOU KNOW, PART OF THE REASON YOU'RE SEEING AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER THERE.
AND I'LL TURN IT OVER TO THE COMMISSIONER.
UM, AND IF WE CAN SPEAK TO THE PER CAPITA NUMBER, WE'VE ACTUALLY DONE A LOT OF STUDIES ON THIS IN THE PAST YEARS, AND YOU CAN PROBABLY FIND IT IN OTHER BUDGET BOOKS TOO.
BUT WE LOOKED AT THE NUMBER OF RESIDENTS PER OFFICERS, AND I DON'T HAVE THE EXACT NUMBERS, BUT WE LOOKED AT WHERE BOSTON IS, WHERE SOMERVILLE IS, AND WHERE CAMBRIDGE IS.
AND WE WERE RIGHT IN THE MEDIAN, RIGHT? WE WEREN'T HIGH, WE WEREN'T LOW, WE'RE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE AS FAR AS OFFICERS PER CAPITA.
AND WHAT I'M GONNA LOOP BACK TO IS JUST THE EXTRAORDINARY SERVICES THAT WE OFFER.
WE OFFER SERVICES THAT BOSTON, CAMBRIDGE, I MEAN, THAT BOSTON AND SOMERVILLE JUST DO NOT OFFER THE, THE WORK THAT WE DO, PARTICULARLY AROUND, UM, OUR OUTREACH IS VERY PERSON LABOR INTENSIVE.
IT IS ABOUT GOING OUT, MEETING PEOPLE, BUILDING THOSE RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR MOST VULNERABLE.
AND IT REALLY DOES TAKE A LOT OF JUST PEOPLE POWER TO GO OUT AND POUND THE PAVEMENT IN THAT, ESPECIALLY AS OUR SITUATIONS ARE MOVING AND CHANGING.
THAT'S VERY, THAT'S VERY HELPFUL TO, TO HEAR.
UM, ANOTHER QUESTION I HAD IS, AGAIN, YOU'RE DOING FABULOUS WORK.
I, I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A LITTLE BIT CONCERNED ABOUT OVERLAP BETWEEN THE CARE TEAM, THE COMMUNITY SAFETY DEPARTMENT, AND THE POLICE WORK.
UM, I UNDERSTAND, I MEAN, BOTH GROUPS NEED TO BE DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIPS, BUT I, AGAIN, AS COUNSELOR NOLAN HAS BROUGHT UP IN THE PAST WHEN WE CREATED THE COMMUNITY SAFETY DEPARTMENT, THE THOUGHT WAS THAT, UM, IT WASN'T GONNA BE A REDUNDANT SERVICE.
IT WAS GONNA BE, UH, IT, IT, LIKE WE DIDN'T NEED TO HAVE BOTH.
SO CAN YOU SPEAK TO THAT? AND I'D LOVE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT EXAMPLES OF COLLABORATION AND ARE, IS THE CARE TEAM WORKING 24 HOURS A DAY NOW, OR NOT? AND I JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK AT HELPING, UM, THE RESIDENTS AT ST.
I MEAN, THAT'S BEEN A COMPLICATED SITUATION AND YOU AND THE CARE TEAM HAVE BEEN REALLY RESPONSIVE.
BUT I KNOW THERE WAS AN ISSUE 'CAUSE THE CARE TEAM WASN'T 24 HOURS A DAY.
SO I, I JUST WANNA REITERATE, AND I HAVE TEAM MEMBERS BACK THERE, IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, JUST PLEASE GET UP TO THE MICROPHONE.
OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CARE HAS, I THINK, REALLY DEVELOPED AND EVOLVED OVER TIME.
AND IT'S REALLY KIND OF, IT'S, IT'S REALLY COMPLEX COUNSELOR, UH, SUZI WHEN IT COMES TO SOME OF THESE CASES.
THERE COULD BE A CASE WHERE ONE DAY THERE'S A PUBLIC SAFETY ELEMENT AND WE NEED THE POLICE THAT SAME PERSON ANOTHER DAY.
THEY'RE NOT, YOU KNOW, DECOMPENSATING AND A CARE TEAM.
IT'S, IT'S APPROPRIATE FOR THE CARE TEAM TO RESPOND.
SO IT JUST, IT, IT REALLY IS FLUID.
WE ARE DEALING WITH THE SAME PEOPLE WHO SOMETIMES THEY GO UP AND DOWN THE CRISIS, YOU KNOW, LINE WHICH PEOPLE, UH, NEED WHAT SERVICES AND WHEN.
SO I REALLY, I'M REALLY, I THINK WE NEED TO BE THOUGHTFUL ABOUT A MODEL THAT WORKS FOR OUR CITY WHEN IT COMES EMBRACING CARE IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
AND AGAIN, SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE CLINICAL SUPPORT FITS WHICH CASE GOES TOWARDS, YOU KNOW, THE CARE TEAM, WHICH CASE IS A LITTLE BIT HIGHER ON THE THREAT LEVEL OR CONCERN OR SAFETY LEVEL.
AND IT NEEDS TO GO THE PD COURT KIND OF INTENTIONAL SERVICE PROVI PROVISION ROUTE.
SO I THINK WE CAN BE A LOT MORE THOUGHTFUL WITH HOW WE'RE INTEGRATING CARE AND HIT ALL OF THESE CRITICAL LAYERS.
AND I THINK WHAT I DON'T WANNA THINK ABOUT IS, WELL, WE HAVE TO TAKE THIS AWAY FROM THIS TO DO THAT.
WHAT I WANNA FOCUS ON IS THE QUALITY OF SERVICES TO OUR COMMUNITY, MEETING PEOPLE WHERE AR AND ONE THING I WOULD LOVE, AND I'M GONNA SCREAM IT TO THE, THE MOUNTAINTOPS.
I WANT MORE CLINICIANS WITH OUR OFFICERS ON A STREET.
I THINK THAT IS A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS, FOR DEESCALATION AND GETTING PEOPLE THE HELP AND SUPPORT THAT THEY NEED.
AND I, UM, YEAH, SO, UH, THAT'S HELPFUL.
[01:35:01]
I YIELD.UM, COUNCILORS SIMMONS, I UNDERSTAND HAS TO LEAVE QUICKLY IF IT'S A VERY QUICK QUESTION.
UM, WE'RE A LITTLE BIT CRUNCHED ON TIME AND JUST SO EVERYONE KNOWS, I ACTUALLY NEED TO LEAVE.
UM, SO IF WE DO EXTEND THE MEETING, THEN CO-CHAIR ZUBIE WILL TAKE OVER THE CHAIR.
'CAUSE I, I'M NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET TO THE COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS, UM, THAT THE BODY HAS.
I CERTAINLY HAVE A FEW, BUT RIGHT NOW I'LL GO TO, UM, VICE MAYOR ZIM AND THEN COUNCILMAN MCGOVERN, MAKE SURE THAT I HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF TIME BEFORE AND I KNOW THAT, UH, MAYOR SIDIKI AND CO-CHAIR ZUBIE HAVE QUESTIONS AS WELL.
UM, I ALSO HAVE A HARD STOP AT NOON, SO I'LL JUST KEEP IT BRIEF TO ONE QUESTION FOR NOW.
UM, I WANTED TO HEAR MORE ABOUT OVERTIME IN THAT, I THINK YOU SAID THAT A LOT OF EVENTS ARE COVERED BY OVERTIME AND PROTEST.
UM, IS IT TRUE THAT BOTH LIKE AT OVERTIME OFFICERS ARE PAID MORE? AND ALSO IS THERE A WAY TO MAKE IT SO THAT IT'S MORE PART OF REGULARLY SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES SO WE COULD HAVE SOME SAVINGS THERE? I SO TO TALK ABOUT OVERTIME, UM, WHEN I THINK ABOUT OUR SPECIAL EVENTS, AND THIS GETS, UM, KIND OF COMPLICATED WHAT WE DID IN THE CITY TO MAKE SURE THAT WE COVERED SPECIAL EVENTS WITH THE SPECIFIC AMOUNT OF PEOPLE THAT WE NEEDED TO DO.
AND I'M GONNA SPECIFICALLY CALL OUT THE, UM, 4TH OF JULY IN THE CARIBBEAN CARNIVAL.
EARLY ON WHEN WE WERE TRYING TO STAFF THOSE EVENTS, WE WERE STRUGGLING TO GET THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT WE NEEDED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE COULD KEEP THAT EVENT PROPERLY STAFFED.
THEY'RE ALL HAPPENING IN THE SUMMERTIME, PEOPLE ARE ON VACATION, RIGHT? SO TO STAFF THAT EVENT PROPERLY.
SO WHAT WE HAD TO DO IS WE HAD TO CANCEL THE DAY OFF, RIGHT? FOR ALL OF OUR OFFICERS.
ORDER EVERYBODY IN UNLESS YOU WERE ON A SCHEDULED VACATION TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAD THE STAFFING SUFFICIENT STAFFING TO COVER THOSE HIGH PROFILE EVENTS.
AND I WILL SAY THE DANCE PARTY IS ALSO TURNING INTO ONE OF THOSE LEVEL ONE CRITICAL EVENTS THAT ATTRACT SO MANY PEOPLE THAT WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE THE STAFF AVAILABLE TO KEEP THAT EVENT SAFE.
SO FOR ALL OF THOSE EVENTS, WE CANCEL THE DAYS OFF OFFICERS ARE WORKING 12 HOUR SHIFTS, SO WE'RE ONLY TWO SHIFTS 12 HOURS.
AND THAT IS FOR, FOR THE PEOPLE THAT THEY'RE ON THEIR STRAIGHT TIME, THEY ONLY WORK THEIR STRAIGHT DAYS.
BUT FOR EVERYBODY ELSE WE CALL IN THAT ARE ON THAT 12 HOUR SHIFT, THAT IS OVERTIME, IT'S WHAT, 12 HOURS OF OVERTIME, UM, AT DOUBLE TIME AND A HALF.
AND THAT WAS WHAT WAS NEGOTIATED.
AND THAT IS FOR BOTH BECAUSE WE CANCELED THE DAY OFF OF THOSE TWO BIG EVENTS.
SO JUST UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT OF COVERING, UM, THOSE HUGE EVENTS.
NOW THAT'S ONLY FOR THOSE TWO.
THE OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS THAT WE, WE COVER AND WE'RE TALKING WHEN YOU SEE BIKE PATROLS OUT, UM, WE HAVE NOT HAD THE STAFFING IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS TO FULFILL BIKE PATROLS AND BIKE PATROLS, PARTICULARLY IN THE SUMMER AND IN THE WARM WEATHER, PEOPLE LOVE TO SEE THOSE.
SO WHEN YOU SEE BIKE PATROLS OUT THERE, A LOT OF TIMES THOSE ARE ON, UM, OVERTIME.
THERE IS SOME F-S-J-O-F OFFICERS THAT DO THOSE ON THEIR REGULAR SHIFT.
THE OTHER OVERTIME, I THINK I TALKED ABOUT PROTESTS OR OVERTIME OR SPECIAL EVENTS OR OVERTIME, THE BACKFILL, UM, THAT WE'VE, THAT WE'VE HAD AND THAT'S, IT'S PROBABLY TWO AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS OF OVERTIME THAT WE'RE, THAT WE BELIEVE THAT AT THE END OF THIS YEAR WE'LL REALLY BE ABLE TO CUT DOWN, UM, A LOT OF THAT.
AND WHERE WE'RE AGAIN, KICKING UP THE APPROVAL AND MAKING SURE THAT WE HAVE PRE, PRE-APPROVAL AND WE'RE REALLY SCRUTINIZING WHAT ARE WE SPENDING OVERTIME AND WHERE CAN WE NOT SPEND IT.
IF THERE'S SOMETHING, CAN WE CUT THAT, STOP IT, WE'RE NOT GONNA DO IT.
BUT AGAIN, WHEN IT COMES TO COMMUNITY AND HAVING OFFICERS IN THE COMMUNITY, THAT'S NOT WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO CUT.
WE'RE TRYING TO SEE IS THERE ANY SORT OF WASTE OR DUPLICATE DUPLICATIVE ACTION INTERNALLY THAT WE CAN WIPE OUT SOME OF THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATIVE OVERTIME.
THAT'S REALLY WHERE MY FOCUS IS.
UH, COMMISSIONER NILO, I WON'T TAKE TOO MUCH MORE TIME 'CAUSE I KNOW THREE OTHER COLLEAGUES HAVE TO, UH, SPEAK.
UM, I WILL JUST SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, I TRIED LOOKING THROUGH THE BUDGET BOOK AND PERHAPS I JUST DIDN'T FIND IT, BUT I KNOW THAT BOSTON AT LEAST BREAKS OUT OVER TIME PRETTY EASILY.
SO IT WAS QUICK AND EASY FOR ME TO FIND.
UM, AND SO, UM, YOU KNOW, WITHOUT KNOWING THE EXACT NUMBER, IF IT'S ONLY TWO AND A HALF MILLION, THAT'S MUCH SMALLER THAN I THOUGHT.
I THINK THAT BOSTON SPENDS ABOUT A HUNDRED MILLION IN OVERTIME AND I EXPECTED OURS TO BE CLOSER TO LIKE 10 MILLION.
SO IT WOULD JUST BE GOOD TO HAVE THAT INFORMATION AND TO GET INTO DEEPER CONVERSATION ABOUT OVER TIME.
IT FEELS LIKE ONE OF THOSE PLACES WHERE MAYBE THERE'S SOME AMOUNT OF EFFICIENCY TO BE REACHED, UM, ESPECIALLY SINCE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT BUDGET TIGHTENING FOR ALL DEPARTMENTS.
WANT ME TO THROUGH, THROUGH YOU MADAM CHAIR? GO AHEAD.
VICE AZIM AND DIRECTOR JENNINGS.
YEAH, IN RESPONSE TO THAT, UH, WE
[01:40:01]
DO BREAK OUT, UH, MORE SPECIFICALLY WITHIN THE STATUTORY CATEGORIES IN PUBLICLY AVAILABLE BUDGET BACKUP INFORMATION, UH, WHICH WE DO PROVIDE TO COUNCIL, BUT WE CAN, YOU KNOW, GUIDE YOU TO THAT INFORMATION.AND, UH, YOU'RE CORRECT THAT IT BUDGETED AT HIGHER THAN TWO AND A HALF MILLION FOR THE WHOLE DEPARTMENT IN TERMS OF THE OVERTIME AMOUNT, VICE MAYOR, IS THAT, DO YOU YIELD OR DO YOU WANNA I YIELD, THANK YOU.
I'LL GO TO, UM, COUNCILLOR MCGOVERN AND THEN CAN OTHER PEOPLE STAY UNTIL 1215? IS THAT I, WE, I I CAN STAY.
SO IF ANY OF THE FOLKS WHO HAVE TO LEAVE WANT TO GO NOW AND I CAN WAIT A FEW MINUTES, I'D YIELD BE HAPPY TO YIELD.
WE, I, I CONSULTED WITH THE CLERK AND IT, WHILE IT WASN'T TOTALLY ADVERTISED TO OUR HARD STOP AT NOON, THE FACT THAT WE GENERALLY, SO WHY DON'T WE RIGHT NOW SAY WE'LL EXTEND TO 1215.
ABSENT COUNCILLOR SABRINA WHEELER.
I MEAN, WE MAY NOT NEED IT, BUT JUST IN CASE WE DO NOW.
AND, AND IF SO, I WILL LEAVE AT 12.
SO THEN WHY DON'T I, IF THAT'S OKAY WITH YOU, COUNCILLOR MCGOVERN, ASK A COUPLE QUESTIONS AND THEN OKAY.
UM, SO, UM, OVERALL OUR BUDGET, I THINK ONE OVERALL BUDGET QUESTION, AND THIS IS NOT ONE I SENT IN ADVANCE, SO IT MAY NOT BE, BUT OUR POPULATION INCLUDES 20,000 STUDENTS, MOST OF WHOM ARE COVERED FOR MOST SITUATIONS, UM, BY, YOU KNOW, HARVARD, MIT, UM, I KNOW LESLIE HAS PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS.
SO THAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED WHENEVER WE LOOK AT OUR CITY'S OVERALL PUBLIC SAFETY, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WE, WE DO COORDINATE ON AND IS, BUT THAT'S NOT INCLUDED AT ALL IN OUR, IN OUR BUDGET CALCULATIONS OR ANY OF OUR COMPS.
IS THAT CORRECT? THAT IS CORRECT.
WE DO NOT CONSIDER THE HARVARD AND MIT OFFICERS AS, YEAH, NO, THAT'S CORRECT.
I MEAN, THEY'RE NOT PART OF OUR POLICE, BUT THEY ARE PART OF THE OVERALL PUBLIC SAFETY.
SO AGAIN, WHENEVER WE'RE LOOKING AT THESE, UH, COMPARISONS, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO DO.
I I WILL FOLLOW UP ON A QUESTION I DID SEND, WHICH SEVERAL OTHER MEMBERS HAVE MENTIONED, WHICH IS THIS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY SAFETY DEPARTMENT AND CARE AND ALL PARTS OF NOT ONLY THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT, BUT ALSO THE REST OF THE CITY.
WE HAVE OUR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TEAMS. WE HAVE SO MANY OUTREACH WORKERS THROUGHOUT THE CITY COMMUNICATING.
AND, UM, THE CHART DOES SHOW ABOUT THE BUDGET GROWTH OVER TIME JUST FOR A SPECIFIC POLICE DEPARTMENT, BUT IT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE COMMUNITY SAFETY DEPARTMENT, WHICH IS ALSO PART OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
SO I THINK, AGAIN, IN THE SPIRIT OF UNDERSTANDING THE ENTIRE PUBLIC SAFETY BUDGET GROWTH, I THINK WE SHOULD UNDERSTAND IT.
AND AS I'VE SAID PUBLICLY, I KNOW THAT THE PHENOMENAL WORK OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IN A LARGE RANGE OF AREAS IS SOMETHING WE TRULY ARE PROUD OF.
AND YET, THERE'S SOMETHING THAT WHEN WE SET UP THE COMMUNITY SAFETY DEPARTMENT, THERE WAS AN EXPECTATION THAT IT'LL BE OFFLOADING FROM THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
SO IS THERE AN EXPECTATION OVER TIME THAT THOSE, UH, CALL CODES AND OTHERS WILL BE FAR MORE, UH, GEARED TOWARDS THE C COMMUNITY SAFETY DEPARTMENT AND WE HAVE 15 FULL-TIME PEOPLE WORKING IN THAT DEPARTMENT.
IT SHOULD BE THAT WE ARE ABLE TO SHIFT SOME OF THE WORK FROM THE POLICE DEPARTMENT ONTO THE COMMUNITY SAFETY DEPARTMENT.
SO IN THE ANECDOTES THAT FROM THAT DEPARTMENT DEMONSTRATE THE PHENOMENAL WORK.
BUT AGAIN, FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE, IT SEEMED THAT CARE COULD HAVE, COULD HAVE HANDLED IT AND SHOULD HAVE HANDLED IT LIKE, LIKE GETTING THE BIKE, GETTING THE MATTRESS.
I MEAN, THOSE ARE ALL REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS, BUT IT REALLY COULD HAVE, HAVE BEEN, I I WOULD LOVE TO UNDERSTAND THE BETTER COORDINATION FROM A BUDGET PERSPECTIVE ACROSS DEPARTMENTS.
UH, CHAIR NOLAN, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT YOU MENTIONED THAT I THINK IS REALLY IMPORTANT ARE THE CALL CODES, RIGHT? WE DO NOT SET THE CALL CODES THAT CARE CAN RESPOND TO AND THAT THE POLICE RESPOND TO.
THOSE ARE SET OUTSIDE OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BY AN INDEPENDENT MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL.
SO WE CAN'T DICTATE WHICH CALLS THE POLICE GO TO AND WHICH CALLS CARE GOES TO, BUT WE DO WITHIN A SYSTEM WITHIN OUR CITY OF CAMBRIDGE, WORK VERY COLLABORATIVELY WITH CARE ON THE CALLS THAT EITHER NEED TO BE FUNNELED TO CARE OR THE CALLS THAT SHOULD BE ARE BETTER SUITED BY THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
I THINK NOT, I THINK, I KNOW THAT THE RELATIONSHIP THAT WE HAVE WITH CARE HAS EVOLVED AND WE'RE HELPING THE PEOPLE THAT WE NEED.
I JUST DON'T THINK IT'S AS, AS EASY AS ONE FOR ONE.
UH, WHEN YOU HAVE ONE PERSON GO INTO CARE AND YOU'RE TAKING ONE FROM THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, I THINK IT'S A LOT MORE COMPLEX THAN THAT.
WHAT I REALLY WANNA DO IS INVITE REALLY OUR COUNSELORS TO COME OUT AND GO TO, UM, A CALL RIDE AROUND WITH OUR CORRESPOND UNIT AND SEE THE WORK THAT THEY DO AND THE CALLS THAT THEY RESPOND TO.
BECAUSE I THINK IT'S REALLY DIFFICULT AND COMPLEX TO REALLY EXPLAIN
[01:45:01]
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE.BUT FOR YOU GUYS TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY OF ACTUALLY SEE THAT WORK, YOU KNOW, IN PRACTICE THERE ARE VERY PRACTICAL REASONS WHY CARE CANNOT RESPOND TO SPECIFIC CALLS THAT WE HAVE BECAUSE OF THAT CRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY ELEMENT.
BUT WHENEVER CAN CARE CAN RESPOND, THEY'RE GOING.
AND WHENEVER THEY CAN OFFLOAD A CASE TO US, IT GOES TO US.
AND WHENEVER WE CAN GIVE A CASE TO THEM, IT GOES TO THEM.
I THINK OUR RELATIONSHIP IS WORKING FANTASTICALLY A LOT OF TIMES.
YOU WANT TO SEE US TOTALLY SEPARATE.
I JUST DON'T KNOW IN THE FACTS AND THE WAY, UM, THE SITUATIONS THAT ARE, ARE EVOLVING, IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE FOR US TO BE SO SEPARATE.
WE HAVE TO BE COMMUNICATING 'CAUSE WE ARE DEALING WITH THE SAME PEOPLE THAT GO FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER.
AND IF WE'RE REALLY GONNA DO COMPREHENSIVE CARE FOR OUR MOST VULNERABLE, WE NEED TO BE COLLABORATING AND SHARING INFORMATION.
WE CAN'T DO IT OUTSIDE AND CARE IS NOT 24 7.
I WOULD LOVE THEM TO BE, BUT THEY'RE NOT.
I KNOW THIS PART OF A LARGER CONVERSATION, I'M SURE MY COLLEAGUES HAVE MORE FOLLOW UP.
AND THEN, UM, ON ALL OF THESE MEASURES, LIKE THE, UM, CENTRAL SQUARE EFFORTS, HOW IS IT THAT WE MEASURE THE EFFECTIVENESS, NOT JUST IN, WE HEARD ALREADY 65% SENT TO SOMEONE.
DO WE SEE A REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO FEEL LIKE THEY'RE, THE, THE SAFETY OF THE SQUARE OR THE STREET LIFE IS SOMETHING THAT THEY NOTICEABLY SEE A REDUCTION? 'CAUSE I THINK WE NEED BOTH OF THOSE.
SO I'M JUST CURIOUS ABOUT HOW WE MEASURE THAT EFFECTIVENESS BECAUSE THAT GETS TO THE BUDGET OF HOW WE'RE DEPLOYING OUR RESOURCES, WHETHER THAT IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE USE OF OUR, UH, PATROL TIME, WHICH IS 70% OF OUR COSTS.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE SAW IN CENTRAL SQUARE AND WHERE PEOPLE WERE REALLY ADAMANT IS THEY SAW A REDUCTION IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE, SORTS OF ISSUES THAT THEY WERE VISIBLY SEEING IN THE SQUARE.
AND WHAT WE DID, WE DIDN'T MIRACULOUSLY GET PEOPLE HEALTHY, RIGHT? PEOPLE WEREN'T GETTING THE MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT THAT THEY NEEDED.
THE PROBLEM MOVED, WHICH REQUIRED US TO MOVE WITH THE PROBLEM AND WHAT WE'RE NOT DOING.
AND, AND, AND IN WHAT YOU'LL SEE IN OTHER WAY, WE'RE NOT JUST ARRESTING OUR WAY OUT OF A SITUATION.
WE'RE TRYING TO SAY MEET PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE.
A LOT OF TIMES THESE ARE PEOPLE WITH COMPLEX ISSUES, WHETHER IT'S MENTAL ILLNESS, SUBSTANCE USE, BEING UNHOUSED.
HOW DO WE MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE? AND WE HAVE PEOPLE THAT ARE GOING OUT TO ENCAMPMENTS.
I MEAN, I THINK WE SAW A COUPLE YEARS AGO THERE WAS A BIG FIRE AT A ENCAMPMENT UNDER THE BU BRIDGE BECAUSE THEY RESTORING LIKE PROPANE TANKS.
SO OUR TEAM REGULARLY GOES OUT WITH THE FIRE DEPARTMENT TO VISIT THESE ENCAMPMENTS TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE SAFE TO SAY, LISTEN GUYS, YOU CAN'T HAVE THESE PROPANE TANKS 'CAUSE YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A HUGE FIRE.
THERE WAS ONE IN ANOTHER PART IN DIFFERENT STATE THAT IMPACTED A BRIDGE FOR, YOU KNOW, THEY HAD TO, YOU KNOW, REDO IT.
SO MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE, THAT OUR ENCAMPMENTS ARE THERE, THAT PEOPLE ARE BEING SAFE, UM, I JUST THINK IT'S THAT OUTREACH IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL.
I THINK I LOST NOW TRACK OF THE QUESTION.
COUNCILOR NOLAN, YOU GO AHEAD.
UH, THANK YOU FOR, FOR THE QUESTION.
I WILL SAY, YOU KNOW, NUMEROUS LETTERS FROM PEOPLE IN CENTRAL SQUARE.
I WOULD SAY THE, THE, THE YMCA HAS TOUTED HOW, UH, HOW MUCH DIFFERENT THINGS ARE AND HOW MUCH SAFER THINGS ARE.
I THINK IF YOU TALK TO THE, AND THE BID HAS DONE AN OUTSTANDING JOB AS WELL, AND WE WORK WITH THE BID, WE WORKED WITH THE BID IN THIS, IN THIS, UH, INITIATIVE AS WELL.
AND IF, I THINK IF YOU SPOKE TO MICHAEL MONAS TEAM AND, AND THOSE FOLKS IN THE BID AND, AND, UM, MR. BARRON AND, AND, AND, UH, MANY OF THE BUSINESSES AND MANY OF THE RESIDENTS IN CENTRAL SQUARE, YOU'LL FIND THAT THEY ABSOLUTELY FELT LIKE IT WAS OKAY TO WALK THROUGH CENTRAL SQUARE AGAIN.
I'LL, I'LL YIELD IT'S, THAT'S THE KIND OF INFORMATION WE SHOULD HAVE.
AND ALSO MAYBE WE SHOULD ADD THE CENTRAL SQUARE BID AMBASSADORS TO OUR PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT BUDGET AS WELL, BECAUSE THEY'RE CERTAINLY PROVIDING A LOT OF THE SERVICES.
BUT I, I WILL, UM, IF COUNCILOR ZUBIE CO-CHAIR COULD, UH, TAKE THE CHAIR.
I HAVE STILL HAVE A FEW MORE MINUTES, BUT I DON'T WANNA INTERRUPT IT.
AND WHAT I HAVE IS THAT, UH, COUNCILOR MCGOVERN, MAYOR SIDIKI, AND THEN, UH, CO-CHAIR, UH, ZUBIE IN THE, IN THE QUEUE.
I I APOLOGIZE TO ALL THOSE WHO PRESENTED IN THE FIRST HOUR.
I WAS AT A MEDICAL APPOINTMENT, BUT I WILL WATCH THE TAPE.
UM, THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION AND, AND THE WORK, YOU KNOW, YOU DO, UH, EVERY DAY.
UM, I WILL THE, IN TERMS OF THE CONVERSATION ABOUT OUR, UH, THE RATIO OF OFFICERS TO OUR POPULATION, LET'S ALSO REMEMBER THAT CAMBRIDGE DOUBLES IN POPULATION DURING THE DAY, RIGHT? SO YES, IN TERMS OF THE 20,000 STUDENTS WHO ALSO GET ASSISTANCE FROM MIT POLICE AND, AND HARVARD POLICE, THERE'S APPROXIMATELY, ROUGHLY A HUNDRED, MAYBE LESS NOW BECAUSE
BUT, UM, TRADITIONALLY THERE'S ABOUT A HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE WHO COME INTO CAMBRIDGE, UH, TO WORK.
AND WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROTECTING THOSE PEOPLE AS WELL.
UM, AND SO THAT CHANGES THE DYNAMIC
[01:50:01]
A LITTLE BIT.UM, AS FAR AS THE CARE TEAM, I WOULD SAY, UM, YOU KNOW, WE, WE, IT, IT'S, IT'S INTERESTING BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WE OFTEN TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN OUR DEPARTMENTS, AND YET SOMEHOW WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE POLICE AND CARE, WE SAY, OH, YOU GUYS SHOULD NEVER SPEAK TO EACH OTHER.
UM, YOU KNOW, UH, AN INCIDENT THAT HAPPENED NOT TOO LONG AGO AND JUST TO SORT OF GIVE SOME SENSE OF HOW THESE THINGS CAN ESCALATE, UM, A GENTLEMAN WAS IN CENTRAL SQUARE WHO WAS HAVING A, A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS CARE WAS CALLED.
THAT GENTLEMAN THEN MOVED FROM THE SIDEWALK TO THE STREET, WHICH NOW BECAME A MUCH DIFFERENT CONVERSATION.
CARE, CARE, SOCIAL WORKERS ARE NOT GONNA STOP TRAFFIC.
AND STOP, YOU KNOW, AND THAT WAS A CALL TO THE POLICE WHO HAD TO THEN RESPOND BECAUSE NOW THE SITUATION HAS TURNED INTO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
SO THIS IDEA THAT THESE TWO DEPARTMENTS ARE GONNA SOMEHOW OPERATE SEPARATELY, IT JUST, IT'S JUST NOT, I MEAN, IF ANYONE WHO'S DONE THIS WORK IS GONNA TELL YOU, THAT'S JUST NOT THE REALITY OF WHAT HAPPENS.
AND THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN CARE WILL BE ABLE TO RESPOND AND IT WILL BE TRULY A MENTAL HEALTH SITUATION THAT THEY CAN DEAL WITH.
AND THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN CARE IS NOT THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE, SUCH AS IF SOMEONE IS WAVING A MACHETE THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF CENTRAL SQUARE, RIGHT.
UM, SO THAT'S JUST GONNA BE A MOVING, THAT'S JUST GONNA BE SOMETHING WE'RE JUST GONNA HAVE TO BE GRAPPLING WITH FOR AS LONG AS WE HAVE THESE TWO DEPARTMENTS.
THERE'S GONNA BE EBB AND FLOW.
UM, QUESTION, UM, IN TERMS OF THAT THOUGH, DO YOU, YOU SHARE DATA WITH CARE? DO YOU GUYS SORT OF GET A SENSE OF WHAT, WHAT, HOW MANY CALLS AND WHAT CALLS THEY'RE RESPONDING TO FOR, AND DO THEY GET A SENSE OF WHAT YOU'RE RESPONDING TO? SO THAT, AGAIN, SO THAT THERE CAN BE A JUST A, JUST A TIGHTER COMMUNICATION THERE.
THERE ARE TWO WEEKLY MEETINGS WHERE THAT OCCURS.
ONE IS A LEADERSHIP MEETING THAT HAS ECC, UH, CAMBRIDGE POLICE AND CARE TO DISCUSS AT A HIGH LEVEL THE WORK THAT'S BEING DONE.
AND THERE'S ANOTHER WEEKLY CASE COORDINATION MEETING WHERE THAT'S WHERE THE CLINICAL STAFF WITH CLINICAL SUPPORT, THE NEW ECC SOCIAL WORKER AND OUR CARE PROVIDERS MEET WEEKLY TO DISCUSS WHO'S SEEING WHO AND WHO'S BEST TO TAKE THE LEAD ON FOLLOW UP WITH OUR RESIDENTS IN NEED.
UM, JUST TO SOME BUDGET SPECIFIC THINGS, UM, JUST TO MAKE SURE I'M UNDERSTANDING THIS CORRECTLY.
SO, UM, ALTHOUGH THE AMOUNT OF, UM, REAL DOLLARS HAS OBVIOUSLY INCREASED BECAUSE OF INFLATION AND WHATNOT, UM, THAT FROM IN THE LAST 10 YEARS, FROM 16 TO 26, THE ACTUAL PERCENTAGE OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET AS IT RELATES TO THE CITY BUDGET HAT HAS ACTUALLY DECREASED, RIGHT? SO WE ARE NOT INCREASING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET AT THE SAME RATE THAT WE ARE INCREASING OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS.
IS THAT ACCURATE? THAT'S ACCURATE.
AND OUR PROGRAMMING HAS IMPROVED TO REALLY IMPROVE PEOPLE'S QUALITY OF LIFE.
AND THROUGH YOU MADAM CHAIR, UM, 91% OF THE PROPOSED 27 BUDGET IS SALARY AND WAGES.
YOU KNOW, WE'VE OBVIOUSLY TALKED ABOUT OVER TIME.
AND ARE THERE SOME WAYS TO SAVE THERE? I THINK IN THE PAST WE'VE TALKED ABOUT, UH, AND AGAIN, THIS WOULD ALL HAVE TO BE NEGOTIATED, UM, EITHER ELIMINATING OR DOING LESS OF, UH, OFFICERS AT CONSTRUCTION SITES AND, AND, AND THINGS AND GOING TO CIVILIAN.
UM, I, I, AGAIN, I KNOW THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF CONTROVERSY ABOUT THAT OR A LOT OF CONVERSATION ABOUT THAT, BUT THAT MIGHT BE ANOTHER WAY.
UM, IT LOOKS LIKE, I'LL GO TO THE COMMISSIONER ON THAT POINT REAL QUICK BECAUSE WE HAD AN IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT IN THAT WHERE WE GOT, WE HAVE LANGUAGE TO HAVE CIVILIAN FLAGGERS, UM, AND I'M NOT SURE WHERE THAT IS, BUT THAT WAS APPROVED AFTER WITH THE BODY-WORN CAMERAS.
SO WE DO HAVE CIVILIAN FLAGGERS AS PART OF, UH, CONVERSATIONS MOVING FORWARD.
AND THAT SHOULD HELP REDUCE OVERTIME.
YEAH, IT'S LESS, IT WOULD HELP REDUCE EXPENSES.
NO, NO, ACTUALLY POLICE DETAILS.
IF I CAN JUST, CAN I JUST REALLY QUICKLY POLICE DETAILS THERE, CONSTRUCTION WORK DETAILS, A LOT OF TIMES THERE, THERE IS MONEY THAT THE CITY GAINS THROUGH THAT, AND I'M NOT SURE ADMINISTRATIVE, GO AHEAD.
WELL, THROUGH, JUST TO JUST PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT OF CONTEXT AND A VERY KIND OF BASIC LEVEL DETAIL IS A SEPARATE FUND.
UM, SO THOSE AREN'T CITY EXPENDITURES TO COVER DETAILS.
THOSE ARE THE ENTITIES THAT REQUIRE THE DETAIL PAY INTO THAT FUND.
AND FROM THAT FUND, THE OFFICERS GET THE DETAIL PAY.
UM, SO SALARY AND WAGES ARE 91%, AND YOU KNOW THAT OTHER THAN DECREASING POSITIONS, RIGHT, WHICH IS A POSSIBILITY, RIGHT? SOMETHING WE COULD DECIDE TO DO.
THERE'S NOT A LOT OF WIGGLE ROOM THERE, RIGHT? WE HAVE TO
[01:55:01]
PAY RAISES AND INSURANCE COSTS GO UP AND EVERYTHING ELSE.SO, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE, THE AMOUNT OF THE BUDGET THAT WE COULD SORT OF PLAY WITH A LITTLE BIT IS ACTUALLY NOT A HUGE AMOUNT.
WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
UM, THE 2.1, I'M SORRY, THE, YOU'RE SAYING FROM 20, FROM 26 TO 27, AN INCREASE OF 1.5 MILLION OR 2.7%.
HOW DOES THE 2.7% COMPARE TO PAST YEARS? IS THAT MUCH LOWER? IS IT THE AVERAGE, UH, THROUGH YOU MADAM CO-CHAIR, IF YOU'RE COMPARING APPLES TO APPLES? IT'S PRETTY CONSISTENT.
I THINK THE, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, NON PERSONNEL COSTS HAVE NOT INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY, UM, YEAR TO YEAR.
I MEAN, WE'VE, WE OUTLINED A LOT OF THE PLACES WHERE IT, IT HAS HAPPENED IN ONE OF THE SLIDES.
UM, AND SO THE INCREASES THAT YOU WILL SEE ARE REALLY RELATED TO SALARY AND BENEFITS AND SO TO, YOU KNOW, IT MIGHT REFLECT WHAT THE COLON WOULD BE FOR THAT YEAR, THE COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENTS AND INCREASES IN PENSION AND HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS, UM, AND OTHER COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH, WITH BENEFITED EMPLOYEES.
SO, UM, THANK YOU THROUGH YOU, MADAM CHAIR.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE SLIDES YOU'VE INCLUDED IN THE PAST THAT'S NOT IN HERE, UM, MADAM COMMISSIONER, BUT YOU DID SORT OF MENTION IT IN YOUR COMMENTS AND I THINK IT, I THINK IT'S HELPFUL.
WE DO THIS WHEN WE ISSUE THE, THE PROPERTY TAX RATE AND WE LOOK AT WHAT OTHER CITIES RATES ARE.
UM, YOU KNOW, WE HEAR A LOT AND WE'VE HEARD A LOT ABOUT, WELL, SOMERVILLE, YOU KNOW, SOMERVILLE'S BUDGET FOR THE POLICE IS X AND CAMBRIDGE IS Y BUT THERE'S REASONS FOR THAT, LIKE RETIREMENT THAT IS INCLUDED, THAT WE INCLUDE THAT IN OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET.
SOMERVILLE DOES NOT, I DON'T THINK SOMERVILLE PAYS FOR THEIR, UM, UH, CROSSING GUARDS, UM, OUT OF THEIR POLICE BUDGET.
YOU KNOW, WE DO, WE HAVE THE SOCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAM AT A MUCH GREATER CAPACITY THAN SO, SO I, I, I THINK JUST TO GIVE CONTEXT, 'CAUSE I THINK WHEN PEOPLE JUST LOOK AT THE NUMBERS, IT'S VERY EASY TO SAY, OH MY GOODNESS, LIKE, WE'RE SPENDING SO MUCH MORE.
WELL, AND THEN PEOPLE DON'T DIG DEEPER INTO WHAT THAT IS.
SO, I I, I THINK GIVING, WHEN YOU COME BACK AT THE BUDGET TIME, YOU KNOW, REALLY LOOKING AT WHAT ARE WE DOING DIFFERENTLY AND, AND, UM, AND WHY THAT IS, UH, WOULD BE IMPORTANT.
AND, UM, LASTLY, MADAM CHAIR THROUGH YOU, UM, I THINK ONE, ONE THING THAT, THAT, THAT COMES UP, UM, AND I'D BE INTERESTED, I DUNNO IF YOU CAN ANSWER THIS, YOU KNOW, TODAY, UM, YOU KNOW, WE DO DO A LOT OF THINGS THAT OTHER CITIES DON'T DO, RIGHT? THE WHOLE SOCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAM THAT SITS IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, WHICH I THINK DOES GREAT WORK.
AND I'VE KNOWN DR. BARRETT FOR A REALLY LONG TIME, AND I'M A BIG FAN.
UM, UH, OTHER CITIES DON'T HAVE THAT.
AND, AND I GUESS SOMEONE COULD ASK, WELL, WHY DO WE INCLUDE THAT? WE'RE NOT DEBATING THE NEED, BUT WHY DOES THAT SIT, WHY DO THE POLICE HAVE TO DO THAT? RIGHT? WHY IS THAT IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET OR NOT IN DHSP OR, OR SOMEWHERE ELSE? SO IF YOU CAN SORT OF EXPLAIN, AND AGAIN, IF YOU NOT PREPARED FOR THAT TODAY, FINE.
UM, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S THE CASE TO BE MADE FOR KEEPING THOSE THINGS IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT VERSUS SOMEWHERE ELSE? SO, UH, THROUGH, UM, ZUBIE TO COUNCILOR MCGOVERN, I, I JUST REALLY APPRECIATE THE QUESTION ABOUT WHY THE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS THIS, BECAUSE WHEN I THINK ABOUT, YOU KNOW, THE WORK THAT WE'RE DOING, UM, IT'S ABOUT CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE AT, REALLY, WHEN WE THINK ABOUT PREVENTION, EARLY INTERVENTION AND DIVERSION, RIGHT? PEOPLE WHO ARE AT THAT, AT RISK OF INVOLVEMENT IN THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
SO WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE WORK THAT WE'RE DOING IN THE SCHOOLS, RIGHT? WE KNOW THE PEOPLE, THE CHILDREN IN OUR SCHOOLS WHO ARE AT RISK, WHO ARE STRUGGLING, WHERE WHEN WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, OFFICERS IN THE SCHOOLS, WE'RE AT THE BEST PLACE TO HELP GUIDE, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER.
WHETHER IT'S THE PROCESSES WITHIN THE SCHOOLS BEING ENGAGED WITHIN THE PROCESSES IN THE SCHOOLS TO HELP, YOU KNOW, ADMINISTRATORS WITH THOSE KIDS THAT ARE HIGH RISK.
I THINK I CAN'T FOCUS ENOUGH ON THE PREVENTATIVE WORK THAT WE'RE DOING, PARTICULARLY WHEN WE SEE, I FEEL LIKE I'M STRUGGLING TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION, PARTICULARLY WHEN WE SEE SOMEBODY WHO'S AT RISK FOR CRIMINAL INVOLVEMENT.
WE HAVE YOUNG PEOPLE, EVEN UNHOUSED PEOPLE THAT ARE, HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CRIMINAL INVOLVEMENT.
AND WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO IS DIVERT AND DEFLECT THEM AWAY FROM DEEPER INVOLVEMENT IN THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM.
SO THAT IS THE SOCIAL JUSTICE WORK, THAT IS THE LABOR INTENSIVE OUTREACH WORK WHERE WE HAVE FELT, I WILL SAY AS A COMMUNITY, WE'RE NOT SEEING THE RESULTS WHEN WE PUT SOMEBODY INTO THE SYSTEM.
SO WE, WHAT WE HAVE DONE AS A CITY IS PUTTING ALL OF OUR RESOURCES AROUND THOSE MOST AT RISK, AND THE POLICE ARE INVOLVED IN THAT BECAUSE THERE'S A CRIME, RIGHT? SOMETHING ACTUALLY HAPPENED WHERE SOMEBODY WAS HARMED, RIGHT? THAT THERE'S
[02:00:01]
A CRIME THAT OCCURRED.SO THE POLICE ARE THERE, AND HOW DO WE WORK WITH OUR OTHER SOCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS TO HAVE SOME LEVEL OF ACCOUNTABILITY, BUT ALSO DIVERT AND DEFLECT AWAY FROM THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM AND GET THE, THE PEOPLE THAT SUPPORT THAT THEY NEED.
SO EVERYTHING THAT WE'RE DOING, I CAN'T, UM, SAY THIS ENOUGH, IS AT THAT INTERSECTION OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH BEING UNHOUSED SUBSTANCE USE.
THOSE ARE THE CALLS THAT WE'RE INVOLVED IN.
WE'RE NOT, AND WE DO JUST PROACTIVE OUTREACH, AGAIN, WITH THOSE MOST AT RISK IN OUR COMMUNITY, AGAIN, TO SAY, WAIT A MINUTE, I SEE CHRISTINE ELO, SHE'S BEEN STRUGGLING.
LET'S SEE WHAT WE CAN DO AND IF SHE NEEDS ANY ADDITIONAL SUPPORT, AND WE'LL WORK WITH CARE TO SAY, HEY, LISTEN, YOU MIGHT WANNA CHECK ON CHRISTINE ELO.
I SAW HER, ALTHOUGH SHE HASN'T REACHED THAT, WHATEVER.
SHE'S NOT DEACONS COMPENSATING YET.
WHY DON'T WE WRAP SERVICES AROUND HER PREVENTATIVELY? AND THAT REQUIRES A TEAM OF PEOPLE IN THE CITY.
IT REQUIRES CARE, IT REQUIRES THE POLICE, IT REQUIRES DASP, UM, IT REQUIRES THE BID.
SO, SO THANK YOU AND, UH, THROUGH YOU.
LASTLY, MADAM CHAIR, UM, I WOULD JUST SAY, UM, YOU KNOW, I I, YOU'VE SAID THIS TO COMMISSIONER, I'VE SAID THIS A MILLION TIMES, YOU KNOW, WHEN IT COMES TO ISSUES LIKE SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER AND FOLKS WHO ARE UNHOUSED OR FOLKS THAT ARE STRUGGLING WITH MENTAL ILLNESS, WE ARE NOT GOING TO ARREST OUR WAY OUT OF THAT, RIGHT? UM, BOSTON, I JUST READ THAT BOSTON PUT IN A POLICY WHERE THEY ARE GOING TO MASS AND CAS AND TO THEIR UNHOUSED RESIDENTS WHO ARE STRUGGLING WITH SUBSTANCE USE AND SAYING, YOU EITHER GO INTO TREATMENT OR YOU GO TO JAIL.
UM, AND WE DON'T BEHAVE THAT WAY.
UM, AND I, CAN I ADD JUST ONE POINT TO THAT COUNSELOR? AM I ALLOWED TO, SO JUST QUICKLY, PEOPLE HAVE COME TO US, DCR SPECIFICALLY TO SAYING, WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH WITH THE UNHOUSED? BECAUSE WE WANNA MIMIC WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING.
WE'RE NOT SEEING ENCAMPMENTS THE QUALITY OF THE TREATMENT OF OUR UNHOUSED AND THE PEOPLE THAT ARE MOST VULNERABLE.
WE'RE TREATING PEOPLE WITH RESPECT AND DIGNITY AND TRYING TO GET THEM TO THE PLACES THAT THEY NEED.
RIGHT? AND, AND THROUGH YOU, MADAM MAYOR, UH, MADAM CHAIR, YOU KNOW, I DON'T WANT TO, I ALSO DON'T WANT THIS TO JUST BE A SUPER LOVE FEST AND SAY THAT EVERYTHING'S PERFECT, RIGHT? I MEAN, NO, WE MAKE MISTAKES.
INDIVIDUAL OFFICERS MAKE MISTAKES.
I COULD USE A LITTLE, AS A DEPARTMENT, WE MAKE MISTAKES.
AND I, I THINK THAT'S WHERE YEAH.
YOU KNOW, WHAT IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY WHEN THOSE MISTAKES HAPPEN, AND WHAT IS THE TRAINING AND HOW DO WE LIMIT THOSE MISTAKES? CORRECT.
UM, BUT I, UM, BUT I WOULD SAY THAT, UM, JUST TO LEAVE IT AT THIS, I DID A SEARCH OF THE MOST DANGEROUS CITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS WITH OVER 75,000 PEOPLE.
AND AGAIN, I DON'T THINK THAT'S JUST BECAUSE OF THE POLICE, BUT I THINK IT'S ALL THE OTHER SERVICES WE OFFER AS WELL.
BUT, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE TALK, YOU KNOW, THIS IS A RELATIVELY SAFE COMMUNITY GIVEN, YOU KNOW, THE COMMUNITY THAT WE ARE.
UM, I DON'T, AGAIN, I, IT'S NOT ALL THE POLICE, BUT THE POLICE ARE CERTAINLY A PART OF THAT.
UM, AND WE HAVE TO JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER, AND WE HAVE TO KEEP HOLDING PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE WHEN THEY'RE NOT BETTER.
UM, BUT I, I THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK.
I HAD A COUPLE OF, UM, QUESTIONS.
I THINK SOME OF THEM HAVE ALREADY BEEN ASKED BY MY COLLEAGUES.
UH, I THINK IT'D BE HELPFUL FOR THIS YEAR'S, UH, BUDGET BOOK TO HAVE SOME PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR THE OFFICE OF PROCEDURAL, UM, SAFETY.
AND I SAY THAT BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A LOT OF, GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF POSITIONS, UM, AND SOME OF THE DATA YOU SHARED, I THINK, UH, IT'D BE HELPFUL TO DO THAT OF, I KNOW WHY WE HAVEN'T BEEN DOING IT BECAUSE IT'S RELATIVELY NEW.
UH, BUT I THINK IT'D BE A GOOD WAY TO ADD SOME, UM, PERFORMANCE MEASURES, UH, IN THAT SECTION.
SO THAT'S JUST LIKE A, THAT'S MORE OF A, UM, SOMETHING I, UH, HAD A SUGGESTION ON THE OTHER, I GUESS A QUESTION THAT I HAD.
UM, SOMEONE HAD ASKED ME JUST LIKE VERY, VERY RECENTLY, AND I COULDN'T REMEMBER THE ANSWER, AND I THINK IT'S BEEN ASKED IN YEARS PAST, BUT WHY ARE SCHOOL CROSSING GUARDS IN THE POLICE BUDGET? REMIND ME,
SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE, PROBABLY NOT.
I, AND WHAT I'M THINKING, UM, JUST PRACTICALLY IS WE'RE A 24 HOUR ORGANIZATION.
YOU KNOW, WE HAVE TRAFFIC OFFICERS THAT WORK AT 7:00 AM SO WE CAN HELP FACILITATE GETTING THE CROSSING GUARDS THERE, MAKING SURE THEY'RE, THAT THEY'RE AT THEIR COVERED, UM, LOCATIONS.
I THINK MAKING SURE THAT OUR CROSSINGS, SCHOOL CROSSINGS ARE COVERED EVERY MORNING IS A CRITICAL PUBLIC SAFETY FUNCTION.
AND I CAN SEE THAT FALLING ON THE POLICE.
SO MAYBE THAT IT WAS JUST EASIER TO MAKE SURE THAT IT WAS MANAGED, UH, ACCORDING TO THE TIME.
[02:05:01]
YEAH.I'M JUST, I THINK IT'S SOMETHING THAT'S BEEN ASKED AND I, I AM JUST, YOU KNOW, I, I I WONDER ABOUT THAT.
UM, IT'S ABOUT, I GUESS THESE ARE, ARE THESE THE PART-TIME POSITIONS THAT YOU ARE ALLUDING TO, AND HOW MANY ARE THEY? YES.
THAT, UH, THROUGH YOU? UH, CHA ZUBIE, THERE ARE 13.
HOW MANY, SORRY, REPEAT THE QUESTION ONCE AGAIN.
AND ORIGINALLY, I THINK FOR LAST YEAR'S BUDGET, IT WAS, UM, 3, 3 9 MM-HMM
UH, AND THEN NOW THERE'S AN INCREASE BECAUSE WE'RE ACCOUNTING FOR OTHER POSITIONS, UM, NOT JUST FULL-TIME.
AND SO ARE THESE THOSE POSITIONS? OKAY.
SO WE ARE COUNTING THE TRAFFIC SUPERVISORS OR THE CROSSING GUARDS.
THERE IS 50, UM, TRAFFIC SUPERVISORS.
WHEN YOU DO AN FTE COUNT, IT COMES OUT TO 13.3 FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT POSITIONS.
AND THEN THE OTHER QUESTION I HAD WAS, YOU KNOW, THE, THE PROCEDURAL DASHBOARD THERE, WERE THERE A LOT OF BACKGROUND HERE, UH, AROUND WHY THE CITY, UH, PUT IT INTO PLACE, AND THERE'S DATA TRANSPARENCY ANALYSIS THAT'S THE 200 K THAT'S ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DASHBOARD AS FAR AS WHAT'S DONE WITH THIS DASHBOARD.
MY UNDERSTANDING FROM READING THIS IS THAT, UH, IT, IT INFORMS THE USE OF FORCE REPORTS, INVESTIGATIONS.
CAN YOU SAY A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW THIS, THE DATA, THIS ANALYSIS IS THEN USED BY YOUR OFFICE? UM, SO THE PUBLIC PORTAL, WHEN WE FIRST, UM, DECIDED, NOT DECIDED IS IS THE WRONG WORD, WHEN WE WERE RELEASING OUR INFORMATION, UH, TO THE COMMUNITY, IT WAS, WE WANTED TO PROVIDE MORE TRANSPARENCY ABOUT OUR ARRESTS, UM, OUR, UM, CITATIONS, UM, AND SUMMONSES.
AND I GUESS THE QUESTION IS WHAT ARE WE DOING WITH THE INFORMATION THAT WE GET FROM OUR PROCEDURAL JUSTICE DASHBOARD? SO I'LL CLARIFY AND SAY, I THINK, UH, THROUGH YOU CHAIR ZUBIE, THE, IT MAY, IT MAKES SENSE WHY WE HAVE A DASHBOARD AND FOR THE PUBLIC TO USE IT TO SEE IT.
UM, I'M NOT SURE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE, YOU KNOW, ACTUALLY LOOKING AT IT.
UM, MAYBE WE CAN GET HOW MANY HITS WE CAN, THE DASH FORGET.
SO THAT'D BE, UM, GREAT TO, UH, YOU KNOW, UNDERSTAND.
UH, BUT I THINK MY, WHAT I'M FOCUSED ON IS, YOU KNOW, WE'RE TRYING TO THINK ABOUT ACCOUNTABILITY, RIGHT? YEAH.
WE TRYING TO THINK ABOUT, UM, YOU KNOW, ARE WE SEEING TRENDS? WHAT, HOW ARE WE USING THIS DATA TO THEN INFORM THE WORK? YEAH.
AND SO I, I THINK OBVIOUSLY IN THE LAST YEAR'S BUDGET BOOK, THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF A, UM, THERE'S SOME OBJECTIVES AND, AND SO FORTH.
BUT I AM CURIOUS, MORE CURIOUS AROUND HOW, I THINK YOU'VE SAID IT, HOW YOU, THE DEPARTMENTS, UH, SEEN IT AS BEING THE MOST USEFUL HMM.
UM, THROUGH YOU, UH, CHAIR ZUBIE TO THE MAYOR.
YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE THINGS, AND WE WERE RECENTLY WORKING WITH, UM, THE CENTER FOR POLICE EQUITY, LOOKING AT A LOT OF OUR DATA TO SAY, YOU KNOW, WHAT IS THIS STORY TELL? AND THEY'RE ACTUALLY GOING THROUGH SOME, UH, PERSONNEL TRANSITIONS, BUT WE DO NEED TO FIND SOMEBODY ELSE TO WORK WITH TO SAY, LOOK AT OUR DATA.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ABOUT HOW THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE ARE PERFORMING? ARE WE, YOU KNOW, ARE WE, DOES THIS MAKE ANY SORT OF DETERMINATION? DOES IT TELL A STORY? SO I THINK IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO WORK WITH AN OUTSIDE ENTITY TO TAKE A LOOK AT OUR DATA, ASSESS OUR DATA, AND TELL US WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT THE CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE NEED TO LOOK FOR ANOTHER THIRD ENTITY TO COME IN AND TAKE A LOOK AT OUR DATA AND FIGURE OUT, YOU KNOW, HOW WE, HOW WE ARE DOING.
I WANNA SAY, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING ELSE THAT'S, THAT'S KIND OF CONNECTED THAT TO THAT WE, WE HAVE NOT DONE EITHER A PATROL ALLOCATION ASSESSMENT OR EVEN LIKE A, A DEEP DATA DIVE INTO WHAT WE'RE DOING.
AND I THINK WE REALLY, AS A CITY, WE HAVE CHANGED TREMENDOUSLY OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS, BUT WE HAVEN'T TAKEN A GOOD HARD LOOK AT OUR STAFFING, HOW WE RESPOND TO CALLS FOR SERVICE, TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE THE PROPERLY ALLOCATED OFFICERS JUST TO RESPOND TO THE DEMANDS THAT THIS POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS.
WE HAVEN'T DONE THAT IN OVER 40 YEARS.
SO I THINK THERE WAS A LOT OF ROOM TO TAKE A LOOK AT OUR DATA, LOOKING AT OUR, UH, CALLS
[02:10:01]
FOR SERVICE, LOOKING AT EVEN THE OUTCOMES FOR SOME OF THAT TO SAY WHERE CAN WE AS A POLICE DEPARTMENT IMPROVE? BECAUSE WE DO WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE, YOU KNOW, CONNECTING, IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF, UM, SERVICES TO OUR COMMUNITY, PARTICULARLY, UH, THOSE MOST VULNERABLE.UM, AND HAVING, YOU KNOW, AN OUTSIDE ENTITY TELL US WHERE WE'RE STRUGGLING WOULD BE HELPFUL.
I KNOW WE ONLY HAVE A FEW MINUTES LEFT, BUT I THINK, UM, I WOULD LOVE TO TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT WHEN WE SAY KIND OF IMPROVE, IT FEELS LIKE WHAT I'VE HEARD IS THAT MEANS ADDING POSITIONS.
BUT I ALSO THINK JUST FROM SOME OF MY COMMENTS FROM OTHER, SOME OTHER, MY COLLEAGUES OF LIKE, LET'S DO WE NEED TO ADD MORE STAFF, ALL THAT, AS WE THINK ABOUT KIND OF EFFICIENCY AND WE THINK ABOUT, AND I THINK YOU'VE, WE'RE LOOKING AT THE OVERTIME, WE'RE LOOKING AT THINGS.
I DO THINK THERE'S A, I THINK WE SHOULD ASK THE QUESTION OF CAN WE BE MORE EFFICIENT? YES.
UM, AND SO I THINK WE DID THESE COST SAVINGS AND THAT WAS AN EXERCISE, BUT I DO THINK IT'S A GOOD PRACTICE.
UM, AND, YOU KNOW, I'LL GO BACK TO KIND OF REDUNDANCIES.
I WON'T REPEAT WHAT'S BEEN SAID ABOUT REDUNDANCIES, BUT I THINK, YOU KNOW, THE CITY, WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT EFFICIENCY.
AND SO THAT IS SOMETHING THAT, UM, I WANNA HAVE MORE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT.
UH, AND IT'S NOT TO SAY, I GUESS IT IS NOT TO SAY, YOU KNOW, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS, THERE'S IS NOT A JUDGMENT ON POLICE DEPARTMENT.
IT'S ACTUALLY, AS WE LOOK THROUGH ALL OUR DEPARTMENTS, IT'S SOMETHING THAT, UM, WE'RE, WE'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT.
AND SO I HOPE WE CAN CONTINUE THAT CONVERSATION.
I WE'RE, WE'RE CLOSE TO TIME AT 1215, SO WE'LL DO, I'LL DO A MOTION TO EXTEND ANOTHER 10 MINUTES, UM, JUST ALSO SO THAT YOU HAVE TIME TO RESPOND AS WELL.
UM, SO IF WE COULD DO A ROLL CALL VOTE.
AND YOU HAVE SIX MEMBERS RECORDED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE, AND THREE RECORDED AS ABSENT.
AND I'LL HOPEFULLY WE'RE, WE WON'T NEED TO TAKE THE 10 MINUTES, BUT I HAVE A HANDFUL OF QUESTIONS AND HAPPY TO SEND REMAINING ONES THAT ARE NOT ADDRESSED HERE.
UM, SIMILAR TO WHAT COUNCILOR AZI, VICE MAYOR AZEEM SAID, UH, YOU HAVE INSISTED THAT YOU TAKE THE OVERTIME PROCESS VERY SERIOUSLY AND THAT YOU HOLD OFFICERS ACCOUNTABLE WHO ABUSE THIS.
AND I APPRECIATE YOU LETTING US KNOW THIS AND LETTING US KNOW ABOUT THE 600 K DECREASE IN OVERTIME.
UH, HOW MUCH SPENDING DID THE DEPARTMENT DO ON OVERTIME IN THE LAST FISCAL YEAR? AND HOW MUCH IS BUDGETED FOR THIS YEAR OUTSIDE OF THE 600 K DECREASE THROUGH YOU, MADAM CHAIR? SO OVERTIME IS, IS, I THINK, CHALLENGING ACROSS THE CITY BECAUSE OUR BUDGETED AMOUNTS FOR OVERTIME, UM, HAVE STAYED PRETTY STABLE, UH, THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
SO LAST YEAR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAD, UH, FOR FY 25, WE BUDGETED, UH, CLOSE TO $4 MILLION FOR THE DEPARTMENT IN OVERTIME, BUT THEIR ACTUAL OVERTIME SPEND WAS OVER $8 MILLION.
AND SO WE TRYING TO, AND THAT'S TYPICALLY COVERED BECAUSE OF THE AMOUNT OF VACANCIES THIS HAPPENS ACROSS CITY DEPARTMENTS.
UH, THE AMOUNT OF OUTAGE AND VACANCIES HELPS MAKE UP THAT DIFFERENCE SO THAT, UH, WE'RE NOT OVER BUDGET, UH, IN ANY GIVEN YEAR.
UM, AND SO WE TRY TO ADJUST THAT BETWEEN THE, YOU KNOW, BALANCING VACANCIES AND THE AMOUNT NEEDED TO COVER OVER TIME.
UM, SO THE BUDGET FOR FY 26 OVER TIME IS $5.7 MILLION.
UM, BUT AGAIN, THROUGH EFFICIENCIES, WE'RE STILL GONNA LOOK TO MANAGE HOW IT'S SPENT MUCH BETTER ACROSS ALL DIVISIONS IN, IN THE DEPARTMENT, AND NOT JUST IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, BUT I THINK ACROSS THE CITY.
AND SIMILAR ALSO TO VICE MAYOR ZEMA WAS SAYING, I, I KNOW WITH PATROL SHIFTS RIGHT NOW AND POLICE OFFICERS ACROSS OTHER UNITS, IS THERE A WAY TO FIND WAYS TO BRING THEM TO OPERATIONALIZE THE COMMUNITY EVENTS THAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT EARLIER, UM, THROUGH THE SHIFTS PROCESS? I, I WOULD IMAGINE THAT THESE EVENTS HAVE BEEN HAPPENING FOR YEARS.
SO ARE, ARE YOU ABLE TO HELP ME BETTER UNDERSTAND WHY WE HAVEN'T WORKED TO SHIFT INTO A PLAN ABOUT HOW THEY'RE BUDGETED? SO APPRECIATE THE, THE QUESTION, UH, CHAIR ZUBY AND OUR OFFICERS THAT ARE ON SHIFT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANSWERING
[02:15:01]
CALLS FOR SERVICE.IT COULD BE TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, WHATEVER HAPPENS, THEY NEED TO BE AVAILABLE TO RESPOND TO THOSE CALLS FOR SERVICE.
SO WHEN WE HAVE A COMMUNITY EVENT THAT'S OUTSIDE OF THE REGULAR CALLS FOR SERVICE, WE CAN'T STAFF THAT WITH OFFICER, WITH OFFICERS THAT ARE WORKING, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE THEY'RE GONNA BE CALLED TO OTHER DUTIES AND THEY CAN'T SPEND THEIR ENTIRE TIME THEY'RE AT A COMMUNITY EVENT DEPENDING ON WHICH EVENT IT IS.
UM, SO A LOT OF TIMES IT, IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO, YOU KNOW, UH, BE READY FOR RAPID RESPONSE TO CALLS AND ALSO ATTEND A COMMUNITY EVENT AND BE FULLY ENGAGED WHEN YOU'RE, UH, UH, AGAIN ACCOUNTABLE TO THE RADIO.
WE DO HAVE OUR OFFICERS THOUGH, AS THEY'RE ON SHIFT, ATTEND COMMUNITY EVENTS, BUT WE'RE GONNA HAVE THEM DO THAT WITH THEIR RADIO ON.
SO WE MODERATE, WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THE OFFICERS THAT ARE ON SHIFT WHO CAN ACTUALLY COMMENT TO SUNDAY, MAYBE WE CAN HAVE OFFICERS GO BY, BUT THEN WE ALSO NEED, YOU KNOW, MAYBE ONE OR TWO OFFICERS THAT ARE THERE FOR THE DURATION OF THE EVENT.
AND, AND WE REALLY GO THROUGH THIS PUSH AND PULL WITH SOME OF THE EVENT ORGANIZERS BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANNA FEEL LIKE THEY HAVE POLICE EVERYWHERE.
BUT WE DO NEED TO HAVE, YOU KNOW, SOME KIND OF A POLICE PRESENCE AT SOME OF THESE EVENTS FOR PUBLIC SAFETY.
SO WE DO TRY TO WORK WITH ON SHIFT PLUS A COMBINATION OF OVERTIME.
SO, WHICH SOMETIMES IT'S NOT JUST ALL OVERTIME, IT REALLY ALSO DEPENDS ON THE SCALE OF THE EVENT.
YEAH, IT, IT WOULD BE HELPFUL MAYBE TO UNDERSTAND, I'M HAPPY TO FOLLOW UP IN A LATER EMAIL ABOUT LIKE, THE SHIFT IN STRUCTURE PROCESS AND HOW YOU GUYS NAVIGATE THAT TO SEE IF WE CAN BETTER FIGURE OUT WAYS TO AD ADJUST THE OVERTIME BUDGETING PROCESS SO THAT WE'RE ABLE TO MAKE THOSE MORE EFFICIENT.
UM, I ALSO HAD A QUESTION I, I BELIEVE ON THE VIOLENT CRIMES PIECE.
I THINK THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT, UM, I HEARD THAT THE NUMBER WAS ABOUT 4,300, BUT IT WAS ALSO COMBINED WITH ROUTINE AND FINANCE RELATED INVESTIGATIONS.
DO WE HAVE A SPECIFIC NUMBER ON VIOLENT CRIMES EXPLICITLY THAT ARE, THAT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT ARE ADDRESSING? I'M GONNA LOOK TO SUPERINTENDENT JOHN BOYLE AND SEE IF HE CAN ANSWER THAT.
ALL OF OUR CRIMES STATISTICS COULD TRACK THROUGH OUR CRIME ANALYSIS UNIT.
I DON'T HAVE THE SPECIFIC NUMBERS, BUT, UH, WE CAN BREAK THAT DOWN.
UH, PART ONE, INDEX CRIMES, WHICH TEND TO, TENDS TO BE MORE OF YOUR VIOLENT CRIME, UH, INTO, YOU KNOW, PART TWO CRIMES, UH, WHICH TEND TO BE MORE OF YOUR, YOU KNOW, FINANCIAL OR BANKING CRIMES.
UH, WE CAN GET THAT THROUGH OUR CRIME ANALYSIS.
YEAH, THAT WOULD BE REALLY GREAT, UH, TO GET MORE OF THAT INFORMATION.
I KNOW IT, ESPECIALLY WHEN HOW WE TALK ABOUT LIKE WHAT ESSENTIALLY OUR RESOURCES ARE BEING PUT INTO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING THAT VIOLENT CRIME PIECE AND, AND REALLY BREAKING DOWN THE 4,300 TO UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH OF IT WAS FINANCIAL VERSUS COMPLEX ROUTINE WOULD BE, WOULD BE HELPFUL.
UM, JUST A FEW COMMENTS AND THEN I'M HAPPY TO CLOSE OFF AND, AND FOLLOW UP.
I, I DO THINK THAT IN THIS PRESENTATION, THE RHETORICAL DECISION TO, COMPARED TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS SERVICES THAT KEEP PEOPLE OFF THE STREETS AND CARED FOR IS A BIT CATEGORICALLY MISLEADING.
UM, I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ALL ARE TRYING TO DEFEND YOUR BUDGET, BUT I JUST DUNNO IF IT'S THE MOST JUST WAY TO GO ABOUT IT.
THERE ARE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PURPOSE, FUNCTION, AND INVESTMENT OF THESE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS.
UM, POLICE ARE OFTENTIMES THE RESPONSE TO THE FAILURE OF THE, OF THESE INFRASTRUCTURE AND SYSTEMS TO PROVIDE CARE AND DIGNITY FOR OUR RESIDENTS.
I ALSO WANNA APPRECIATE THAT YOU HAVE HELPED PEOPLE WITH GETTING A MATTRESS AND AN AC OR A BICYCLE.
UM, AND I, AND I DON'T THINK A WEAPON IS NEEDED TO DO THAT KIND OF WORK.
AND IT HIGHLIGHTS THAT OUR CARE, THAT OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS CARE AND RESOURCES AND NOT NECESSARILY THAT POLICING ASPECT.
UM, I, I KNOW WITH THE EXPERIENCES THAT WERE SHARED, EVEN ONE OF MY OWN ENGAGEMENTS WITH, UH, A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS CALL WHERE I WOULD IMAGINE THAT THE PERSON WAS A PERCEIVED THREAT, UH, MY SISTER, WHO'S A PHYSICIAN, STEPPED IN TO ADDRESS THE SCENE.
AND IN THAT CASE, THE OFFICERS WEREN'T NEEDED.
UM, AND THE QUESTION I SAT WITH AT THAT MOMENT WHEN SHE WAS GETTING IN THE AMBULANCE, BECAUSE WHAT WAS DECIDED IS THAT SHE NEEDED MEDICAL SUPPORT WAS HOW IS SHE GOING TO GET THE CARE THAT SHE NEEDS BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE FOR THE CYCLE TO KEEP HAPPENING.
UM, AND I KNOW THAT WE CAN SHARE THAT, THAT SENTIMENT.
UH, SO THERE WAS A LOT OF INFORMATION ON THE PRESENTATION AND, UH, THINGS THAT WERE SHARED ACROSS ALL THE DIFFERENT POLICE OFFICERS IN THE UNITS THAT YOU REPRESENT.
UM, IT'D BE GREAT TO GET THOSE IN SO THAT WE CAN ALSO PUT THEM ON PUBLIC RECORD FOR THIS MEETING.
UM, AND YEAH, ON A MOTION TO, UH, ADJOURN BY COUNCILLOR ZUZI.
VICE MAYOR Z AB ABSENT, COUNCIL OF FLAHERTY.
ABSENT COUNCILLOR SABRINA WHEELER.
AND YOU HAVE SIX MEMBERS RECORDED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE AND THREE RECORDED AS ABSENT.