Cambridge Residents Alliance: Release the report on the shooting of Arif Sayed Faisal
The Cambridge Residents Alliance grieves with the family of Arif Sayed Faisal and stands with our neighbors and the supportive community groups such as Cambridge Heart, the Bangladesh Association of New England and the Muslim Justice League. We continue to be saddened and angry.
A young man of Cambridge is dead at the hands of our police force. As City Manager Yi-An Huang said at a coffee last week on behalf of the Cambridge Police Department, “this is not the outcome we trained for.” Then something has gone tragically wrong with our system of policing, and every member of our community has a right to know how and why. The district attorney will conduct her investigation and inquest over months, we are told. But there are simple facts to which our residents should have access now by seeing the reports of the only witnesses that are known – our police officers.
Therefore, we join the Boston Globe editorial board, our local press and others to demand the release of the report the officers made to the department. We should be able to know: what deescalation methods were used when Faisal was found outside his home harming himself; how many of our officers were present when Faisal was shot; how many shots were fired; and what happened that the officer felt it necessary to shoot his weapon.
Many residents are fearful of the police in general and with good reason: Young men like Faisal, immigrants and people of color, have been killed by police throughout this country. In this situation, feeling – and being – safe means bringing the facts to the people so changes can begin to be made. While we wait for this report to be made public, we continue to put our full support behind the community-led public safety alternative to the police that already exists in our city in the form of Cambridge Heart, staffed with eight crisis responders and an administrative team.
Cambridge Residents Alliance
The Cambridge Residents Alliance is a 12-year-old citywide organization with a stated goal of working to make Cambridge livable, affordable and diverse.
The killing of Arif Sayed Faisal was a tragedy. I call upon the Cambridge Residents Alliance to endorse candidates in the next election who will put a stop to the unconscionable yearly increases in the police budget. The 2023 proposed police budget is more than $73,000,000, an increase of $10,000,000 since 2021! CRA candidates in the past have failed to take leadership to enact police reforms and were negligent in following through on police body cameras recommendations. Of course we must have alternative non-police responses to public safety emergencies so that guns and badges are not the only way we respond to people in crisis. The HEART program is one alternative response and CRA candidates and CRA endorsed and elected City Councilors must act favorably on HEART’s reasoned and cost effective alternatives to guns and badges. It is evident that several CRA endorsed candidates in the past have not done what is necessary to bring about police reform and accountability. Perhaps beginning with the City Council this year things will be different.
Why is the officer who fired the fatal shot not identified? Who is protecting him or her from public scrutiny. Does the officer have any kind of a record of complaints against them?
Dear Eliza,
The story at https://bit.ly/3Iq94e7 may provide some answers.
Marc Levy, Cambridge Day