Police unions objected to body-worn cameras, while Care team begins work after negotiations

A city team of unarmed responders started answering some mental health-related emergency calls this month, delivering a long-awaited service that had been planned since 2020 as an alternative to police after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The Community Assistance Response and Engagement team, known as Care, started answering the 911 calls July 15, city spokesperson Jeremy Warnick said.

Care responded to six calls in the first four days of expanded operation, two explicitly mental-health related, Warnick said. One of those involved a “mentally distressed” person at a local library. The responders helped the person with their mental health crisis and found them a shelter, Warnick said. He credited the team’s relationship with First Step, which provides mental health and shelter services.

Another measure intended to change police operations, outfitting officers with body cameras, is still the subject of negotiations with police unions.

Although union leaders said publicly they support body-worn cameras, privately the unions fought the change, according to newly revealed information. The two unions representing patrol and superior officers filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor Relations last year, saying the city “failed to bargain in good faith regarding the decision to implement body cameras,” Warnick said, quoting the city’s human resources department.

The unions lost. In a decision July 10, a department investigator said choosing to deploy body cameras was a management prerogative. “I disagree [with the unions’ position] because the City’s decision to require the patrol officers and superior officers to wear body worn cameras implicates its ability to set law enforcement priorities that contribute to the safety and well-being of its staff and the public,” investigator Meghan Ventrella said.

The unions demanded to talk about whether the city should adopt the cameras, but the city would discuss only the impact of the cameras on officers, according to the ruling. Warnick said the two sides are continuing to talk about how the change will affect officers.

As for the Care initiative, the development of a police alternative for certain emergency calls had faced one delay after another since the City Council proposed it four years ago. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide demonstrations and calls to “defund the police” in favor of civilian response.

A representative of the Cambridge Police Patrol Officers Association was contacted Friday with a request for comment.

Responsibilities for Care team

Originally the new Community Safety Department, which houses Care,  was part of the city’s emergency call center; City Manager Yi-An Huang made it separate to ensure its independence after a Cambridge police officer shot and killed Arif Sayed Faisal, 20, a Bangladeshi immigrant in a mental crisis who was holding a large knife, in January 2023. Faisal had been cutting himself but didn’t drop the knife when confronted by police. An outside investigation confirmed the police department conclusion that the shooting was justified.

The Care team was hired last fall with plans to answer nonviolent and noncriminal mental health calls, and other 911 calls that didn’t need police response. Three team members were fired in January in their probationary period, just weeks before the team was to start answering calls in March. Department head Liz Speakman said then the team would still start on time, but until this month the only calls it answered were requests to pick up discarded needles.

At a hearing on the department budget, it turned out that the department was talking to police unions about what kind of calls the team would answer. Later, a spokesperson for the patrol officers union told Cambridge Day that the union was concerned about the safety of Care team members and wanted to ensure they got proper training. The spokesperson added that police deliver services annually to more than 1,000 people in mental distress, help people experiencing medical emergencies and drug overdoses and  and “perform many other duties that demonstrate the care, compassion and dedication with which Cambridge police officers approach their job every day.”

Asked what had changed to persuade the department to expand responses beyond needle pickups, Warnick said: “The city notified the unions which call types the Care team will be responding to and addressed several of the union’s concerns. While there is no formal agreement in place, the city believes it has complied with its bargaining obligations with respect to the plans for [the Community Safety Department’s] ongoing rollout of services to the community.”

He said the team will answer more types of calls “over the coming months” and will talk to the unions if they have concerns.

Roadblocks for citizen group

Meanwhile, a citizen group formed after Floyd’s murder to provide an unarmed police response, the Holistic Emergency Assistance Response Team, or Heart, has won support from city councillors but still has no permanent city financing as it has requested. The group did get $300,000 in pandemic aid from the city. Despite talks with Huang and Speakman last year, Heart leaders have said they couldn’t get clear information about how to apply for a city contract.

The Community Safety Department has city funds to distribute to community groups working to implement its mission to “enhance the community’s health and well-being.” The department solicited bids in May to provide “violence prevention” services. A joint proposal from Heart and Boston-based Community Service Care was one of four proposals, according to the city’s purchasing department. The Community Safety Department said it would select up to four organizations and award them up to $150,000; no information on a decision was available, although contracts were to begin July 1.

Heart also lost physical space it had planned to use when the foundation that owns the Democracy Center at 45 Mt. Auburn St., Harvard Square, decided to stop renting to progressive community organizations to make renovations, the foundation said.

Besides answering 911 calls, the city Care team has also been conducting “targeted outreach” in neighborhoods, especially Central Square, with services such as evaluating individuals’ mental health and referring people to help with “concrete needs,” Warnick said. The team has also provided case management to 24 people “on an ongoing basis,” helping with obtaining housing, getting food and other needs, he said.

This work is similar to services that Heart has said it’s providing in the community while it waits to get the support it says it needs to establish a phone number to respond to emergency requests for help.

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