Assaults on health care workers at Cambridge Health Alliance – and also of Cambridge police officers – are on the increase, officials at both organizations say. Police are trying to determine whether it’s a real trend or an anomaly. An alliance spokesperson said attacks on medical staff are a pattern nationally and that CHA works to prevent them.
The news of rising assaults came to light unexpectedly at an April 17 meeting of two CHA board of trustees committees: public health and population health. Police department director of clinical services James Barrett, a psychologist, and police superintendent Frederick Cabral reported on the success of a police initiative that sends a police officer and a social worker to some mental health calls. The team was diverting people from the emergency room and from the criminal justice system, they said.
The report of diversions brought a quick response from CHA chief executive Assaad Sayah. While agreeing that “it is very important that we are routing many of these patients from the criminal justice system to health care,” Sayah said; “We have seen an increase in violence in our organization … Some of them belong in jail, when you have one person who shuts down an entire department.”
CHA’s top leader hasn’t previously spoken publicly of an increasing number of assaults in the health care system, though other management officials have said violence makes it difficult to recruit workers, and nurses have described attacks in the system’s adolescent psychiatric unit in Somerville.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association has called for workplace violence prevention programs at all health care centers and minimum staffing levels, among other proposals. The union has also asked members to report incidents of workplace injuries with the association.
System spokesperson David Cecere said: “The safety of our staff is a priority at CHA. Health systems across the nation are facing a rise in workplace violence, and we are continuously working to strengthen our processes and protocols to prevent harm to patients and staff. A multidisciplinary team investigates every assault resulting in staff harm to understand root causes and identify ways we could prevent similar incidents in the future.”
He also said CHA’s own police force “is available to provide added support for staff and patients.” Cecere didn’t provide figures on assaults of staff although he was asked, and he didn’t answer when asked whether he would provide daily tallies of assaults that Sayah said are kept by the system. Cambridge Day has requested the reports under the state public records law.
After Sayah’s statement, Cabral said that police responding to mental health calls can “take the forensic path” and apply for a warrant “in a difficult situation.” That could result in a temporary commitment to Bridgewater State Hospital, the state’s mental health facility for people in the criminal justice system, for an assessment.
“We regularly do that,” Cabral said. “We know there are assaults in your system.”
Assaults on officers
Then Cabral dropped his own bombshell. “You’re not the only one,” he said. “Over the first quarter of 2025, assaults on our officers are up 100 percent.”
Actually, assaults of Cambridge police officers rose 157 percent – well more than doubling – during the period from Jan. 1 to March 17 this year, compared with the same period last year, city spokesperson Jeremy Warnick said. There were 18 attacks this year versus seven last year, Warnick said.
“The command staff is aware of the increase, and they have requested a much more thorough review from Crime Analysis to see if there is a pattern or if it’s a statistical anomaly,” he said.
Warnick added that Cambridge police started wearing body cameras in the second quarter of this year starting April 1. “Whether this will have an effect on [assaults of police officers] is something that will be analyzed,” he said.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.
