Body-camera footage access and crisis-prevention protocols for Cambridge police are on the agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting with adjustments to zoning proposals and appointments to the Commission for Persons with Disabilities and Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance review board. Here’s what to look for:
Body camera footage access: Cambridge police say they will release body-worn camera video within 30 days of incidents of “heightened public interest” such as nonfatal officer-involved shootings, uses of serious force, big protests or “situations that draw widespread public attention or circulate widely on social media.”
The goal is to improve trust and transparency while following state public records laws, protecting privacy and avoiding harm to investigations, commissioner Christine Elow said. The department will withhold video if it includes protected information about kids, victims, witnesses or bystanders, or if releasing it could affect an active case or a fair trial. If reviewing or redacting footage takes more time, the department will announce the delay and provide a new estimate.
The policy will be “independent of whether or not the department has received a request” for video. It responds to a Sept. 15 council policy order concerned about police shooting pepper spray into an apartment building to end an armed standoff.
New crisis prevention protocols: Police say they will update crisis-response procedures to better include mental health professionals during incidents when someone barricades themselves and it is safe and practical – as with the body camera footage, this order responds to an 18-hour standoff in The Port neighborhood on Aug. 1-2. Councillors asked afterward why mental health staff were not involved.
Under the proposed approach, supervisors will assess whether a mental health crisis is involved in an incident, if it is safe to involve a clinician to resolve it and whether there is time to bring one in. If so, the incident commander will call a clinician from a police department unit, the city’s Community Safety Department or the mobile crisis team at the Cambridge Health Alliance’s Community Behavioral Health Center. Clinicians may advise officers, contact the doctor or therapist of the person bringing a police response or – if safe – try negotiating to de-escalate a situation.
Appointments: City manager Yi-An Huang seeks to appoint four members to three-year terms starting Monday on the Commission for Persons with Disabilities. This follows a restructuring of the Equity and Inclusion Department, including multiple boards and commissions, with corporate-style layoffs that drew outrage from residents and councillors. One seat remains open while the city reviews the commission’s needs.
Huang also has nine members for a new Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) Review Board to start work Monday. The ordinance requires large commercial and institutional buildings to report energy and water use and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The board will review requests from property owners who say they cannot meet emission-reduction deadlines and will decide whether they qualify for hardship or delayed-compliance plans. In future years, the board will rule on whether fossil-fuel backup generators should stay exempt from emission-reduction efforts and what kinds of carbon credits buildings can use as offsets.
Changes to zoning proposal: Three councillors seek to reduce maximum heights – to 11 stories from 12, with ground-floor retail or other active uses required – in part of a proposed Massachusetts Avenue rezoning.
The request by Patty Nolan with co-sponsors Cathie Zusy and Ayesha M. Wilson follows the Massachusetts Avenue Planning Study, an 18-month process that gathered input from residents, businesses and local experts. That study recommended allowing most of North Massachusetts Avenue to reach 8 to 11 stories, with taller buildings only in Porter Square. Councillors say the current proposal allows heights that exceed the study’s guidance and gives only a small height advantage to all-affordable housing projects, while an 11-story limit would still support mixed-use development, housing growth and affordable-housing goals while staying consistent with the community’s vision for the corridor.
Due back for discussion is councillor Paul Toner’s order proposing that building heights around Inman Square be scaled back to a maximum of eight stories from 10, also with an adjustment to the approach to ground-floor retail. Consideration was stopped last week for one regular meeting by councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler using his “charter right.”
The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
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.