Cambridge plans to deploy social workers instead of police for some 911 Calls

Cambridge — The City of Cambridge may soon dispatch social workers instead of police to 911 calls involving nonviolent, mental health-related incidents. This initiative follows the national push for police reform that took place after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.

The city’s new Community Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) team, which consists of five social workers, began training in September and has been doing outreach since December. So far, the CARE team has provided assistance to the city’s most vulnerable, by distributing water and snacks to the homeless, assessing their needs to connect them with community resources, and helping individuals obtain identification.

The only calls the team has been responding to so far have been to pick up discarded syringes, a responsibility typically assigned to the fire department.

The program is now preparing for a rollout in July, though the initial plan was to launch in Spring 2024.

Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow supports the CARE program and has been in frequent communication with the team. However, negotiations with the local police union have delayed the program’s full rollout. The union president, Chris Sullivan, acknowledges the program’s potential but emphasizes the need for proper training and safety protocols.

Following the roll out, the CARE team will begin responding to nonviolent incidents reported to 911 such as well-being checks and loitering complaints. They will not respond to cases involving weapons or active crime scenes.

Unlike some other alternative response programs across the country, the CARE team will not be accompanied by police officers. The team members will carry city-issued radios with emergency buttons to summon police if necessary.

City officials, including Vice Mayor Marc McGovern, advocate for the CARE team’s role in non-criminalizing responses to homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse. The program’s development is influenced by past incidents where police intervention led to negative outcomes, such as the 2020 restraint of a distraught man who was trying to get into his dead mother’s apartment and the fatal shooting of a college student armed with a foot-long knife during a mental health crisis in 2023.

Advocates for improved mental health practices in policing view Cambridge’s initiative as cutting-edge. Despite some skepticism about the unpredictability of 911 calls, research shows that similar programs in other cities rarely require police backup.