The Cambridge Police Patrol Officers Association believes the Community Assistance Response and Engagement team has a place in Cambridge as a supplement to the city’s already excellent emergency services. However, the CARE team must first be prepared with proper training and safety protocols, and our negotiations with the City should be settled in good faith.
Every year, Cambridge Police Department officers deliver on-the-scene crisis intervention and emergency counseling to more than 1,000 people in mental health crisis; administer well over 50 life-saving doses of NARCAN to persons in drug-induced cardiac arrest; provide compassionate assistance and first-responder care to hundreds of citizens experiencing medical emergencies; and perform many other duties that demonstrate the care, compassion and dedication with which CPPOA members approach their job every day.
The team’s director Liz Speakman assures that they can “radio for assistance immediately and get back up right away” if safety concerns arise. However, this raises serious questions about the potential risks involved in this approach. Will social workers without any law enforcement training be equipped to handle unpredictable situations that could escalate rapidly?
Speakman claims that their team has learned from studying alternative response programs in Durham, NC. Yet it remains unclear how effective these lessons will be when put into practice. Moreover, while the five members of the CARE Team are experienced social workers and first responders, they lack law enforcement backgrounds.