The Boston Police Department (BPD) and Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) Boston Emergency Services Team (BEST) have been collaborating for more than 10 years to serve the community’s most vulnerable residents—particularly those who come to the attention of the police. Since 2011, Master’s-level BEST clinicians have been available to assist BPD officers on calls for service involving individuals exhibiting signs of mental distress, to provide mental health assessments on-site in the community or at the police station, and to deliver rapid access to community mental health, substance use, and psychiatry services. BEST clinicians have access to a broad continuum of mental health, substance abuse, and co-occurring treatment resources, many of which constitute evidence-based best practices.
The goal of the co-response program is to provide community-based psychiatric crisis services to de-escalate and stabilize nonviolent people experiencing psychiatric emergencies. By utilizing a co-responder model, our clinicians are able to be on site at the first point of contact, and thus can assess for acute psychiatric symptoms and triage the person appropriately. The clinicians help to ensure that people with mental illnesses are able to avoid further criminal justice involvement while providing much-needed therapeutic interventions. After triaging an individual on the scene, the clinicians often help stabilize the situation and routinely pass cases along to the general BEST team for a follow-up/home visit. The clinicians and the assigned officers also frequently transport people experiencing a mental health crisis and drop them off directly to the BEST Urgent Care Center, thus avoiding emergency departments. Only those individuals displaying acute psychiatric symptoms such as suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, acute psychosis or acute medical symptoms are transported to local emergency departments, either voluntarily or under the authority of a Section 12A (Application for an Authorization of Temporary Involuntary Hospitalization) issued by responding officers or a psychiatrist.
Through a re-allocation of BPD overtime funds beginning in 2020, the BPD now has funding to support 12 BEST clinicians, meaning that there is at least one clinician assigned to each of the 11 police districts. These funds are also used to provide clinical supervision and to support two clinicians dedicated to working directly with the BPD’s Street Outreach Unit (SOU). Our BEST clinicians are also heavily involved in providing BPD officers with mental health training, including co-facilitating trainings at the Academy for new recruits and co-teaching several sessions at the BPD’s new DMH-funded Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC). This 40-hour training, which is being implemented primarily by the SOU in partnership with the Academy, incorporates the fundamental of CIT (recognizing signs and symptoms of mental illness, verbal and non-verbal de-escalation skills, etc.), but tailors the training to specific needs and resources encountered in Boston.
The community violence trauma support line (617) 431-0125 is operated by the Boston Public Health Commissioner. It is free and confidential, 24/7/365. Trained professionals provide support to emotionally traumatized and concerned community members on a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year basis. Consultation is also available to partner organizations who support community members. Any resident or worker in Boston can call when they are exposed to trauma due to community violence. They can call when the incident occurs or years after, there is no time limit. Live people work to answer calls, it is not a call center. Please leave a call back number, you do not have to leave a name, and staff will call you back in 30 minutes. They can talk with you about how to begin to address trauma and connect to services.
Roca finds and focuses on young people at the center of urban violence – those who are traumatized, full of distrust, and are trapped in a cycle of violence and poverty that traditional youth programs alone can’t break. Roca believes that to heal the trauma of urban violence and the extreme racial disparity of its impact, it’s going to take all of us. Roca also builds relationships with the institutions young people interact with – like the police and other system partners – to spark new thinking about working with young people who are traumatized and stuck.
In addition to partnering with Roca to work with youth, BPD is partnering with Roca on to bring Rewire4 training to our officers. Rewire4 is a Cognitive Behavioral Skill Based Practice designed specifically for Police Officers in the field. It gives police methods, skills and tools they can use when they are out on the street responding to people and events in real time. It helps officers understand the brain science and trauma that results in the need to intervene and methods to effectively intervene. BPD is implementing the train-the-trainer program with a goal of training all officers.
For more information go to the Crime Stoppers Text-A-Tip page.
Is there someone in your life who is violent or controlling towards you? Have you been sexually assaulted by either a stranger of someone you know? Are you concerned that your child may have been abused or exploited?
If you are looking for assistance with navigating the legal system and understanding your rights as a victim or survivor of domestic abuse or sexual assault, the Boston Police Department’s Family Justice Group and the Family Justice Center (FJC) of Boston can help.
The BPD’s Family Justice Group consists of four units working together to enhance victim safety and improve offender accountability:
Domestic Violence Unit (DVU)
DVU detectives investigate incidents of abuse among intimate partners, people who are dating, or family members. Abuse may include physical violence, threats or intimidation, stalking, harassment, verbal abuse, and other behaviors used by one person to control another. DVU detectives can be reached at (617) 343-4350. In addition, the DVU also has civilian DV advocates assigned to several police stations in the City who can assist survivors with safety planning, crisis intervention, and referrals to community-based resources. To speak with a DV advocate, please call the DVU or contact your local police station.
Sexual Assault Unit (SAU)
Detectives assigned to SAU investigate reported incidents of rape, attempted rape, and indecent assault. SAU works closely with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center to provide a victim-centered response to sexual-based violence. The Sexual Assault Unit can be reached at (617)343-4400.
Crimes Against Children Unit (CACU)
CACU investigates reported incidents of physical and sexual abuse of children, as well as crimes involving child pornography and internet enticement of minors. CACU detectives can be reached at (617) 343-6183.
Human Trafficking Unit (HTU)
HTU detectives work with the MA State Police and the FBI to investigate alleged crimes in which a person or group of persons uses force, fraud, or coercion to obtain or maintain a person in service, labor, or commercial sexual exploitation. HTU detectives can be reached at (617)343-6533.
These four units of dedicated investigators are housed within the Dee Kennedy Family Justice Center (FJC) of Boston, a program of the Boston Public Health Commission. The FJC partners with the Boston Police Department and several local victim service organizations to assist both adult and minor survivors of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Among the organizations partnering with the BPD and FJC include:
- Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
- Boston Area Rape Crisis Center
- Casa Myrna
- The Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers
- Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County (an FJC on-site partner)
- The Network/LaRed (an FJC on-site partner)
- My Life My Choice
- EVA Center
- Dress for Success Boston (an FJC on-site partner)
The FJC is located at 989 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, MA 02215. For more information call (617) 779-2100, or visit the FJC website.
The North Star Personal Alert Program is a voluntary program for parents, guardians, or caretakers of children and adults who tend to wander or are a flight risk from a specific location (e.g., home, school, nursing home, etc.). This initiative helps individuals who may have difficulty communicating with first responders or who do not understand the potential danger faced by him/her. The program particularly serves individuals with Autism/Autistic Spectrum Disorders and those with Alzheimer’s disease.
To ensure the welfare of an individual, the Boston Police Department and other emergency services in and around the City use a comprehensive database containing information provided by the parents, legal guardians, or caretakers. This information helps first responders ensure the individual receives any necessary services.
We hope that residents will take full advantage of this initiative and assist first responders with the safe return of loved ones. Community members can enroll in North Star by contacting the BPD at (617) 343-6503 or northstar.bpd@cityofboston.gov.
The Office of Police Accountability and Transparency (OPAT) exists to investigate complaints of police misconduct. Our office ensures that the Boston Police Department’s internal affairs review process is fair and thorough. We also review existing and proposed Boston Police policies and procedures.
https://www.boston.gov/
Implemented by the Boston Police Department in 2007, Shot Spotter serves as an acoustical technology that precisely locates where gunshots have been fired providing immediate notification. On average, notifications arrive one to two minutes before 911 calls. Sometimes, notifications arrive without a 911 call. This state-of-the-art program and enhanced response time better enables us to respond to individuals in need of assistance, identify hotspot locations, recover evidence, locate people in possession of guns and to focus resources.
The Boston Police Department in partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston created YouthConnect, formerly known as the Youth Service Providers Network. With focus on Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roxbury, and the South End neighborhoods. YouthConnect currently places licensed clinical social workers in six (6) of our district stationhouses and three (3) specialized units (the Youth Violence Strike Force, the School Police Unit and the Domestic Violence Unit located at the Family Justice Center) to provide prevention, intervention and advocacy services to youth between the ages of 10-24 years and their families. Youth are referred directly from police officers and since its inception, YouthConnect has served over 17,000 youth and families.
YouthConnect’s objectives are for young people to exhibit fewer high-risk factors, take ownership of their decisions, engage with key community resources, be better equipped to make positive life choices, and be on track to a more hopeful future. Using our four-tier service model that includes individual or family therapy services, clinical case management and resource coordination, YouthConnect evaluates success based on the level of completion on the below objectives:
- Provide trauma-informed mental health and advocacy services to referred youth and families as deemed appropriate by YouthConnect social workers.
- Conduct safety planning with youth regarding victimization, perpetration, and retaliation.
- Build additional supports for young people to ensure a safety net of caring professional adults.
- Enhance family stability and supports.
- Coordinate services for families between varied social service agencies and juvenile justice providers to ensure that roles and responsibilities are clear, minimize duplication, make appropriate treatment strategies, and maintain cultural competency.
- Reduce high-risk behaviors that are associated with arrest and incarceration.
YouthConnect works to address the underlying problems and social issues that contribute to juvenile crime and delinquency by working with the entire family, not just the youth. YouthConnect works to maximize their efforts by aligning them with (and using them to inform) community-wide strategies. Across Boston, YouthConnect staff collaborate with other violence prevention programs and initiatives to ensure that young people receive the services and supports necessary to their success.
YouthConnect’s community-based mental health services are free, voluntary and confidential. For more information visit www.bgcb.org/youthconnect
YouthConnect Data Dashboard
See link below for interactive data dashboard for YouthConnect. Explanation of the dashboard and data used follows.
YouthConnect operates independently from BPD and maintains its own confidential client database. Therefore, the BPD will only present aggregate data as provided by this partner organization. The BPD does not have access to any client information per HIPAA and other privacy concerns.
The YouthConnect dashboard includes several metrics, including:
- Number of police referrals to YouthConnect per month
- Reason for referral
- Demographics of clients
Please note: A youth could be referred for multiple reasons. This dashboard also includes demographics of clients served by YouthConnect by year. Not all individuals referred to YouthConnect accept services. Others remain clients for over a year and therefore they may be reflected in multiple years' data.
The YouthConnect dashboard includes three buttons at the top. The first shows the number of referrals per month and the reason or reasons for referral. The second displays the same referral information except the reasons are grouped by type of referral. The third displays annual demographic data of clients (those who have been referred and are taking services). Data is updated annually.
Please note: The demographic data in the dashboard goes back to 2016. The referral data displays the current year and two previous years. The referral reason chart covers a rolling two-year period. Previous years’ data is available on Analyze Boston.
When an individual with cognitive conditions such as autism, developmental disability, dementia or Alzheimer’s becomes an active wanderer or a flight risk from their home, we recommend a safety net tracking bracelet. BPD has a grant that can purchase the bracelet for the individual. Work with families to help provide a safety plan for that individual.
The Customer Service line for Safety Net which is (877) 434 6384 and the email is customerservice@safetynettracking.com