To the Community of Boston,

I am very proud to lead the first and finest police department in the country. The Boston Police Department is committed to ensuring that the City of Boston is safe and secure for everyone. The dedicated men and women of the Boston Police Department work hard every day to build trust with the public and strengthen our community partnerships.

Whether you are a new or life-long resident in one of our many vibrant and diverse neighborhoods, a student residing here temporarily, a daily commuter to one of our economic hubs, or a tourist taking in our rich history – your safety is our priority.

Our Mission is Community Policing. To me, that means that we hold community central to everything that we do. In every aspect of policing, the key to success is working in partnership with our community members and listening to what they need.  Every interaction we have with the community is an opportunity to build trust because, without that, we cannot be successful in addressing crime and fear of crime in our city. Together, we will prevent and reduce crime, solve problems at the local and citywide level, improve quality of life, and ensure that justice is served.

Trust Building in Action: Our Framework for Community Policing details the goals and objectives that the Department is seeking to accomplish in service of our Community Policing mission. 

As members of the community, I hope that you will continue to work with us to achieve these goals. This means not only providing important feedback and input, but also holding us accountable as we work together to build trust and ensure the safety and security of this great city. 

Thank you.

Michael A. Cox
Police Commissioner

The Boston Police Department (BPD or Department) has been a national leader in Community Policing for more than 30 years, since the movement first began in the early 1990’s. Throughout that time, the men and women of the BPD have expanded and evolved their efforts in keeping with this philosophy of Community Policing, while always maintaining partnerships, prevention and data and intelligence driven problem-solving as core components. Today, the BPD has extensive partnerships and collaborations. However, the forced isolation of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the anti-police sentiment of the period have combined to drive a wedge between the Department and the communities we serve.

Under the leadership of Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox, the BPD has been working diligently to rebuild trust with the community by focusing on outreach and relationship building. Commissioner Cox prioritizes Community Policing as the vehicle to foster and solidify trust in all of our neighborhoods. Each and every interaction between our officers and our residents is an opportunity to build trust. There is nothing more important and impactful to public safety than the relationship between community and police. A trusting community will work with police to identify and solve problems, help their neighbors in need, set priorities for police services and intervention, and cooperate with investigations to hold offenders accountable and prevent future crime. The BPD must therefore prioritize Community Policing at every level of the organization to build, and maintain, this trust to take advantage of all the opportunities this trust presents. Communities are safer when members are actively engaged with police in public safety and the Department is committed to a true partnership with our community.

This Framework is intended to guide Department members at every level of the organization in their efforts to provide the best Community Policing services possible, in addition to communicating the Department’s steadfast commitment to those we serve. It is expected that all Department members will carry out their responsibilities in ways that emphasize and prioritize identifying needs and opportunities for change and improvement; engaging in partnership building and problem-solving; and by finding innovative solutions and new ways of building relationships with the community. In this way, every aspect of policing carried out by our officers and professional staff will help the Department build trust with the communities we serve.   

Boston is one of the safest major cities in the United States by any number of metrics. This is not by accident; rather, it is due to the collective effort of BPD working collaboratively and strategically with many partners every day. Indeed, partnership and collaboration have been the way we do business in Boston for a long time. Only by partnering with other city departments, state and federal agencies, non-profits, the private sector, the faith-based community, colleges and universities, hospitals, and neighborhood organizations can we overcome the daunting new challenges that face not only the BPD, but so many other departments throughout the country in recent years.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and national anti-police movement fractured relationships and severely strained community trust in the police.  Unfortunately, this led to people being less likely to call the police during an emergency, being less willing to work with the police to help solve and prevent crime and negatively impacted neighborhood interactions.  This disconnect between the police and community also contributed to a national hiring and retention crisis that has impacted the BPD’s ability to maintain optimal staffing levels. This, in turn, creates stress and strain on the current workforce and drives up overtime spending. 

The national police reform movement also resulted in the formation of the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission and the Boston Office of Police Accountability and Transparency (OPAT). While the intent behind the creation of these two agencies was laudable, they have created significant unfunded mandates that strain Department resources and go beyond the goal of oversight – treating law enforcement officers unlike any other profession. For example, physicians–who, like officers, hold people’s lives in their hands–are held to standards created and subject to oversight by bodies composed of other physicians who are familiar with legal and other mandates, policies and collective bargaining agreements in the medical field. POST and OPAT, on the other hand, are largely made up of non-law enforcement personnel who do not have such familiarity with policing laws and policies. This can create potentially unintended challenges for the BPD when attempting to meet all of their mandates.

Meanwhile, the proliferation of firearms in our neighborhoods is a danger to the community as well as to officers, with the increase in untraceable ghost guns and the use of Glock switches or auto sear switches.^[1]At the same time, the age of people involved with shootings and gang-related violence has dropped significantly. Some of these teens are impacted by a combination of mental health, learning differences and lack of familial or social services support, making our relationships with partner agencies and organizations that much more important.

The mental health and opioid crises have hit big cities across the nation and Boston has not been immune. For several years, the area known locally as Mass & Cass (at the intersection of Massachusetts Ave. and Melnea Cass Blvd.) has been the epicenter of the City’s opioid addiction, mental health and homelessness crisis. While the BPD and numerous public safety and public health partners have collaborated on some successful strategies to address encampments and transition people to housing and services, this work requires constant vigilance and significant resources, while also being attentive to displacement effects in other areas of the city. 

More broadly, mental and behavioral health issues are a major challenge affecting individuals living and working throughout the City. BPD officers are often the only available responders for individuals experiencing behavioral health crises related to mental health and/or substance use disorders. These behavioral health challenges have been compounded in recent years by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Department must also manage resources in an ever-changing environment, including significant increases in public events, spontaneous demonstrations and protests and extreme weather events.  A great deal of preparation and planning is needed to address homeland security/terrorism threats and natural disasters/emergency events as well.  Currently there is also a backdrop of threats to loss of federal funding for following state laws.

The BPD is well-trained and equipped to deal with these challenges, but the importance of collaboration with our partners cannot be understated. There is a deep sense of pride and professionalism among the members of the Boston Police Department, who collectively embrace a culture of restraint and de-escalation. With that, we are very fortunate that Boston has resources that can be leveraged to provide services and opportunities for communities in need. These are assets for building trust and relationships with the community.

The goal of this Framework is to help ensure that every single member of the BPD views their role in this context of community partnership and trust building. Our officers and civilian employees are, truly, the key to addressing all of these challenges and having a positive outcome on the city as a whole.

^[1] Devices that make firearms more lethal than ever before.