Cambridge HEART

On July 10, 2020, a young Black man was handcuffed and roughly handled by police. His crime was trespassing on a property after his mother unexpectedly passed away while visiting a friend in Cambridge (CBS Local). This is one example of many, demonstrative of the fact that 40% of arrests made in Cambridge were of African-descended people, despite making up only 11% of residents (Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, 2020). According to Police reports released by the City, unhoused populations have the most repeated encounters with law enforcement. This staggering racial disparity is just one sign of deep-seated issues with a carceral, punitive approach to public safety. 

In Cambridge, police are the first and only option for all encounters. They are armed with tools that many find traumatic and harmful (guns, arrests, tasers, clubs, etc.). We need another option. HEART seeks to be a non-police response to conflict and crisis. 

Developed through a community process these initial services were identified to creating safe conditions for Cambridge:

1. de-escalation, mediation, and conflict resolution;
2. support for unhoused community members surviving poverty in public;
3. immediate response for those in mental health or substance use crises in public or domestic spaces

The Cambridge HEART solution re-imagines public safety to center the dignity and self-determination of those who are most vulnerable to experiencing violence and harm. HEART was envisioned with and by the community. The HEART alternative will proactively and holistically create safe conditions in Cambridge while also responding to crises. Program elements will include conflict resolution/de-escalation, mutual aid, response to instances of violence and harm, and after care/post-harm support.

To effectively deliver a community-based public safety alternative, HEART will address the lack of coordination between existing service providers, and the public inaccessibility of data on services available. We will develop a database to facilitate coordination between service providers and link community members with live information about available supports.

The HEART solution aims to interrupt the harm caused by the carceral, punishment-based system, which disproportionately targets the most marginalized in our communities.

HEART is currently in the prototype stage, where we are iteratively building our alternative public safety response model.

We are building towards a pilot of HEART services, in conjunction with consultants and public institutions in the community such as city government, community colleges, and service providers.

In terms of the HEART database, we are in the early stages of interviewing service providers about their technological infrastructure needs. We are also surveying members of the community, especially those who experience critical needs such as people who are unhoused, so that we can identify their needs in regard to the database.