03/13/2021
The Task Force to Reimagine Policing in Brookline met for six months to meet the charge approved by our Select Board: to use a data-informed approach to interrogate our current model and provide a distinctly alternative approach to public safety.
As you can see in the executive summary (linked below) of our report, we unanimously recommend a shift of resources away from the Police Department’s Community Service Division to a more appropriate, robust, and impactful social service agency that we’re calling Brookline Forward.
Our proposals would remove officers from schools, end over-policing in public housing, and establish a CAHOOTS-like model to address calls related to vulnerable people and people in crisis.
We propose to return police to their core function – with greater transparency, oversight, and accountability. But it’s time they let those best trained to address social service needs take the lead.
We’ve done the work and it’s clear to us that there’s a better way to invest municipal resources to address the symptoms and root causes of inequities in Brookline. We hope you agree.
The Select Board will be hosting a public hearing on our report as well as that of the Committee on Policing Reforms this Tuesday, March 16 at 7:00pm. Details: https://www.brooklinema.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=9787...
We hope you'll show up, speak up, and endorse our report. Your voice matters, and the Select Board needs to hear it. Thanks.
On Friday, February 26, 2021, the Task Force to Reimagine Policing in Brookline unanimously adopted its final report. The Task Force will present this report to the Select Board at their meeting on Tuesday, March 2, 2021.
