Ben Ewen-Campen, Somerville City Councilor
Note: This statement has been updated multiple times since it was first published - these changes are noted in the text.
Words are important, but for those of us in elected positions of power, people are right to demand action, not only words. What we have done, and what we hope to do. I believe this starts with transparency and accountability about what we have done and what we hope to do with our power, working together with the people we serve.
So, beyond offering my solidarity to those who are protesting, mourning, and building power against white supremacy, police brutality, racist injustice, and oppression in America, I write to share details on some of the actions that myself and my colleagues on the Somerville City Council have undertaken in the past years related to policing and accountability, as well as thoughts on near-term and long-term next steps. Like all of you, I am still processing and my feelings are raw.
Given the depth and intensity of the pain and anger that our country is experiencing, it can feel small to be talking about (relatively speaking) incremental changes being made at the municipal level in Somerville, MA. Yet I believe all of us have a duty to continually work to connect these issues to policies and concrete actions within our power. I hope that you will reach out with thoughts, questions, criticisms, and ideas.
To be clear: while I am proud of the work that we have done in Somerville, this is not about claiming credit, patting ourselves on the back, or moving on. I also believe strongly that we need to listen to and amplify the voices of people of color in Somerville right now, and I am committed to doing so. My hope is to provide transparency and background and to seek your input on concrete next steps; far too often, the complex details of local government are completely invisible or inscrutable to the general public, and to be effective we need your help and engagement. I hope this part of an ongoing process, and that you will stay involved.
Work we have done to increase accountability and transparency around policing over the past three years includes:
Overhauling the “Confirmation of Appointments” process. In Somerville, the Police Department is under the authority of the Mayor’s office, yet the City Council plays many important roles. For one, the City Council is charged with confirming (i.e. voting for or against) every single new hire and promotion within the Police Department (as well as the Fire Department and many other boards, commissions, etc.)
Before 2017, there was no established protocol for how these appointments were investigated and considered, and City Council approval was essentially a rubber stamp. I was one of several newly elected Councilors who refused to vote on any candidate without information before us, including a thorough and fair review of a candidate’s history of service. Therefore, one of our first actions upon being elected, led by Ward 2 City Councilor JT Scott, who chaired the Appointments committee, was to create an explicit protocol for how we would review each candidate, including the documents we needed to see.
Importantly, we fought to be able to review each candidate’s “folder” of alleged or confirmed incidents, complaints and/or disciplinary issues, both founded and unfounded, and discuss any incidents with the candidate and with the Chief of Police. (This review process is legally required to occur in “Executive Session,” i.e. in private session.) This new procedure has been transformative, in my opinion - it has enhanced our trust in the officers we do confirm, and provides an important way for us to address any possible histories of bad behavior. In one case, it led the City Council to make the unprecedented decision to vote against the promotion of a candidate, a decision that is now being challenged before the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission. Clearly, this is not enough - we need independent, civilian-led oversight to investigate all complaints within the SPD - but it has been an important first step.
Banning facial recognition and requiring public oversight of surveillance technology. It is essential that the public and their elected officials understand and consent to the tools used by our government to surveil on the public. In 2019, I led the City Council in banning the government use of facial recognition technology in Somerville, making us the second city in the country to do so We have also been fighting for a similar ban at the State level. I also submitted an overarching “Surveillance Oversight Ordinance” (note: municipal laws are called ordinances.) which was signed into law last year, which requires the usage of any surveillance technology to be publicly debated, and to require the approval by the City Council. These local laws, which were created in close collaboration with the ACLU of Massachusetts and community groups, bring transparency and accountability to the powerful tools that police (and other local government departments) may use.
“Welcoming Act” Ordinance. Public safety breaks down when our neighbors feel unsafe seeking help from law enforcement because of their immigration status. While Somerville has been a “sanctuary city” since 1987, the actual legal framework for this policy has been sorely in need of an update for today’s realities. These efforts were led by Ward 6 Councilor Lance Davis, in collaboration with the ACLU of Massachusetts and Ben Echevarria, executive Director of the Welcome Project, and resulted in a far stronger Ordinance, which clearly and transparently enumerates procedures to ensure that "the City of Somerville will equally enforce the law and serve the public without consideration of immigration status, citizenship, national origin, race, or ethnicity." The ordinance can be viewed here.
Saying “No” to military-style equipment. In addition to the annual budget, (see below), the City Council must vote to accept any grant that the Police Department receives from State or Federal Sources. For one recent example, click here - these can apply to staffing salaries, equipment, trainings, etc. This gives the City Council an opportunity to ask questions and withhold our support for any equipment items we don’t think belong in Somerville. We take these votes seriously. Thankfully, we have never had to vote against obtaining something like a tank, because the SPD has not sought to obtain militarized equipment during my time serving. (Update: on June 4th, the Mayor committed to ending our participation in Federal weaponry dispersal programs, and the City Council has subsequently called on the City to relinquish any such equipment accepted in the past.)
Budget. Police budgets are receiving renewed scrutiny across the country, and I want to provide transparency on Somerville’s process (all budget documents are here.) In the 2019-2020 Somerville Budget (“FY2020”), the Mayor requested ~$17M for the Police Department, and the City Council ultimately voted to cut ~$220K (we can vote to cut, but not add to, the municipal budget - only the Mayor can add to the budget.). For comparison, $17M represents ~6.7% of our annual budget ($254M), roughly equal to the Fire Department budget, and is about one fifth the amount we invest in our public schools ($76M). Of the $17M requested SPD budget budget, 95% is for salaries, which are collectively bargained between police unions and the Mayor’s office (salary data here.) As of May 31st, we have not yet received a budget proposal for FY2021, but I’ll say this: one of the major outstanding budgetary issues in Somerville involves the “paraprofessionals” (classroom and student aids) working in our public schools. Today, their starting salary is just over $20K/year (less than a third the starting salary of an SPD officer) and these educators are actively fighting for a fair contract. Paying our educators a living wage needs to be a top priority this budget season, and this is a concrete step Somerville can take today.
Update June 13, 2020: I’m very pleased to say that since this statement was posted, Somerville paraprofessionals have reached an agreement on their new contract - this is excellent news, and there is no doubt that public pressure played a major role in making this happen.
Update 6/9/2020: It is important to recognize that the vast majority of calls that SPD respond to are “non-crime-related.” Below, for example, is one snap-shot of calls SPD responses from Feb - June, 2020; note the Y-axes: about ten times more calls are for “assistance, disturbance, medical calls for service, and directed patrols” - meaning 90% of SPD resources are spent on issues not directly related to law enforcement.
(Source: Weekly COVID-19 update, 6/8/2020)
With this in mind, I have submitted a City Council Order for our June 11, 2020 meeting, calling for the creation of an unarmed agency to respond to non-violent calls such medical and substance abuse emergencies, homelessness, traffic, and others. This is something that is easy to demand but hard to make a reality, yet I believe we must start now in earnest. This is one of many initiatives and ordinances that myself and others on the City Council have introduced.
“Civil Asset Forfeiture.” Federal Law allows law enforcement to seize property they believe was involved in a crime, to keep or sell it, and to use that money to cover local law enforcement costs - this is “civil asset forfeiture,” and it has caused an enormous amount of well-deserved outrage and scrutiny over the past several years. Last year, I co-sponsored an Order led by Councilor Will Mbah and others, asking how these funds have been spent in Somerville over the past five years, and requesting that they instead be spent on non law-enforcement activities. Our City’s legal department responded that they interpret Federal Law to indicate that “civil asset forfeiture funds may not be lawfully directed to the general fund.” The Chief of Police also provided an overview of how this money has been spent over the past several years - it is viewable here, and indicates that between $20,000-$200,000 are received each year and spent on a variety of law enforcement activities. I am glad that we were able to achieve some transparency on these funds, but I believe we need to do more. For example, if Civil Asset revenue is legally-bound to the police budget, we should be able to simply reallocate a matching amount from our discretionary police budget towards investments in, for example, our schools, out-of-school time programs, or housing assistance programs. Update 6/4/2020: Mayor Curtatone just announced that going forward, Civil Asset Forfeiture money will only be used for recovery and mental health and anti-bias, wellness, and de-escalation trainings.
Body cameras. At this point, it is impossible to believe that body cameras alone will address the root issues underlying unjust policing behavior in America. This past week alone has given us far too many tragic examples to the contrary. In addition, body cameras can create entirely new privacy concerns. That said, I do believe that body cameras should be worn by SPD, under a clear and regulated policy - not because they will solve every problem, but because it is better to have a fact record of events rather than relying solely on the statements of police officers and those they interact with** (See update below). My views on this topic were informed by conversations with a number of public defenders, who tell me that their clients, and the system as a whole, would benefit from a fact record of what happened. To date, body cameras are not worn by SPD, and my understanding is that it is an issue that needs to be addressed via collective bargaining between the police union and the Mayor, who publicly supports body cameras.
*Update on body cameras (6/9/2020): Over the past few weeks, I have received an enormous amount of thoughtful outreach on whether body cameras are an appropriate reform to be pushing at this moment. Two major issues have resonated with me:
Without a strong, independent mechanism to address bad behavior caught on film, body cameras do not truly provide added accountability - we need the oversight infrastructure in place before considering body cameras;
Body cameras are very expensive. At a time of budget shortfalls and serious conversation about re-investing money away from policing and towards community services, this is not the best use of our money at the moment.
I find these arguments compelling, and for these reasons I believe that until accountability measures are in place (for example, strong independent community oversight of policing, strict privacy controls) and budgetary issues are addressed, now is not the right time to be focusing on the issue of body cameras.
How do we move forward?
Many people have pointed out that the most widely deployed police reform policies - body cameras, civilian oversight boards, bias and sensitivity trainings - have not succeeded in fixing our situation. This is true. I also believe that we should not forego transparency and accountability reforms like these just because they are not sufficient. As with many things in local government, these reforms are necessary, but not sufficient. We should find ways to implement them effectively, but they should be the floor, not the ceiling. Last year, in the aftermath of the “Straight Pride Parade,” the Mayor’s office publicly committed to moving forward on a civilian oversight board, action on civil asset forfeiture, and more - the time to act is now.
I have seen firsthand that Somerville relies on police officers to do incredibly difficult, dangerous, and important work that often goes unseen. Many Somerville officers have directly saved lives (this is not hyperbole - I have heard many such stories behind “Life Saving Medals” during our Confirmation hearings), and they show up to do critical work in the aftermath of horrifying tragedies in our community, sometimes in dangerous situations. Our Police department has made many improvements in recent years, has worked with the City Council and others productively on a number of reforms, and has been willing to engage directly with the public in tense and difficult situations - not every community can say the same, and I do not take it for granted.
I believe that the issues at play are structural and systematic, and go well beyond Somerville. This past week has shown us yet again that policing in this country needs to change in fundamental ways. For years, advocates have argued that we have outsourced far too many of our society’s most challenging problems to our police, an institution that was not created to address them: mental health emergencies, addiction issues, homelessness, more. Why not invest in an expansive new agency of frontline social workers, advocates, counselors, and a radically improved social safety net to address the root causes of these issues, and create a dedicated law enforcement division that investigates serious crimes, and protects the public from violence?
I believe in this vision, and I am committed to making it a reality. I believe it will require an enormous amount of political and community work at the local, State, and Federal level. This isn’t only about policing reforms - to get to root causes, we need to make transformative, long-term investments in housing, health, education, labor rights, and environmental justice, and we need to do so in a way that explicitly aims at closing the racial disparities that have plagued our country since its inception.
There is much more to do be done, and doing so will depend on ideas and advocacy from all of you. I am committed to doing this work, of listening to to working with all of you - Please reach out anytime at BenForWard3@gmail.com.
Updates added June 4, 2020:
1) The policies of the Somerville Police Department are available to the public here: https://www.somervillepd.com/policiesprocedures. Policies are organized alphabetically (e.g. “Use of Force” is under U, “Crowd Control” is under C, etc.) These policies are not currently subject to approval by the City Council, although we have begun legislative work to change this.
2) On June 3, 2020, Mayor Curtatone announced his intention to pursue a number of reforms to the Somerville Police Department; a press release can be viewed here: press release can be viewed here: https://www.somervillema.gov/policereform. Some of these are immediate actions we can take locally (i.e. establishing a Civilian Oversight Commission, ending our participation in Federal weaponry dispersal programs, and limiting our usage of Civil Asset Forfeiture dollars to two functions: “to provide prevention and substance use recovery, mental and behavioral health…and to support residents and divert them from the criminal justice system.”), and others that require State action. His statement does not address budgetary issues, and the FY2021 will not be released until Friday, June 19, 2020.
Update added June 9, 2020
This week, a petition calling on the City Council and Mayor to “Fund Public Services Before Policing” has gathered over 3,000 signatures from Somerville residents, by far the most signatures I’ve ever seen on a Somerville-based petition. In addition, “Just Us Somerville” a new organization led by people of color in Somerville, has released a set of evolving demands related to policing. We have received hundreds of personalized emails on this issue as well. Among many other issues around policing, I am committed to finding ways to reallocate funds from our policing budget towards non-violent community priorities in this year's budget. Especially at a time when the COVID-19 crisis is forcing difficult budgetary decisions across the board, this issue is particularly relevant this year. As one concrete example, our public school paraprofessionals (classroom aids) have been fighting for a fair contract for many months, and I will not support a budget that does not resolve this issue. (Again: since this statement was published, Somerville paraprofessionals have reached an agreement on their new contract.)
In addition, the City Council Agenda for June 11, 2020 includes many specific proposals from City Councilors that will be referred to committee for further work - you can read them all, and view a video of our meeting, here. These are in addition to the policy changes announced by Mayor Curtatone, which we will also be deeply engaged with. These include:
Creating a Police Commission and Community Policy Review Agency. (Mbah, Scott, Davis)
Create a dedicated new agency of unarmed first responders to address non-violent emergencies such as those involving mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness (Ewen-Campen.)
In addition to prohibiting any further acceptance of military equipment, calling to relinquish any equipment previously accepted. (McLaughlin, Clingan, Ewen-Campen)
Establishing legislative oversight of our Use of Force Policy Ordinance. The Police Department’s Use of Force policy is authorized by the Mayor’s office; this work would bring additional public oversight and require City Council approval. (Davis)
Abolish the Somerville Housing Authority (SHA) dedicated Police force use those funds for community services to SHA residents. If this is not possible, establish a formal review process for complaints against SHA police. (Clingan, McLaughlin)
Update June 11, 2020: While the budget will not be formally presented until June 19, the City of Somerville has begun releasing estimated budget requests, which can be viewed here: https://somervillema.opengov.com/transparency. Please note that these are subject to change.
Yours in service,
Ben Ewen-Campen
Somerville City Councilor, Ward 3