City also Secures $293,000 per Year Grant to Hire Two Additional Social Workers at Police Department
(MEDFORD)—Mayor
Breanna Lungo-Koehn and Medford Police Chief Jack Buckley signed a
5-year contract for $330,000 last week with Motorola Solutions to equip
the entire 100-person department with body-worn cameras. Body-worn
cameras improve accountability for officers and allow them to better
interact and communicate with the public. The cameras are also
instrumental in providing comprehensive training and review for officer
interactions and support officer and public safety.
Once
delivered in the Spring, the department will begin training officers on
policy and use, with implementation tentatively scheduled to begin this
fall. In 2017, the City engaged with the Police Union on this issue and
both agreed on its benefits which paved the way for this contract.
“I
see the implementation of body-worn cameras as a benefit for the
community, our city and our police department,” said Chief Buckley.
“Body-worn cameras will serve to improve accountability, improve the
quality of face-to-face interactions among police officers and the
public, improve the department’s response to citizen complaints, provide
for valuable training and review of officer interactions and support
both officer safety and health and the safety and health of all who
interact with the police.”
With
this program, the City and police department are strengthening
relationships within the community and building trust and legitimacy
with residents. This commitment to building partnerships with the public
will help to continue to transform the department and its partners into
a more responsive, equitable and efficient body. The accountability
that the technology of body-worn cameras provides to a community can
only serve to enhance procedural justice and thus increase police
legitimacy.
“Our
police department has made a concerted effort to improve the way it
interacts and communicates with the public,” Mayor Lungo-Koehn said.
“These body-worn cameras are an important tool for building public
trust, strengthening community relationships and fairly conducting
public safety operations. I am thrilled that the city is able to bring
this technology to the department and add to the City’s commitment to
transparency and accountability.”
The
City has also secured an increase to its 10-year DMH grant to nearly
$300 thousand per year to hire a second and third social worker within
the department to help with community relations and procedures. Along
with the two additional hires, the grant will cover funds for additional
de-escalation training for officers in 2022 and for data analysis of
the work being done. This past November, the police department hired its
first full time clinician. The additional funds obtained through this
DMH grant will allow the department to hire two (2) additional
clinicians to aid the department Behavioral Support Unit’s efforts to
increase response to calls that involve individuals with behavioral
health challenges.
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