Somerville Police Begin Mentoring Initiative With City Students

An increased police presence will be noticed at school’s in Somerville this fall, but it has nothing to do with security reasons.

Somerville Police officers are being paired with entire sixth grade classes as part of new mentoring initiative. The program known as “Students and Teachers Engage Public Safety” includes work with seven volunteer police officers.

The program, believed to be the first of its kind, is a partnership between the City of Somerville, the Somerville Police Department, and the Somerville Public Schools.

It’s a commitment they’ll carry through for a full seven years, with each officer staying with their classes from sixth grade through their high school graduation in 2022. And that’s just the start. Each year, another five officers will take up as mentors for that year’s incoming sixth graders and advance with them, until ultimately every student in grades 6-12 will be participating in the program.

“Ultimately, not only will every young person in our city know and have an open line of communication with one of our officers, but our officers will better understand the hopes, challenges, and goals of our youth and future adults. In short, we will be building a community where our police and youth have a stake in each other’s lives and the importance of that-especially in today’s policing environment-can’t be understated,” said Mayor Joseph Curtatone.

By establishing long-term, real connections between youth and law enforcement, the pilot program aims to foster trust and positive relationships between young people and police officers and to help young people grow into responsible and successful adults.