Somerville Starts 'Reimagining' Policing, Public Safety

SOMERVILLE, MA — The city has begun the process of "reimagining" public safety by hiring a consultant to conduct a staffing and operations analysis of the Somerville Police Department.

Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., contracted by the city's Racial and Social Justice Department (RSJ), will measure the workload of the police department, studying staffing, operations, and organization and analyzing the data.

Once completed, this analysis will help inform both the administration and community members who work on reimagining the city's public safety resources and needs.

"As we move forward with the work of reimagining policing and public safety, it is important that we do so with a full understanding of our community's public safety needs, current SPD resources, and information about where changes can be made," Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said in a statement. "The RSJ Department has already done a lot of important work in this area, and I look forward to continued conversations about how we can work together to support efforts around reimagining what public safety looks like in our community."

RSJ staff members have held group listening sessions with communities that have seen an increase in gun violence, launched efforts to establish a Youth Justice League to ensure young voices are heard, recruited Reimaging Policing Community Engagement Ambassadors and conducted expansive qualitative data gathering via dozens of meetings and interviews with residents and stakeholders.

The RSJ Department is preparing for a community meeting later this month. Updates on its work and information on how community members can get involved with reimagining policing and public safety and other racial and social justice initiatives will also be shared in multiple ways, including on the RSJ website, somervillema.gov/rsj, which is currently under construction.

"This is a major step for us to make sure our work to inform reimagining of policing and public safety is fully informed, responsible, intentional, and transparent about where we are as a city now so that we can work with the community to explore and shape goals," said Denise Molina Capers, director of the Department of Racial and Social Justice.

Raftelis is a consulting firm with over 28 years of experience working with local governments and utilities. Public Safety analysis is among its municipal specialties.