Worcester Police Crisis Response Program Starting In June, City Says

WORCESTER, MA — A new policing program in Worcester that pairs officers with social workers could get underway in June after two years in development, according to city officials.

Worcester began pursuing the new crisis-response model as part of a wider set of policing reforms proposed in early 2021 by former city manager Ed Augustus Jr. following national outrage over the murder of George Floyd.

In spring 2021, Worcester set aside $1 million to start the program, and later chose UMass Memorial's Community Healthlink (CHL) behavioral health center as the partner agency. For nearly a year, CHL has been designing the program, and is now targeting a June launch.

"The new model will have crisis teams, which will include mental health clinicians, case managers and peers dispatched to the crisis site where they will de-escalate the situation, stabilize the client, and connect the client to local mental health and substance use resources," CHL described in a recent memo to the city council.

Worcester's model will follow other programs that have been hailed as successful in reducing conflict between police and people in crisis. Framingham has had a co-response program since 2003. In 2022 alone, the Framingham program helped divert nearly 100 people away from arrest and toward social services, according to a recent report.

Eugene, Ore., developed the first such program in the late 1980s. The city's CAHOOTS program pairs nurses and EMTs with social workers to respond to situations where police might not be necessary.

"A November 2016 study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine estimated that 20% to 50% of fatal encounters with law enforcement involved an individual with a mental illness. The CAHOOTS model demonstrates that these fatal encounters are not inevitable. Last year, out of a total of roughly 24,000 CAHOOTS calls, police backup was requested only 150 times," Eugene's White Bird Clinic says on its website.

Fatal police encounters involving mentally ill people have happened locally. Last month, a 56-year-old Easton woman was shot and killed by police who went to her home to check on her well-being. She was reportedly in crisis following the death of her son in December.

The most recent fatal police shooting in Worcester involved a man who was suffering from mental health issues, according to his family and a Worcester County District Attorney's investigation into the April 2021 death. Phet Gouvonvong was shot by Worcester officer Paul Cyr along Grafton Street. Gouvonvong was armed with a rifle and knives at the time of the shooting.

City Manager Eric Batista told city councilors on Tuesday that CHL had hired a manager for the city's crisis response model, but was still working on hiring positions like clinicians, call center representatives and case managers.

"We feel ready to be on course to pilot this in June," Batista said.

District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera congratulated officials for getting the program started, and asked for the council to receive a briefing in the fall on the progress.

The crisis response model will let police "focus on public safety, and the folks that are trained in crisis intervention can work on the crisis," she said.