Progressive Cambridge Policing Approach Tested By Homeless Encampment

Paul Newborough, who has lived on the streets of Central Square for the last decade, says officers from the Cambridge Police Department approach him every day. Rather than police his activity or tell him to move, however, they are there to check in on his wellbeing.

“They come all the time, they look for me,” he said, “They ask me how I am, I say I’m alright.”

The regular check ups have become a fixture for CPD in Central Square, an area of Cambridge with high rates of homelessness and crime. But the department has taken an untraditional approach: developing relationships with unhoused residents and referring them to other resources when necessary.

This initiative is led by CPD officers Frank Gutoski and Billy Simmons, who’ve spent nearly a decade getting to know the people who live in Central Square. Newborough said the officers will often write him referrals to shelters and put him in touch with social services or read things for him, as he cannot read or write. Another unhoused resident, Jose “Coco” Carabello, called them “good friends.”

“They helped me out a lot, they know who I am,” Carabello said. “They’re lenient, they are our friends.”

For Simmons, the approach is a break from other departments, which use arrests as a go-to solution in the face of shoplifting or illegal encampments.

“Are we arresting our way out of this issue? Because that’s easy, right? But that’s not really helping people,” he said. “So let’s get a treatment. Let’s get a house. That’s how I want to clear things up, versus just coming through here and putting handcuffs on everybody.”

But not everybody wants shelter. Despite the removal of an encampment under the Boston University Bridge by Massachusetts State Police last year, the tents have since returned and CPD is now in charge of removing it again.

While the philosophy has worked well for both the officers and unhoused people who spoke to The Crimson for this article, the return of the encampment will test CPD’s attempt to balance their lawful responsibility and their effort to respect the choice to live outdoors.

‘Don’t Want to Go’

Last October, Cambridge hired Massachusetts State Police to remove a large encampment of more than a dozen people underneath the Boston University Bridge along the Charles River after a fire broke out.

In the place of the encampment came hundreds of sharp rocks, a clear signal to unhoused residents that they were unwelcome beneath the bridge.

But in recent months, the encampment has returned — and, according to CPD Officer Thomas Watson, it is now CPD’s responsibility to address it.

Instead of clearing the encampment immediately, as in the break up of the “Mass and Cass” homeless encampment in Boston, CPD is taking a slower approach. Officers say they are in the process of notifying residents of their plans to clear the encampment, and giving them between three weeks and a month to find other plans.

CPD has also sent service providers to the area to help residents find permanent housing.

“We do place a timeline on it, but we do encourage service providers to go down there and actually engage the community and hopefully see a positive outcome where people who are traditionally street sleepers now have a roof over their head in a warm place to stay at night where it’s safe for them,” Watson said.

Watson said the goal is to make sure all individuals living in the encampment are aware of their options.

“All these services are voluntary, we can’t force people to do any of this,” he said.

According to Andrea Kalsow, the director of development and communication for On the Rise, a day service provider near Central Square, “not all people feel like sleeping in a shelter is the right choice for them.”

“They might not feel safe in a shelter, they might not feel welcomed in a shelter, they might not want to comply with the specific set of rules a shelter might have in order to stay there,” Kalsow said. Homeless Cambridge residents have raised concerns about poor conditions and mistreatment in at least two shelters in the city.

“We’re collaborating with our partners about individuals that we’re outreaching in the squares or citywide, and trying to get them into a shelter,” said Officer Christopher Ponte. “But the majority of these people don’t want to go.”

‘Personal Ties’

CPD’s approach of building relationships with unhoused residents and connecting them with resources extends beyond clearing tent encampments — and comes amid a greater focus in the city of nonviolent responses to crime and homelessness.

The department launched a co-response team last month, pairing social workers and police officers to respond to mental health calls with the goal of reducing arrests and unnecessary trips to the ER.

CPD has also collaborated with the city’s Multi-Service Center and a network of service providers in the areas to connect unhoused people with resources, especially when the officers recognize someone as new to the area.

Outside of addressing Cambridge’s encampments, regular check ups and shelter referrals for unhoused people in Central Square is an everyday responsibility for the Cambridge Police Department.

But use of services is voluntary, and the officers frequently intervene in instances when residents have continuously refused services and regularly commit crimes through a “community court.”

“Sometimes we’ll use community court as a leverage when they’re not being voluntary to get them to — essentially force them — to seek help,” Gutoski said.

Harvard Square is home to one of the state’s two homeless courts — which hears misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges, as well as outstanding warrants, against people experiencing homelessness in the Cambridge area.

But the court does not dole out sentences. Instead, it recommends resources for rehabilitation based on the defendant’s warrants. After completing the recommended substance addiction or mental health treatment, the community court can clear the defendant’s outstanding warrants for pending misdemeanors or non-violent felonies.

CPD officers said the city’s approach to policing, especially when it comes to the unhoused community, stems from a training that emphasizes compassion and respect towards residents.

“Police officers in the city have always been ahead of the curve of knowing who’s in their neighborhoods, having good relationships with people, and treating people like humans with dignity,” Simmons said.

Watson, a Cambridge native, said that he has encountered many people he grew up with living in the encampment.

“There’s personal ties to these people,” Watson said. “Unhoused is a blanket term, but they’re people that we know. They’re our friends, they’re people’s brothers, sisters, daughters, husbands, and so our job is to go out there.”

“Every one of us has the patience to do it,” he added.

—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart or on Threads @laurel.shugart.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.