Boston Mayor Marty Walsh declares racism a public health crisis, diverts police overtime money to community programs

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Friday declared racism to be a public health crisis in the city.

“The health impacts of historic and systemic racism are clear in our COVID-19 case numbers,” Walsh said. “And the impacts go far beyond this current crisis.”

Among the reforms announced at the morning news conference is a diversion of police overtime money toward community-based programs.

“We’ll be backing this declaration with an initial investment of $3 million that’s going to be transferred from the police overtime budget to the Boston Public Health Commission,” Walsh announced. “The health commission will work with our city’s departments, including our police department, on strategies to directly assess any impacts of racism have on the lives and the health of Boston residents.”

The mayor also announced he would propose the reallocation of 20% of the Boston Police Department’s fiscal year 2021 overtime budget, or about $12 million, to be “invested instead in community programs for youth, for homelessness, for people struggling with the effects of inequality.”

Walsh’s announcement follows former President Barack Obama’s call to mayors across the country to pursue policing reforms after the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.

Protests in the wake of Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis have focused the spotlight on policing tactics in departments around the country.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone already declared systemic racism a public safety and health emergency last week and outlined 10 steps developed by Campaign Zero, an organization that seeks to combat and prevent police brutality.

The Boston mayor’s announcement called for strengthening the city’s existing Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel by using recommendations from the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus’s 10-point action plan, which outlines a series of legislative proposals to combat police brutality.

The proposals include creating a civil review board or commission with subpoena power to investigate allegations of law enforcement wrongdoing and issuing restrictions on police officers’ uses of force. One of those restrictions would be a ban on chokeholds.

As part of Walsh’s declaration, the mayor is also seeking new reforms to put the BPD in line with the “8 Can’t Wait” campaign, a project run by Campaign Zero.

“The Boston Police department is clarifying rules to meet the standards and has immediately implemented several reforms that we hadn’t previously implemented,” Walsh said. “These are all use of force policies proven to reduce the likelihood of violence.”

Boston’s Police Commissioner William Gross stood by the mayor to welcome the new reforms, saying spreading out the responsibility of keeping Boston safe will ultimately help officers focus on their jobs.

“Quite frankly, what I’ve heard in the community is we wear too many hats anyway,” Gross said. " A child doesn’t want to go to school? You call the Boston police. A child’s on the bus being unruly? You call the Boston police. There’s an emotionally disturbed person in a home? You call the Boston police. How many hats do you want us to wear?"

Walsh announced he would be creating a new task force as well to make sure his orders are followed. The group is made up of community members and chaired by former U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Wayne Budd, according to the mayor’s office.

The task force’s duties include reviewing the BPD’s use of force policies, recommending rigorous implicit bias training for police officers, improving the agency’s current body camera program and strengthening the city’s community oversight panel or Co-op Board, according to Walsh.

Some critics on social platforms said the mayor’s moves are not enough. Calls to defund police departments have grown loud in recent days, and the city of Minneapolis is contemplating a full-scale overhaul of its approach to public safety.

Boston has not taken that measure yet and is instead touting the mayor’s announcement Friday as a first step.

“What I’m announcing today is the beginning, it’s not the end.” Walsh said. “There’ll be more announcements and more work that we have to do.”

The policing element is only part of the overall health crisis. COVID-19 has notoriously impacted communities of color much more harshly than others. The city’s announcement aims to address all the ways systemic racism puts people of color at a disadvantage.

“Racism is a driving force that shapes access to the social determinants of health like housing, education, and employment,” Chief of Health and Human Services Marty Martinez said. “In a city like ours, we have to focus on the impact that racism has on the lives of all of our neighbors and how it impacts the overall health of the city.”