Public Safety Committee reviews 18‑hour standoff at 243 Broadway; orders review of crisis negotiation protocol and mental‑health integration

The Cambridge Public Safety Committee on the afternoon after the Aug. 1–2, 2025 standoff at 243 Broadway reviewed the Cambridge Police Department's (CPD) tactics, effects on building residents and options for adding mental‑health professionals to crisis negotiations. The committee voted to direct the city manager and CPD to review crisis negotiation protocols and report back to the City Council on whether and how to routinely integrate mental‑health responders into barricaded‑subject incidents.

The session opened with a departmental presentation reconstructing the incident, which began on the night of Aug. 1 when a man armed with two machete‑style knives attacked two people in Central Square before fleeing into a multiunit building at 243 Broadway. Police officials said the subject ignored commands, posed an ongoing threat to bystanders and ultimately entered his first‑floor apartment using a key fob. After an 18‑hour standoff, officers said they took the subject into custody without the use of deadly force.

CPD presenters said officers fired 40‑millimeter less‑lethal projectiles six times during the pursuit; those rounds did not stop the subject. When crisis negotiators were unable to establish a sustained dialogue by midnight, command staff selected an area‑denial tactic that included introducing OC (oleoresin capsicum, commonly called pepper spray) into the apartment through windows. The department…