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Cambridge CARE team: city says 99.6% of eligible calls handled without police; council presses on co‑response and dispatching
Summary
The Community Safety Department reported rapid growth since July 2024 and said its CARE responders cleared 99.6% of dispatched calls without law‑enforcement backup; councilors raised concerns about coordination, dispatcher habits and the police 'co‑response' unit and referred the report to the Public Safety Committee.
The Cambridge Community Safety Department told the City Council on April 28 that its CARE responders — a civilian crisis‑response team launched in mid‑2024 — have handled the vast majority of calls they were dispatched to without requiring police backup.
"We started going out on calls on 07/17/2024," said Marie Matthew, CARE assistant director now named acting director, and described a months‑long training and rollout. Liz Speakman, the department’s inaugural director who announced she will leave for a regional crisis center, and other CARE staff detailed operations and outreach. "I think…we are able to clear 99 of our calls without any involvement by law enforcement," Marie Matthew said, attributing that outcome to training, rapport building and safety protocols.
Councilors focused on why CARE was dispatched to roughly 45% of the calls it was eligible for early on and on recent improvements after expanding hours. "Dispatchers are really habitual," CARE staff said; after expanding shifts and increasing education with Emergency Communications (ECC), CARE reported higher dispatch rates for eligible codes.
A central tension at the hearing was the police department’s newly announced co‑response unit, which some councilors and advisory‑committee members said was not well coordinated with CARE’s launch. CARE staff said co‑response units sometimes "self‑attach" to calls by listening to the public radio channel and joining incidents; the city said there have been cases where both CARE and police arrive and then coordinate on scene.
Councilors asked for clearer dispatching rules, greater outreach so dispatchers and officers understand CARE’s training and safety procedures, and a program evaluation. Staff said they have not secured an independent evaluation partner because proposals were costly; they are continuing outreach and training with ECC to increase appropriate dispatch.
The council accepted the CARE report, placed it on file and referred follow‑up to the Public Safety Committee for deeper review of operations and data.
What happens next: the Public Safety Committee will review CARE’s operations, dispatch protocols, co‑response overlaps and evaluation plans; CARE leaders said they hope to scale dispatching to five days per week and increase average daily calls handled as staffing and coordination allow.
