Public Meeting Notice  Community Policing and Behavioral Health Advisory Council (CPBHC) Meeting

1. Call to Order

Co-chairs of the Council Scott Taberner and Jennifer Queally called the meeting to order.

2. Membership and Introductions

Members of the Council introduced themselves.

CPBHAC Members in attendance:

Co-chair Scott Taberner – MassHealth/EOHHS; Co-chair Jennifer Queally – EOPPS; Matthew Broderick – DMH; Diana Chidsey – DPH; Daniel Zivkovich; June Binney – NAMI; Robert Ortiz – Fellowship Health Resources Director of Peer Services; Chief Russell Stevens – Hamilton PD; Chief Brian Kyes – Chelsea PD; Chief Steven Trask – Framingham PD

CPBHAC Members not in attendance:

Ruby Sanders – Peer Support Specialist Behavioral Health Network

Others in attendance:

Lauren Cleary – EOHHS

David Giannotti – State Ethics Commission

Revised Attachment 1 providing a listing of CPBHAC Members is attached to these minutes.

3. Training on the State Open Meeting Law

Lauren Cleary, an attorney at EOHHS provided a training on the State’s Open Meeting Law. Attorney Cleary provided each of the Council Members in attendance with a copy of the Open Meeting Law Guide and Educational Materials manual from the Attorney General’s office. Each of the Council Members in attendance completed the Certificate of Receipt of Open Meeting Law Materials and submitted it to the Co-chairs for inclusion in the Council’s file.

4. Training by the State Ethics Commission on Conflict of Interest

David Giannotti, Chief of the Public Education and Communications Division at the State Ethics Commission provided a training on the Commonwealth’s conflict of interest law. Mr. Giannotti provided each of the Council Members in attendance with a set of written materials that explains the conflict of interest law to appointed members of state boards and commissions.

5. Review of Statute; Charge to the CPBHAC

Matthew Broderick, DMH’s Manager of Forensic Operations and Policy provided an overview of Chapter 208, Section 20 of the Acts of 2018. A Center for Police Training in Crisis Intervention (The Center) is created by this legislation.

Section 20 (c) lists the activities of The Center, which include:

1. establish regional training opportunities for municipal police
2. develop and maintain curricula on best practices in community policy (CP) and behavioral health (BH)
3. recruit, reimburse and support trainers with experience in CP and BH
4. ensure that training is targeted to meet specific local needs of participating cities and towns
5. support police departments (PDs) in implementing improved BH responses through responsive policies and procedures and partnerships with community BH providers
6. assist municipal PDs to cover backfill costs incurred in sending staff to training
7. stipulate that each PD receiving reimbursement provide information regarding achieving goals concerning the training of patrol officers and those who oversee patrol officers

Section 20 (e) calls for the creation of a Community Policy and Behavioral Health Advisory Council (CPBHAC) and describes how the council will intersect with The Center by “directing the activities of the center consistent with subsection (c) and shall receive reports from the center concerning its activities.”

Mr. Broderick also provided information on police training programs that DMH supports through its appropriation, which has increased in recent years to an approximately $4.7 million in FY 2019.

June Binney recognized the work that Mr. Broderick and the staff at DMH have done training police officers on mental health topics. Ms Binney specifically mentioned the One Mind Campaign in which 185 police departments have pledged to train 100% of their officers in Mental Health First Aid.

6. Organizational Issues

Frequency/Location of Future Meetings

The Council discussed the frequency and location of future meetings of the CPBHAC. Chief Russell proposed that the Council meet monthly for the next three months for two hours at One Ashburton Place. The motion was seconded by Daniel Zivkovich. All members voted in favor.

The Council members reviewed their calendars for the next three months and the following dates and times were agreed upon:

• Monday, March 11^th from 1 to 3 PM (note: time of meeting has been changed to 2 to 4 PM)
• Thursday, April 25^th from 1 to 3 PM
• Monday, May 13^th from 1 to 3 PM

These meetings will all be held at One Ashburton Place, Boston.

Discussion of possible presentations to the CPBHAC

June Binney mentioned several individuals who she has heard speak who would help inform the work of the Council. One person of particular note is Louise Pyers, Founder of the Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Law Enforcement, Inc. (CABLE).

7. Behavioral Health crisis training that officers currently receive

Daniel Zivkovich. Executive Director of the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC) provided an overview of the behavioral health training currently provided, and noted that training falls into three categories:

• New Recruit Training
• Annual In Service Training
• Specialized Training, not required of all officers

Executive Director Zivkovich reviewed the recent history of the training of police officers on behavioral health topics.

• In 2015, MPTC worked with DMH and NAMI to overhaul recruit training regarding police interactions with persons with mental illness, going from 4 hours to 15 hours.  The 15 hours includes a three-hour component focused on autism spectrum disorder.
• In 2016, MPTC included a mandatory 3-hour class for all incumbent officers to give them the salient parts of the training developed for the recruits.
•  In 2017, MPTC required all chiefs of police to attend a two-hour training (again in collaboration with NAMI and DMH) to give them guidance regarding the building of local collaborations with mental and medical health professionals in the hopes of creating a holistic response system for dealing with mental health-related calls for service.
• In 2018, MPTC completely overhauled its entire recruit (new officer) training curriculum.  MPTC is in the midst of a second piloting of the new curriculum, with the goal of making it mandatory for all MPTC-authorized recruit training in 2019.  (There are currently 12 academies that offer MPTC-authorized recruit training.)  With respect to the lesson plan covering interactions with persons with mental illness, again, the development was done in collaboration with DMH and NAMI.
• In 2019, MPTC will require every officer to attend a Part II to the class offered in 2016 regarding police interactions with persons with mental illness.  This iteration will also help departments meet the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) “One Mind Campaign” pledge.

8. Remote Participation at future Council Meetings

The members of the Council discussed allowing remote participation by members in Council meetings. With the following guidelines the Council unanimously agreed to allow remote participation by Council Members:

• Council Members intending to participate remotely will notify the chair(s) at least 48 hours in advance of the start of the scheduled meeting
• Co-chairs of the Council, or their designees, must be present at the meeting
• A quorum of the Council’s members must attend the meeting in person, including at least one of the co-chairs
• Votes of the Council shall be by roll call

9. Other Business not anticipated by co-chairs:

None

The meeting adjourned at 3:30 PM

1. Membership and Introductions
   1. Attachment 1
2. Training on the State Open Meeting Law
3. Training by the State Ethics Commission on Conflict of Interest
4. Review of Statute; Charge to the CPBHC
   1. Attachment 2: Chapter 208, Section 20 of the Acts of 2018
5. Organizational Issues
   1. Frequency/Location of Future Meetings
      1. Select date and location
   2. Discussion of possible presentations to the CPBHC
6. Behavioral Health crisis training that officers currently receive
7. Remote Participation at future Council meetings
   1. Discussion
   2. Vote to allow/not allow Remote Participating
8. Other Business not anticipated by co-chairs