News  Lights, Camera, Action! MPS to be featured in Harvard video

The videos will include an overview of the MPS, the diversity initiatives it has undertaken since 2016 and its practices and interactions with probationers, particularly in communities of color. They will be shown to graduate students in several courses taught by Professor Sandra Susan Smith, according to Patricia Garcia-Rios, Senior Producer for Multimedia Learning at the Harvard Kennedy School, who conducted the interviews and will produce the final materials.

“The series of videos on MPS—once completed— will be housed on Harvard’s website and will be used exclusively for educational use,” said Ms. Garcia-Rios.

Professor Smith is the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice and Faculty Director of the Program in Criminal justice Policy and Management at HKS. She teaches a course on race and racism in the U.S., a core requirement for all students enrolled in the Master’s in Public Policy Program, as well as a course on the criminal legal system.

Among the MPS employees featured in the video are Chicopee District Probation Officer (PO) Ramon Guzman, Springfield District Assistant Chief Probation Officer (ACPO) Marcus Cameron, Suffolk Superior Probation Officer Kendall Bruce, Boston Municipal Court-Central CPO John Turner, and Suffolk Superior PO Elisandra Monteiro. Other employees who participated in the research for the project were Fitchburg District PO Taiz Butler, Middlesex CPO Stephen Allsopp, Milford District CPO Amy Dupree, Probate & Family Court Statewide Supervisor Marguerite Riley, and Gardner District ACPO Terrence Moran. Members of the MPS Executive Team— Probation Commissioner Edward Dolan; Deputy Commissioner-Administrative Services Yvonne Roland; Deputy Commissioner-Pretrial Services Pamerson Ifill; and Deputy Commissioner-Programs Michael Coelho—were also interviewed.

“It has been wonderful to meet so many employees of the MPS on Zoom and in person and learn more about the on-the-ground experience of probation,” said Ms. Garcia-Rios. “All the employees I’ve talked to have been extremely kind and helpful, sharing their personal experiences and patiently explaining what their job entails. I especially want to thank Sean Houghton and Thomas Walsh from the OCP, who bent over backwards to help me and made it possible for the filming to take place.”