Report recommends Cambridge police adopt new policies to help responses to mental health crises

An independent review of Cambridge police training, commissioned by the city after one of its officers fatally shot a 20-year-old college student experiencing a mental health crisis last year, recommends the department adopt several policy changes.

Released Monday, the 57-page report by the nonprofit Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) commended Cambridge officers' training, but made several recommendations for how new practices might prevent shootings like the one that killed Arif Sayed Faisal in January of 2023.

"The last officer-involved critical incident in Cambridge took place more than 20 years before this one," the report said. "For a city the size of Cambridge, the lack of critical incidents is unusual, commendable, and evidence of its police department’s commitment to resolving incidents without force whenever possible."

After the shooting, the Middlesex County district attorney's office asked a Lowell District Court judge to investigate the circumstances of Faisal's death; the nonprofit's report heavily relied on interviews and details released in October 2023 as part of that judicial inquest.

It summarized that on Jan. 4, 2023, Cambridge police responded to a 911 call that a man — Faisal — had jumped from a Cambridgeport apartment window and was cutting himself with a long knife. Officers initially fired a "less-than-lethal" weapon at Faisal, intending to disarm him, the judge found. However, the former UMass Boston student did not stop cutting himself and approached police while still holding the knife; Officer Liam McMahon then shot Faisal.

The judge found the actions taken by McMahon, who had been an officer for eight years, were justified and did not constitute a criminal act. The city requested the review by PERF after the judicial inquest was completed last October.

Among several recommendations, the report encouraged Cambridge police to implement a so-called "co-response system," which would allow mental health clinicians to accompany police on emergency calls. The group also recommended the department improve its after-incident review protocols and create a special investigative unit to look into use-of-force incidents.

It also suggested Cambridge police invest in more "less-than-lethal" options, like pepper spray and electronic control weapons, while adding that the department should strengthen language in its policies to emphasize the sanctity of human life.

Meanwhile, the group's report praised the department for its addition of body-worn cameras, which officers were not wearing the night Faisal was killed; updates to officer trainings around the handling of situations that may involve so-called "suicide by cop" attempts; and for its agreement to release the names of officers involved in fatal shootings.

City officials said they plan to work on implementing the recommendations.

"It is our primary goal to continuously learn and grow," Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow said in a press release. "That is why the City and the Cambridge Police Department pursued this additional review of the incident so we could pick it apart in every aspect."