LYNN — In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless other innocent Black Americans, Mayor Thomas M. McGee and the Lynn Racial Justice Coalition (LRJC) have spent the past year working together to pursue racial equity.
McGee and his team recently reflected on the progress made through this partnership, citing their commitment to addressing systemic racism and pursuing equitable public safety for all.
In June of 2020, Nicole Mcclain, of Prevent the Cycle and North Shore Juneteenth Association, filed a citizen’s petition to request a public hearing to discuss a number of initiatives related to racial justice, including reactivating the Human Rights Commission; instituting diversity, equity and inclusion training for all city employees; and implementing a number of suggested police reforms.
Since then, McGee made a commitment to meet monthly with the LRJC to discuss a broad range of issues to advance racial justice in the city.
In the fiscal year 2021 city budget, he established a $25,000 equity and inclusion assessment fund to support this work, and included a $500,000 line item to fund the further research and “Phase 1” implementation of the All Lynn Emergency Response Team (ALERT), an unarmed crisis response team.
On Oct. 24, 2020, a public hearing in partnership with the LRJC was held in response to a petition filed by Prevent the Cycle, which ended with McGee examining the issues brought up — including the implementation of police body cameras, the creation of an unarmed crisis response unit and establishing a civilian review board of the police.
The Lynn Police Department’s use of force policy was then updated, and McGee negotiated and reached an agreement with the Lynn Police Association (the police union) to implement body cameras on all patrol officers in December of 2020.
The body-worn cameras program was fully implemented for all police patrol officers by the end of April.
In addition, the city is currently participating in a technical assistance grant program to establish the City of Lynn Racial Equity Municipal Action Plan in partnership with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Government Alliance on Race and Equity.
The partnership with McGee and the LRJC also established the city’s first ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Faustina Cuevas, who began her role in June.
The LRJC is still working toward the creation of an unarmed crisis response team within the city, following initial efforts which included preliminary research by students from the Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.
Using the Northeastern students’ report as a starting point, the city is onboarding a consultant to work with the LRJC and a number of other city and community stakeholders to further research, guide, advise and develop a feasible Phase 1 ALERT model that will be successful for Lynn.
The Lynn Racial Justice Coalition is made up of Diverse People United, Essex County Community Organization, Local 201 Civil Rights Committee, Lynn United for Change, the New Lynn Coalition, North Shore Juneteenth Association and Prevent The Cycle.
