While Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs are being shuttered around the country — including those at our nation’s largest companies and municipalities — the city of Somerville is looking to double down on DEI in 2025. A proposed “revamp” of public safety is now aiming to prioritize feel-good liberal policies over the wellbeing of Somerville residents and families.
Following the George Floyd riots in 2020, then Somerville mayor Joe Curtatone proclaimed systemic racism a “public health emergency”… in a city that is 70% white, 11% Asian, and 4% Black. To show just how serious he was about his proclamation, he formed Somerville’s “Department of Racial and Social Justice” (RSJ), which he staffed with a gaggle of full-time employees. Now the department is spearheading the city’s effort to “reform” public safety in Somerville with major DEI-driven changes that will likely make communities less safe for residents.
The new policies pushed by Somerville include altering police hiring rules to bring in “more diverse officers,” a policing model that prioritizes “mental health professionals and social workers” over police in specified situations, and the formation of a diverse commission authorized to review police policies and provide dispute resolution. The proposals are part of an initiative instigated by the mayor, called “Public Safety for All.”
The goal of the initiative? To help squash the worsening open drug use and dealing in public areas? No. To solve the exploding homeless crisis gripping the city? No. To quell issues associated with Somerville’s “sanctuary city” status? No again. Instead, the goal is to “advance racial and social justice across all economic classes, ages, genders, races, ethnicities, and identities.”
Somerville is trying to make its public safety more woke during a time when the opposite is needed. Unsurprisingly, “Public Safety for All” means less safety for you, and kid gloves for criminals and predators.
Residents with children formerly enjoyed picnics or strolls in Somerville parks — those days are gone. Open drug use, drug dealing, and needles are ubiquitous in Somerville’s public spaces, especially around Davis Square. Residents complain that cops are too lenient on drug use, which caused the issue to spiral out of control and attracted more users and dealers to the area. If police are being lenient, residents can thank their own liberal city council. In April 2021, the council passed an order that prioritized treatment over arrest for drug possession.
But residents of Somerville can still rest easy: Their city leaders are working overtime to ensure the police force is more diverse while also planning “safe injection sites” that will provide taxpayer-funded needles for addicts.
As drugs flood into Somerville, so does homelessness, which has increased drastically over the last year. Most of the homeless congregate in the Davis Square parks near the MBTA stop — the same parks littered with open drug use and dirty, discarded needles on the sidewalks. Violence in the vicinity has gotten so bad, including two back-to-back stabbings in September, that many longtime residents no longer feel safe walking in these parks alone.
There have also been “tent cities” in Somerville, including in Chuckie Harris Park and under Interstate 91, that spring up during the colder months. Residents in luxury buildings across from one such homeless camp reported trash piling up all over the road, property being stolen from apartment lobbies, and people passed out on the street.
Rather than simply banning people from sleeping on the streets, the city has directed cops to respond to “unhoused” people with resources and compassion.
Somerville’s Housing Programs Coordinator acknowledges that one factor contributing to the surge in homelessness is the influx of migrant families. Somerville proudly reaffirmed its status as a “sanctuary city” in December. Not only does a flood of unvetted migrants make housing more expensive, it also degrades public safety. A few weeks after President Donald Trump deployed immigration officers for his “worst first” initiative, ICE arrested an illegal immigrant in Somerville for assault and battery of a disabled person and witness intimidation. The migrant had been set free by Somerville officials before ICE picked him up.
It seems that the leaders running Somerville should learn the basic rule of incentives. When you don’t arrest people on drug offenses, you get more drugs. When you don’t arrest people for sleeping on the streets, you get more homelessness. When you declare yourself a sanctuary city, you get more illegal immigrants.
It is also important to remember who actually makes our streets safe: police. And right now Somerville is dealing with a “morale crisis” and a serious staffing issue in its police department. Officials can’t seem to figure out why nobody wants to put their lives on the line to patrol their streets. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the city is making it almost impossible for cops to actually do their jobs. Why would a man or woman with a family choose Somerville as the place to start their career in law enforcement?
Somerville’s Public Safety for All plan shows that its officials prioritize the promotion of left-wing ideology over making life better for their own citizens. Somerville is less desirable than ever for families to settle and raise children. It is a place where young women and students from the major universities nearby cannot walk home at night and feel safe – as I used to. It would be great if the city could care about these people as much as they care about bowing to liberal ideology.
Kristin Tate is a political columnist and author based in Massachusetts. Her latest book is “The Liberal Invasion of Red State America.” Follow her on X @KristinBTate.