By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Police Department’s Community Outreach Team is continuing to make a positive impact for residents who need assistance.
Police Chief Nick Secatore recalled during a recent Select Board meeting that Capt. Chris DeCarlo formed the Community Outreach Team in order to provide assistance to residents dealing with domestic violence, mental health, substance use, disabilities, hoarding and other challenges.
“Capt. DeCarlo put in place a grant-funded outreach response team with a mental health clinician and police officers funded through a grant under the Department of Mental Health,” said Secatore. “We have had overwhelming success with it. It’s a model that is used throughout the commonwealth. We are not the first community using it.”
DeCarlo informed the Villager that he began putting the Community Outreach Team together around May 2023 with retired Substance Use Prevention Coordinator Peg Sallade’s assistance.
“The goal was to start a police-assisted outreach program to help Lynnfield residents who are in crisis or have experienced a traumatic event, with the goal of referring residents to appropriate care,” said DeCarlo.
DeCarlo said the Community Outreach Team consists of himself, Patrolman James Caponigro, Patrolman Franco Pisano and psychologist Dr. Jennifer Burns.
“I serve as the police coordinator for the team,” said DeCarlo. “I do some outreach, but mainly I work to flag calls that require outreach, secure funding for the team, continue to build a network of stakeholders and service providers, and coordinate training. We have two outreach officers: Officer Caponigro and Officer Pisano. The fact is the outreach officers are the engines that drive the program. For this program to succeed, you need officers who are willing to do the work this program requires, which goes beyond traditional policing.”
DeCarlo said A Healthy Lynnfield’s assistance allowed him to hire Dr. Burns to serve as a contracted psychologist through a Department of Mental Health grant.
“Dr. Jennifer Burns serves as the Outreach Team’s psychologist,” said DeCarlo. “She will go with our outreach officers on follow-ups to assist. She also helps with coordinating care and connecting Lynnfield residents to appropriate resources. Originally, Dr. Burns came on board through our partnership with Essex County Outreach. Fortunately, the town was able to hire her and she now works with our team as well as A Healthy Lynnfield and the Health Department. She fit in with our team from the start and has been a great asset to our community.”
DeCarlo said the Community Outreach Team “began documenting our incidents and outreach follow-ups in July of 2023.”
“Since that time, residents experiencing issues involving substance use disorder, domestic violence, behavioral health related issues and other traumatic events have received 143 follow-ups from our team,” said DeCarlo.
According to the Community Outreach Team’s website, “an officer will discuss with you options for services and connect you with a service navigator, mental health clinician, recovery coach or other team member for services that meet your needs.”
“Our team respects your confidentiality and any decision to seek help is voluntary,” the team wrote on its website.
DeCarlo said the Community Outreach Team also works to “prioritize coordinating care.”
“We have made it a point to coordinate with the Health Department, Lynnfield schools and the Fire Department,” said DeCarlo. “We also hold quarterly stakeholder meetings, where we bring in health care providers and programs to expand our network and make sure we continue to grow our resources and partnerships. We also work with Essex County Outreach, who has given us access to funding for our outreach efforts as well as some additional training for our team.”
DeCarlo said the Community Outreach Team follows “the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s (IACP) model as set forth in its One Mind Campaign.”
“One hundred percent of our officers are training in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and 20 percent of our officers are Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) certified,” said DeCarlo. “MHFA is an eight-hour course, while CIT is a more intense course requiring 40 hours of training. All of our dispatchers are trained in CIT for dispatch or a similar training. Since then, we have continued to send officers to relevant training and a number of our officers are instructors in trauma informed policing. We have held training for officers from other departments.”
DeCarlo said the Community Outreach Team will be hosting a Recovery Coach Academy for first responders at the Lynnfield Police Academy, 425 Walnut St., on April 28 through May 1.
“In the spring, we are going to be hosting a Recovery Coach Academy for police officers as well as community members,” said DeCarlo. “Our own Dr. Jennifer Burns will be instructing this.”
Secatore said during the Select Board’s meeting that he was pleased that the majority of residents who the Community Outreach Team has provided assistance to have “accepted services in some way or another.”
“It is fantastic,” said Secatore. “It’s exactly what our Police Department has done in the past and wants to do more of in the future. It is true community policing. It is helping people and meeting people where they are. It’s people seeing police officers and clinicians not just at the moment of their highest stress, but maybe when they are ready to hear, listen and accept services.”
Secatore said Caponigro has been receiving calls from residents in need “all the time.”
“It has been a program that we are really proud of,” said Secatore. “We hope that the community is very proud of it. The model is not just traditional policing. It has been very successful.”
Secatore thanked A Healthy Lynnfield and the Board of Health for contributing to the Community Outreach Team’s success.
“The partnership with the Board of Health and A Healthy Lynnfield brought on Dr. Burns,” said Secatore. “She has been excellent. She enjoys the work, and no work is too small for her or the officers. They go out for everything. It has really been fantastic.”
Select Board Chair Dick Dalton praised the work that DeCarlo, Caponigro, Pisano, Dr. Burns and Secatore have undertaken with the Community Outreach Team.
“I am very proud of you, Capt. DeCarlo and the whole team for what you have been able to accomplish,” said Dalton. “It is a great, great program. As you said, it is what community policing is all about.”
Select Board Vice Chair Phil Crawford agreed.
“They have been great working with the Board of Health and A Healthy Lynnfield,” said Crawford, who also serves as A Healthy Lynnfield’s chair. “We have Dr. Burns working part-time for all of us, and basically gave her a full-time position between the three of us. She is excellent. I think that will go a long way.”
Secatore concurred with Dalton and Crawford’s viewpoints.
“It has been a great success,” said Secatore. “We are very proud of it.”
Secatore said the Police Department wants to expand the Community Outreach Team in the future.
“We want to take it to the next level,” said Secatore.
DeCarlo said “a lot of work” has gone into building the Community Outreach Team program.
“At the start, I went to a number of neighboring police departments to get an idea on how their programs operated,” said DeCarlo. “We were able to participate as a mentorship program with Winthrop Police Department’s CLEAR Team, where they served as a mentorship site to programs from around the country. We were able to adopt these models and make it our own with the goal of making the program sustainable without having to ‘break the bank.’”
Additionally, DeCarlo said the Community Outreach Team has worked to raise awareness about its mission during town events.
“We always make it a point to participate in community events and will continue to do so through our partnership with Diana DeLeo and A Healthy Lynnfield,” said DeCarlo.
For more information about the Community Outreach Team, visit https://outreach.lynnfieldpolice.net.