Municipal leaders from Arlington, Ashland, Beverly, Cambridge, Chelsea, Framingham, Holyoke, Medford, Melrose, Middleton, Nantucket, Newburyport, Newton, Revere, Salem, Somerville, Swampscott and Winthrop signed onto the pledge. Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, Framingham Mayor Yvonne M. Spicer and Arlington Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine led the effort with the help of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). 

The mayors and managers committed to institute an anti-violence approach to policing in their communities and to provide safe spaces for community input and dialogue about systemic racism and police violence.  

The pledge calls on state senators and representatives to advance legislation that reforms the civil service recruitment system; gives cities and towns the flexibility to quickly address misconduct by officers; provides funding for anti-racism training and education programs for municipal workers; and creates an independent authority to investigate and prosecute the use of force by officers. Leaders specifically supported legislation endorsed by the Massachusetts Black and Latino Caucus.  

The municipal leaders agreed on five shared principles:  

1. We agree that systemic racism is a public health emergency, which must be addressed by strong and decisive actions over the coming weeks and months, and by patient and determined efforts years into the future. We are in this now; we are in it for the long haul. 
2. We acknowledge that racial biases and inequities exist, and we are committed to achieving racial equity and identifying disparities in local municipal services, education, health, housing, transportation, jobs, law enforcement, and youth programming, among others. We are committed to providing safe spaces for community input and dialogue around these issues and we will continue to work together to share best practices and to make progress at the local, state, and federal levels.  
3. We are committed to instituting an anti-violence approach to policing that prioritizes the safety, health, and well being of all community members, including police officers, as its primary goal. Policing practices that seek to de-escalate conflict, minimize the use of force, avoid false arrest, and establish trust with all residents, especially communities of color, will inform decisions on recruitment, training, promotion, equipment, and tactics.  
4. We will work to address racism within law enforcement in a proactive, intentional, and consistent manner.  
5. We will make it a priority to take action now as local governments, and we will also advocate for state and federal policies and funding to enable cities and towns to accomplish the goals of this pledge.
   

The group of leaders agreed to a menu of actions that will begin the work of embedding anti-violence and anti-racism principles into local government and police forces. Signatories will choose which of these 18 changes make sense to pursue in their communities. Possible steps include requiring de-escalation, applying a “duty to intervene” to all officers, banning the use of chokeholds and strangleholds, and reviewing police budgets to assess whether to allocate funding differently.   

Read the full pledge here: https://mapc.ma/municipalpledge.

Signatories: