Law Enforcement Community Immersion Program
Lead Author: Zach Klein, City Attorney – Columbus, OHCategory: Improving Quality of Life / Public Safety
The Challenge
In the summer of 2020, the city of Columbus experienced protests that led to clashes between law enforcement and community members. Those events revealed deep fractures in trust and underscored the need for new leadership and methods in the city’s police operations. Although reforms were implemented — including a new police chief, updated protest-response protocols and enhanced accountability — the city recognized that building stronger relationships at the neighborhood level required an entirely new approach.The Solution
The City Attorney’s Office, the Division of Police and Franklin University partnered to launch the “Community Immersion” program — a first-of-its-kind training track for probationary officers. Over 192 hours, newly graduated officers engage in a hybrid experience of classroom work and field immersion focused on the neighborhoods they will eventually patrol. Key elements include:- Meeting local area leaders and service-provider organizations to understand community contexts.
- Studying the history and unique challenges of the neighborhoods they serve.
- Completing a capstone project, chosen by the officers themselves, that addresses an identified neighborhood need (for instance toy-drives, car-seat installations, naloxone training, or kids’ basketball camps).
Why It Matters
As a majority of recruit officers now live outside city limits in a fast-growing metro area, the program addresses both distance and disconnection by immersing officers in the lived reality of the communities they serve. By doing so, it aims to rebuild trust, reduce incidents of use of force and officer complaints, and strengthen community-police relations at the grassroots level.Impact & Measurement
The program’s early results demonstrate real promise: more than 400 officers from 10 recruit classes have participated.According to data from Franklin University:
- Officer complaints and use-of-force incidents have decreased since the program began.
- Participants’ knowledge about the communities they serve has also increased.
Community EMS Bike Response Program
Lead Author: Brett Smiley, Mayor – Providence, RICategory: Public Safety / Improving Quality of Life
The Challenge
Public-health crises—particularly mental-health issues and substance use—are placing extraordinary demands on emergency medical services in urban business districts. In one recent year, nearly 20% of more than 30,000 EMS runs in the city were tied to these challenges, exceeding staff capacity and slowing response times.The Solution
Launched as a pilot in 2023, the Community EMS Bike Response Program deploys trained first responders riding bicycles into high-need areas to deliver rapid, on-the-ground emergency care, overdose prevention, and public education. The program features:- Strategic deployment of bike teams in business districts and neighborhoods with elevated EMS demand.
- Distribution of naloxone kits, fentanyl test strips and recovery-resource information.
- Medical equipment carried by teams includes AEDs (automated external defibrillators), oxygen tanks and IV supplies.
- Faster arrival times and reduced ambulance transports: bike teams arrive nearly three minutes faster than traditional units and resolve one in four calls without requiring ambulance transport—freeing resources for more critical emergencies.
Why It Matters
By introducing a nimble, community-embedded EMS modality, the program addresses both speed and specificity of response—reducing load on traditional ambulance services and adapting to the evolving nature of public-health emergencies tied to substance use and behavioral-health crises. It also shifts the paradigm of EMS from reactive to proactive engagement in public-spaces.Impact & Measurement
In its first year the program:- Distributed nearly 500 naloxone doses and 300 fentanyl test kits.
- Logged faster response times and fewer ambulance transports from participating calls.
Evaluation is supported by the city’s Department of Housing and Human Services, which is providing project management and assessment. The program’s early data suggest effectiveness and point to a need to expand operational hours and scale.
Expanding Protections Against Coercive Control
Lead Author: Tram Nguyen, Representative – Andover, MACategory: Improving Quality of Life / Justice
The Challenge
Domestic abuse does not always involve physical violence—it can be insidious, controlling and emotionally devastating. The existing law often fails to capture these patterns of coercion that starve victims of autonomy and safety. Examples include:- Threatening to share explicit images of a victim
- Monitoring or restricting communications and access to services
- Isolating a household member from friends or relatives
- Threatening to harm a child or family pet
The Solution
This legislation expands the definition of domestic abuse to explicitly include coercive control, enabling survivors to petition for a restraining order on that basis. It also extends the statute of limitations for assault and battery on a family or household member—or someone with an active protective order—from six years to 15 years, aligning with statutes for rape, assault with intent to commit rape, and sex trafficking. This change acknowledges that many survivors require time to process trauma and come forward.Why It Matters
By elevating coercive control from description to legal standing, the law empowers courts, law-enforcement agencies and service providers to respond more comprehensively. Victims gain clearer access to protections; communities receive a stronger framework to address non-physical forms of abuse that have long been under-recognized.Impact & Measurement
Implementation of the law will be overseen by the Attorney General’s Office through education and training of courts, law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure consistent understanding and enforcement. Key metrics include:- Number of restraining-order petitions filed citing coercive control
- Training completion rates among judges, prosecutors and law-enforcement agents
- Time intervals between abuse incident, filing and legal resolution
- Survivors’ access to support services post-filing
