My updates for Friday, June 12, 2020.

Below are Mayor Walsh’s remarks are prepared on COVID-19 in the City of Boston, and his plan to address the impact racism has on residents’ health and wellbeing for Friday, June 12, 2020.

Thank you.

The latest COVID-19 numbers: In Massachusetts, as of Thursday, the state reached a total of 104,667 cases, a one-day increase of 519. The state has now confirmed 7,492 deaths, up 38.

Boston’s numbers as of yesterday: We have now recorded 13,118 cases, a one-day increase of 44. We have confirmed 7,987 people to be fully recovered from COVID-19 in the City of Boston, up by 94. But, 673 people have passed away with 2 new deaths recorded yesterday. Our prayers continue to be with their families and all who are struggling with this illness.

Today, I want to talk about racism and equity. We know about the inequalities in our country; we work every day in Boston to eliminate them. Our resilience policy defines racial inequality as a slow-moving disaster that harms communities and individuals over the course of a lifetime.

From the moment the COVID crisis hit, we saw a stark picture of what that looks like — in financial vulnerability and housing insecurity; in access to food and technology; and in health impacts. We saw the urgency it would take to meet these deep needs in our communities, and we have acted with that urgency. Equity has been central to our response to COVID-19 and our goal has always been to recover from this pandemic in a more equitable state than we entered it.

Then, on May 25, George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, and the public conversation changed. Lifetimes of experience were brought to the surface in justified anger. Young people refused to accept that the injustices of the past would be their reality as well. A movement grew that has brought a new urgency to this moment in our nation’s history.

I have been listening to that movement. I have been listening to the Black Americans and people of color in my life, on my team, and in our city. We have been in dialogue about their experiences and how racism shapes lives and hurts communities. We are determined to accelerate our work toward systemic change — to renew our nation and our city’s promise of equal opportunity and justice for every single person. Out of that conversation has come an initial set of actions for racial equity that I can announce today.

First, I will declare racism to be a public health crisis in the City of Boston. The health impacts of historic and systemic racism are clear in our COVID-19 case numbers, and the impacts go far beyond the current crisis. We will back this declaration with an initial investment of $3 million transferred from the police overtime budget to the Boston Public Health Commission. The Health Commission will work with City departments on strategies to directly address the impact racism has on the lives and health of Boston residents.

I’ll invite Health and Human Services Chief Marty Martinez to say more about this plan.

In addition to this declaration, we are also taking a number of steps in law enforcement accountability. We will establish a process to strengthen the existing Community Oversight Panel that I will talk about in a few minutes.

These are steps called for in the 10-point action plan put forward by the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and other elected officials of color in Boston and the Commonwealth. I want to thank the elected officials for their advocacy, particularly the Boston City Council. I will join them as an advocate for change.

In addition, the Boston Police Department has completed its review of the use-of-force policies outlined by the national 8 Can’t Wait movement. The BPD is clarifying its rules to meet the standards and has immediately implemented several reforms. These are use-of-force policies proven to reduce the likelihood of violence.

I want to thank Commissioner William Gross and the Command Staff for acting swiftly to drive these important changes forward.

BPD is also adopting the training program known as Ethical Policing is Courageous, or EPIC. This means officers will not only be required to intervene when they witness unnecessary use of force, they will be trained with strategies for preventing abuses and intervening if they occur.

I can also announce that, moving forward, the Boston Police Department will no longer use the “hair test” for evidence of drug use in officers or recruits. I want to thank our police unions for their partnership in that decision.

I can also announce steps we are taking in the FY2021 budget to further ground public safety in community health and wellbeing.

I am proposing to reallocate 20%, or $12 million, from the Boston Police Department’s overtime budget. That money will be invested instead in community programs for our youth, for the homeless, and people struggling with the effects of inequality. That includes the initial $3 million to implement our Public Health declaration; $1 million to support trauma response and counseling at the Boston Public Health Commission; $2 million for community investments through other City departments, including violence prevention, language access, food security, immigrant advancement, elder support, and the Human Rights Commission; $2 million for programs supporting minority and women-owned businesses; $2 million for housing security and ending youth homelessness; and $2 million for emergency clinicians and mental health supports provided through the Boston Police Department when they respond to residents in crisis.

Taken together, this is a significant program of reforms and investments.

As I’ve said, new policy and budget announcements are important, but they are not enough. We need to keep the community involved, sustain this conversation, and continue to make change. So, I am also announcing a process for community input, review, and reform.

I have signed the Mayor’s Pledge issued by the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. My Brother’s Keeper was launched in 2014 to empower young men and women of color. We were there at the founding and we have made sure Boston is a leader in this alliance.

What the new pledge says is this:

1. We will review our Police use-of-force policies;
2. We will engage communities by including a diverse range of input, experiences, and stories;
3. We will report the findings of our review to the community and seek feedback; and
4. We will reform our use-of-force policies based on that conversation.

I want to be clear that our process is not designed to delay change; it’s designed to sustain change.

To make sure our commitments translate into action, I am creating a new Task Force. It will be led by Bostonians from civil rights organizations, the legal community, and the faith community. It will be chaired by Wayne Budd, the former US Attorney for the district of Massachusetts and a respected longtime leader in Boston’s legal and civil rights communities. The Task Force will conduct an immediate review of force policies and other equity issues at the Boston Police Department. It will provide guidance on how we strengthen the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel, the Co-op Board, to ensure that their work is effective. I will be accepting any changes that they recommend to the Co-op Board.

The Task Force will begin immediately and produce recommendations within 60 days. The community will then have time to review the recommendations and provide feedback. We will then announce reforms.

We are not going to let this moment or this movement pass us by. I have pledged to make Boston a national leader in this work and we are following through on that pledge.

This is the kind of leadership that takes a whole city working together. It must be a truly collective effort across government and community. So, I call on all of us, every Bostonian, to be a part of the solution. And at the same time, we must continue to listen to the voices at the center of the conversation.

As a white elected official, I have depended on the guidance of leaders of color and residents of color. I want to thank them for their leadership and their partnership: State legislators; members of my Cabinet; members of the City Hall staff; friends and former colleagues who have been reaching out everyday for over two weeks; and the officers of color in the Boston Police Department, who are respected and beloved members of our community.

I also want to recognize that the Boston Police Department has been deeply committed to community policing and positive reform since my first day as Mayor of this great city. They continue to build a strong foundation of trust in relationships with young people and members of the community in our neighborhoods. Their work starts with positive interactions in our communities and classrooms, and in programs like coffee with a cop, flashlight walks, peace walks, and shop with a cop. They provide prevention and diversion supports for at-risk youth and families. They offer pathways away from violence for those who are ready to make a change. They are essential partners in some of our most effective, life-changing programs.

The results of this work are evident. From 2013 to 2019 complaints of improper police behavior fell by 40% and complaints of excessive force dropped by over 50%. Over that time period, the crime rate is down by nearly 30%, arrests are down 33%, and officers have taken 5,000 guns off the streets. We’ve made this progress, over the last six years, by lifting people up, not locking people up. That’s what we’re going to keep doing here in Boston.

The men and women of the Boston Police Department are increasingly reflective of the community they serve. And let’s not forget, they are sons and daughters of proud parents. They are mothers and fathers who love their children. They are coaches and mentors in our community. They, too, are feeling the emotions of this moment, and they want to be part of the solution. They continue to deserve our respect and gratitude. We still have work to do, that’s clear, but we have the right police department to partner with the community and do that work.

I also want to remind us that systemic change must go far beyond law enforcement. We began this year by launching bold plans that call for record investments in school equity and housing equity, in particular. We cannot be certain what will happen with the state budget. But, on the City side, we will follow through on those funding commitments, including new support for struggling schools to close racial opportunity gaps, and the first City-funded rental vouchers in our history, to provide struggling families with stability and security. And as we continue to face a pandemic, we will continue to be guided by the community and our COVID-19 Health Inequities Task Force, in both healthcare response and economic recovery.

Whether fighting the COVID virus or the virus of racism, we are going to move forward in equity and we are going to lead, inspired by the best aspects of our history and guided by the diverse members of our community.

Thank you.