Billerica – On Thursday June 21, 2018 at approximately 3:27 PM Billerica Police received a 911 call reporting gunshots being fired in the area of 41 Boston Rd. It was reported that a man got out of a vehicle and discharged a handgun several times at the side of Boston rd. at #41. The suspect is described as a bald adult male who immediately got into a vehicle described as a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, gray in color. The vehicle fled north on Boston Rd. toward Lowell. This matter is currently under investigation anyone with information are asked to contact Billerica Police at 978-671-0900.
Police, Health, and Social Services to Create New Crisis Response Model to Help ‘Frequent Users’ of Emergency Services
- Three pilot programs will test a new crisis response model that could help Frequent Utilizers—people who cycle repeatedly through the criminal justice, health, and social service systems—and save significant public dollars and emergency responder time
- Grants totaling $4.1 million will help local responders, researchers, and government associations leverage data to identify Frequent Utilizers and connect them to mental health, addiction treatment, housing and other services
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) today announced $4.1 million in funding to help local communities and researchers study new crisis response models that could better address people with mental illness and addiction who bounce between jails and hospitals. The Foundation committed $1.6 million to launch three pilot programs that will test new methods of coordination between police, hospitals, and social services; $2.1 million to fund evaluations of promising intervention programs; and $375,000 to the National Association of Counties (NACo) to organize a growing network of county leaders on the issue.
Attention to Frequent Utilizers has escalated with the release of preliminary research that suggests the magnitude of the issue and the costs associated with it—both human and financial. The goal of LJAF’s pilot is to help emergency responders recognize Frequent Utilizers and divert them out of jail and into treatment programs that can address their root issues.
The pilot projects are scheduled to take place in three sites across the country: Middlesex County, Mass., City of Long Beach, Calif., and Johnson County, Iowa. The programs will enable local agencies to link data through a pioneering data management system built by OpenLattice, a leader in secure data technology. With LJAF funding, the jurisdictions will hire data scientists to collect and analyze information such as 911 calls, EMS transports, emergency department visits, and shelter records, looking for patterns that can help emergency responders identify people in crisis and connect them to the help they need. This form of data sharing among health, social service, and criminal justice systems represents an innovative and unprecedented partnership that LJAF hopes will serve as a model for other jurisdictions.
In addition to building capacity for linking and analyzing data, the pilot projects will help jurisdictions develop promising interventions for Frequent Utilizers, such as training for law enforcement, Medication Assisted Treatment for people with opioid addiction and housing assistance for individuals who are chronically homeless.
“We have an incredible opportunity to help some of the most vulnerable members of our communities,” said Kelli Rhee, president of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. “The potential is enormous. Not only can the pilot programs help connect Frequent Utilizers to the treatment they need, increasing the chance they’ll remain out of jail in the future, but the programs can save taxpayer dollars and critical emergency responder time.”
LJAF is funding three large-scale evaluations of promising interventions, which will help build the evidence base about what actually works to address Frequent Utilizers’ complex needs. LJAF has awarded a grant to the University of Rochester Medical Center to evaluate Minnesota’s replication of the successful Rochester Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (R-FACT) program. The second funding award, to the City of Long Beach, will evaluate an expanded version of Forensic Community Treatment (FACT), which aims to address mental illnesses commonly found among people in the criminal justice system. LJAF will fund research group MDRC to study the possibility of conducting a multi-location evaluation of a combined Housing First/Shared Medical Appointments program. If successful, the study could help establish the first trial in the United States of an adjusted Housing First model.
“We’re at a tipping point in our work to build a more effective crisis response network,” said Lynn Overmann, vice president of data-driven justice (DDJ) at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. “We are excited to begin to meet the need that law enforcement, behavioral health professionals, and social service staff have voiced for years. The pilot programs and research we’re funding represent an important step forward in helping communities create better options to respond to Frequent Utilizers, improve community safety, and provide much-needed stability and health.”
The announcement of these investments represents a significant expansion of LJAF’s DDJ project, which aims to improve society’s response to people who cycle between the justice system and emergency health and social service systems.
“We are honored to be selected as a pilot site by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation,” said Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian. “Public safety leaders across our county recognize we cannot arrest and incarcerate our way out of mental illness and substance use disorders. We believe this designation will allow us to enhance the innovative work we’ve begun at the local and county levels to disrupt the status quo.”
The DDJ pilot programs and evaluations reflect the first national effort to reimagine emergency response models that could more appropriately respond to Frequent Utilizers’ needs, with the hope of saving resources and, most importantly, lives.
Related Materials
For more information about Frequent Utilizers and LJAF’s work to address this issue, please see “Modern Justice: Using Data to Reinvent America’s Crisis Response Systems” or the report summary.
Laura and John Arnold Foundation Media Contact
David Hebert, Communications Director
713.554.1967
About the Laura and John Arnold Foundation
The Laura and John Arnold Foundation’s core objective is to improve the lives of individuals by strengthening our nation’s social, governmental, and economic systems. Its investments are focused on criminal justice, education, health care, and several other key areas. LJAF has offices in Houston, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
In Control Crash Prevention Training
The Billerica Police Department would like to announce our partnership with In Control Crash Prevention Training. In Control is a non-profit organization that offers state certified crash prevention training to all drivers.
This closed course, hands-on education was adapted from existing law enforcement training in the United States as well as European instruction that led to a societal shift in attitudes toward driving in many countries.
In Control is recognized as a 501(c)(3) and has trained over 30,000 students and receives endless praise from graduates, parents, schools, police departments, insurance companies, legislators and community groups all over New England. Most graduates enjoy insurance discounts and the peace of mind knowing that they have been trained for emergency situations. Third party research has found a 70% reduction in crashes for new driver graduates of our training and similar results for experienced drivers trained through our commercial programs.
While focused on training New England drivers of all ages, In Control has traveled the U.S. providing training, consulting and products to keep people safe from the most dangerous thing we do.
Not only does the Billerica Police Department recommend this training for residents, we send our own Officers as well.
For more information please see the In Control Web page.
Emergency Parking Ban – 3/12 to 3/14
Winter Storm Quinn Update – National Grid
National Grid – In the Merrimack Valley, we have about 119,000 customers out from Wednesday night’s
Nor’Easter that impacted more than 306,000 of our Massachusetts customers at peak. At this time Billerica is at 57% customers without power.
- We have set a global estimated time of restoration – the time we expect the last customer to be
restored – for midnight Sunday. As we continue to make significant progress with damage
assessment and repairs, we will refine this general estimate. We offer this global ETR so
customers may prepare for a worst-case scenario. We are making every effort to bring back
customers sooner
Our Progress
- We have more than 300 crews in the Merrimack Valley, which includes 50 crews that were shifted to the area Friday morning. The full complement of crews that was deployed to respond to Riley was reallocated for Quinn, largely in the Merrimack Valley.
- Last night, we had 157,000 Merrimack Valley customers out; we reduced this to 119,000 this morning – bringing back nearly 40,000 customers.
- We have helicopters in the air patrolling our sub-transmission lines. These are circuits that feed our distribution system: they’re the middle-men between transmission and the lines that feed our customers’ homes.
- Of the 29 23kV (sub-transmission – which feeds distribution) lines that were out of service, 13 have been restored, and the remaining 16 will be restored by midnight tonight. As we continue to target these sub-transmission circuits and the associated distribution lines, we will begin making steady progress to bring back significant numbers of customers.
- We began restoration of sub-transmission Thursday night, restoring 13 of the 29 impacted lines.
- Of the 14 substations originally without power, we have restored 11.
- 1 municipal (Merrimac) is still out. To be restored by early afternoon
- East Boxford sub to be restored by 4 pm
- West Chelmsford is still out – later today
Our Challenge
- Approximately 59,000 of these 119,000 customers are out due to sub-transmission issues; the remaining 55k customer outages are due to small outages/side taps, transformers, single customer outages.
- There is a significant amount of work coordination required to safely restore customers, and restoration is complex. First, at least one sub-transmission line supplying each distribution substation must be restored. Sub-transmission lines are located on rights-of-ways – off-road, in wooded and remote areas, and sometimes on easements along private property. To identify damage, patrolling is required, using either helicopters or ground patrol with specially trained resources using snow cats and off-road vehicles.
- We were unable, for safety reasons, to fly helicopters yesterday.
Winter Storm Quinn Preparation
- National Grid started planning for Winter Storm Quinn Monday March 5 even as we were in the
midst of restoration efforts for Riley.- Monday, March 5 – Began formulating plans for Quinn.
- Tuesday March 6 – Started Quinn implementation.
- Wednesday, March 7 – Deployed resources for Quinn.
- Thursday, March 8 – Assessing impacts from Quinn.
- Based on the storm’s forecast and development, we planned for a Type 4 event. Our emergency response plan guidelines, as established by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, sets an expectation for a 24-hour restoration phase from the first day we may safely restorepower. We quickly shifted to a Type 3 event during the middle of the storm, planning for a 72- hour restoration period. We had all crews available from Winter Storm Riley.
- Our branch directors, who lead local responses, instituted the zone approach. This involves predeploying resources to the field in the areas predicted to feel the biggest impact. This plan utilizes liaisons to communicate with key public safety officials (“zone leaders”) in our municipalities, who help coordinate between the city/town and our National Grid municipal rooms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to be “assessing conditions?”
At the start of a storm or outage, ETRs are often listed as “assessing conditions.” This is because the damage to our infrastructure must be assessed and reported prior to any restoration taking place. Safety is also a first priority, and crews will not begin restoring power until the conditions are safe to do. During this time, 911 and downed power line calls are also the priority. Though we were able to work on some restoration yesterday, the first day of the storm impacts, we were primarily in public safety mode. This morning, for example, we were still handling more than 500 priority 2 and 3s, which include but are
not limited to road clearing, equipment hindering road access, and wires down. Utilities are first responders for all wires down calls.
I don’t see any crew in my area. Why?
Our electrical distribution system does not recognize town lines. The electricity source on which we may be working might not be in your town. Not every town has a supply line in their community. Crews may also be in rights-of-way, off-road areas on sub-transmission lines that feed our distribution systems. The Merrimack Valley’s sub-transmission lines were majorly impacted in this storm, and that is where most of our work yesterday and today is getting done.
Your crews are idling in parking lots and don’t appear to be doing any work. Why?
Coordination is key to our storm response. Our crews follow specific, targeted guidance to make their
response most efficient. There are a variety of reasons you may see crews idling, including:
- They could be awaiting authorization for work that needs to be completed before it is safe for them to re-energize an area, and are on stand-by to be ready as soon as needed.
- They could have just cleared one call, and are awaiting orders for their next.
- Often we stage crews in parking lots near outages as supervisors assess what they need to restore. The supervisor will survey the area and returns to crews with information. There are many places crews seek to stage while safely awaiting further instruction.
Wide Spread Power Outages and Trees Down
Power outage status is at 11,990 Billerica customers without power according to National Grid. Restoration will likely take days. Outage map can be found here:
https://www.nationalgridus.com/MA-Home/Storms-Outages/Outage-Map
National Grid’s phone number is 800-465-1212.
Our Public Safety Telecommunicators have been inundated with calls all night and this morning. Please DO NOT call to report power outages. The PD has no role in power restoration and those calls interfere with other priority incident handling.
Town crews are out addressing fallen trees on a case by case basis. Please avoid traveling at this time as there are many trees/limbs that are either down or at risk of falling.
Beware of downed wires and do not touch them. Please keep children away from wires and from under trees.