Cambridge Police Review Board Logs Two New Complaints and Clears Three Officers in a Case With No Body-Camera Video

Cambridge's Police Review & Advisory Board received two new complaints about police between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2026, and both were still open at the end of the quarter, according to the board's third-quarter report, which City Manager Yi-An Huang sent to the City Council for its Oct. 19 meeting. One complaint, filed July 21, concerns "Improper police procedures." The other, filed July 22, concerns "Use of discourteous or demeaning language." Both are listed as pending, and neither has been decided.

At its Sept. 30 meeting, the board reviewed two complaints from 2025 that the report says came from the same person, filed several months apart, about the same incident. The complaints alleged "Unlawful arrest; misconduct, bias, and improper involvement in a civil dispute." The police department's Professional Standards Unit and the board both cleared all three officers involved. Watchman Report is not naming the person who complained or the officers, who were cleared.

The report adds that the incident "predates the Department's use of body-worn cameras; therefore, no body-worn camera footage exists."

The board did not meet in July or August during its summer recess. It held one public meeting in the quarter, on Sept. 30, where it welcomed a new member, David Canavan, and a new chair, Caleb Demers. The report says the board is part of the first phase of a city review of board and commission ordinances, which will look at its "mission, authority, membership, operations, staffing, accessibility, and reporting requirements." Members also discussed whether the board's ordinance "should be clarified or amended to better align with current practices."

Jim Mulcahy, director of the department's Professional Standards, Training, and Certification Unit, told the board the next police academy is expected to run from January through June with about 10 to 12 officers, and discussed recruiting challenges tied to Cambridge's cost of living, according to the report. The report says the Professional Standards Unit "expects to present additional cases at upcoming meetings."

The new report continues a slow stream of complaints. The board's second-quarter report listed one new complaint, filed June 28 and still open. Its April report, covering October 2025 through March 2026, listed three new complaints, including one alleging excessive force and one alleging discrimination or bias-based policing, both open at the time. That April report was the board's first quarterly report since January 2023, and it showed 101 complaints since 2013, with seven substantiated in whole or in part, The Harvard Crimson reported.

The City Council's Public Safety Committee has scheduled a hearing on the board's work for Nov. 10, 2026, from noon to 2 p.m. Boston's Office of Police Accountability and Transparency has invited the board to the first Northeast Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement Forum on Oct. 28 in Roxbury, the report says.

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