Winthrop Police Officer Re-Humanizes the System

Winthrop Police Officer Re-Humanizes the System

By Luke Schmaltz, VOICES Newsletter Editor

“Police work is keeping people out of cages and out of coffins.” – Lt. Sarko Gergerian

Midway through 2013, Officer Sarko Gergerian of the Winthrop Public Safety & Health Department began advocating for better ways to help his community. 

New Solutions

In 2014, Gergerian was able to convince his departmental superiors that a more nuanced approach to policing was necessary for addressing a complicated problem. “At the time, I was a patrol officer, and when you start your shift, you have to review the previous shift’s dispatch log,” he begins. “Every time someone calls 911, it gets added to the dispatch log. After a little while, I realized that the police computer systems in every department across the whole country are full of information on human struggle, challenge, and suffering.” 

“The police departments are collecting all of this information just by way of 911 calls for help,” Gergerian continues. “There is valuable data, and we are doing nothing with it. That irked the heck out of me. So, I decided to approach my police chief.” 

A Constructive Conversation 

Gergerian explained to the police chief that the incident reports were evidence of people asking for help with depression and anxiety – words which were appearing with great frequency in the 911 dispatch logs and police reports. 

“We know who overdosed and got medically transported. Aside from traditional policing, what are we doing about it?” Gergerian asked. 

“Nothing. What do you propose?” replied the chief. 

“Let me go find these people and talk to them,” implored Gergerian. “It’s not going to cost anything. I’ll be on my patrol shift, I just need your permission. It’s not a radical idea.” 

The chief went on record saying he didn’t think anyone who was struggling would talk to Gergerian, especially if he approached them as a uniformed patrol officer. Regardless, the chief was swayed by Gergerian’s enthusiasm and he was granted permission. This partnership between public safety and public health was the beginning of the Winthrop CLEAR (Community Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery) Program. “I started to get so many people to trust me, to share intimate details of their lives and what they were struggling with, and to give me verbal consent to share their stories to figure out what services to connect them to,” Gergerian says.  

Proof Positive

Gergerian recalls a 2015 incident, in the early days of CLEAR, which demonstrated how powerful the new approach to outreach could be. A resident had overdosed, but they were revived by first responders and transported to the hospital. “I looked into the police report in the computer system. We knew the address and we knew the person. When I got there, the person who answered the door was a family member. I said, ‘Look, I’m here to find out if everyone’s OK, if the family is OK, if the person involved is OK. I want to facilitate contact and connect you with help.’” 

“They invited me in and explained that the person who overdosed was looking for cocaine, got fentanyl instead, and almost died. I introduced myself, shook her hand, gave her my card and got her verbal consent to share her story with the people we had brought into the community to help.”    

Distinctive Thinking

“Fundamentally, in our country, we are tasked with policing violence – violence towards another person and towards another person’s property. Anything else, you gotta ask yourself, how did that become a crime? How did matters of public health turn into crimes for court? I believe it is incumbent upon us as first responders and employees of the system to correct that error. Recovery-oriented community policing is one of the answers.”

“Here is a very distinct piece to our model,” Gergerian continues. “The unifying mission for our partnership is ‘Protect and Serve.’ We have heard that over and over again. But, if you switch the mindset and the heart set, and view the police data set as an opportunity to create matters for public health, then you can start correcting the imbalance in our system. The police data is primarily used to create cases for court while CLEAR makes matters for public health with the same data set.”   

Grief Management

While his work is having a positive impact, Gergerian encounters situations with less-than-ideal outcomes. This carries the potential for accumulating grief over continuously witnessing tragedy and misfortune. He manages this inevitable byproduct of public service through the lenses of self-care and community care. “Our model follows up with what is noted in the computer as a sudden death,” he says. “That has a very specific police response, if someone calls and reports that another person has passed. We take that as a very serious situation, so we circle back and try to contact the family members and let them know they are not alone, that the community cares, that the first responders care, and that we have appropriately trained people available for them to connect with in the public health department. Only with permission, I would connect them to the community social worker.”

“With respect for the workers, self-care is king or queen,” Gergerian continues. “You have to make sure you are sleeping right, staying hydrated, getting in some type of exercise to clear out the lymphatic system. What we are talking about, metaphorically, is sticking. You don’t want anything to stick for too long. You want your psychic energetic system as well as your biochemical system to keep flowing and to be smooth. How do you do that? If you have something you need to talk about, then talk with someone you trust. That’s processing. Diffuse when needed, debrief when needed, consult with a trusted noble friend when needed, and turn to professional help when needed.” 

Academic Origins

When explaining his approach to policing on a human level, Gergerian reveals his background as a longstanding college student. “When I was at Northeastern University, I was compelled to study philosophy and religion,” he says. “I was gripped with the meaning of life questions, ‘What are we supposed to do with this existence here? Where is this going? What does it mean to be a human amongst other humans?’ While I was there for five years which turned into ten years, I became a nightclub security guard. I fell in love with keeping people safe, venues safe, owners’ interests safe, and the commonwealth rule safe all at the same time. I was practicing some version of harm reduction before I ever knew that term existed.”

“I got into policing when I was in my 30s as opposed to when I was in my 20s,” he continues. “I had lived experience when I came in, and I already knew that people struggling with substance use-related challenges are not criminals. I came into this work knowing that just because someone has a relationship with an intoxicating substance does not begin the process of dehumanizing them. We are all addicted to something and putting people in cages is not the answer.”

Growing Rewards

Winthrop’s CLEAR team has grown in the past nine years, and currently includes a director/nurse, law enforcement administrator, program manager, recovery coach supervisor, recovery coach, social worker/mental health professional, resource navigator supervisor, resource navigator, domestic violence and sexual assault worker, police officer, and fire fighter.

Gergerian’s augmented role in the community has given his work a deepened sense of personal meaning. “It feels incredible,” he says. “It fills rather than depletes my heart. In my community, I found safety for outside-of-the-box thinking. A lot of organizations are not really equipped to handle that.”