Mr. Corr was a panelist for the Forum’s discussion on Race and Policing.
Brian Corr is the current president of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE), a nonprofit organization that works to: enhance fair and professional law enforcement responsive to community needs; increase accountability and transparency in policing; and build community trust through civilian oversight.
Brian has worked as Executive Secretary of the Police Review & Advisory Board for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts since September 2010, and as Executive Director of the city’s Peace Commission since 2008. The Police Review & Advisory Board is the city’s civilian oversight agency, while the Peace Commission works with other municipal agencies, communities of faith, nonprofit organizations, and the community as a whole to: build connections and strengthen relationships; promote positive dialogue and foster understanding; and coordinate compassionate community responses to support recovery and healing in the wake of traumatic events and violence affecting Cambridge and its residents. Before joining the municipal government, Brian worked as the first statewide field organizer for the ACLU of Massachusetts, where he organized “civil liberties task forces” across the state, including one focused on civilian oversight in response to allegations of police misconduct and racial profiling in the City of Lawrence, Mass.
Elected as president in 2016, Brian has served on the NACOLE board of directors since 2012, and served as the association’s vice-president in 2013-2014. He served as chair of the organization’s Strategic Planning Committee in 2015 and 2016, and served as co-chair of the Annual Conference Planning Committee from 2012 to 2015.
Nationally, Brian served on the national board of directors and the executive committee of the American Friends Service Committee from 2007 to 2010, and as co-chair of the national board of directors of Peace Action from 2003 through 2007.
In his community, Brian serves on the board of the DiDomenico Foundation, which grants scholarships to graduating high school seniors in and around Boston who will be pursuing a college or university degree, and funds local organizations supporting youth and youth activities. He is an elected member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee and chair of the Cambridge Democratic City Committee. From 2009 to 2012, Brian served on the board of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, a Boston-area nonprofit that assists and empowers both families who have lost children to homicide and families whose children have taken a life — while conducting education and advocacy work to raise awareness of the causes and consequences of violence on individuals, families, and communities.
Brian has attended the past six NACOLE annual conferences, where he earned the Certified Practitioner of Oversight credential. He holds certifications in Group Crisis Intervention and Post-Traumatic Stress Management/Psychological First Aid, and has completed the Police Chaplain Twelve Core Courses Training through the International Conference of Police Chaplains, and has also completed a 35-hour train-the-trainer session in Trauma-Informed Policing. He graduated with a B.A. in Russian Literature and Language from the University of Michigan in 1986, and has completed the Negotiation and Leadership course at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, Kathleen Kelly, who is an elected member of the Cambridge School Committee.
