7 Generations

Movement Collective

Presentation of Findings to the CSWG

April 28, 2021

The History of

Policing in US

“Run, N*****, Run, the Patter-roller Git You”

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“Slavery and the Origins of the American Police State”

Ben Fountain, Sep 17, 2018·19

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APD Methods of Policing

Part B work

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“The types of calls we are responding to are very different from the types of calls I responded to as a young police officer … .Issues of homelessness, unemployment issues, people call the police for, issues with mental health, people in crisis you know, those were never issues that we usually responded to.”

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“Landlord tenant issues, you know substance abuse, with drug and alcohol programs, problems that are extended, 911 and the communications lines, we have really become the catch all for people to call in time of need, and you know we respond to the best of our abilities but we certainly have had to adapt as those requests have become more on the agency.”

Comments at CSWG meeting, April 21, 2021

Chief Livingstone, “The Evolution of policing has changed a lot since I have become a police officer.”

APD since 1978

“Community oriented and problem solving policing approach with Sector Based Policing focuses on crime and disorder with both traditional law enforcement actions, partnered with prevention, problem solving, community engagement and partnerships. This requires [police] and community members/stakeholders to join together as partners in the course of both identifying and effectively addressing these issues”

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“Recognizing we cannot solve all the problems in Amherst is vital.”

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“As an agency we continually put the community on notice that we need their help in addressing crime, disorder and quality of life issues.”

Chief Livingstone, Memo dated June 4, 2012

SUBJECT: PROBLEM SOLVING POLICING WITH SECTOR BASED ASSIGNMENTS

Amherst Sectors

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• Provide high-visibility proactive patrols of entire sector
• Direct patrols to specific problem-oriented areas.
• Identify quality of life issues; hazards; potential problem areas; and other areas of concerns.

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• Identify specific problem-oriented areas of town and direct patrols to those areas.
• Use specialized patrol techniques to ensure the safety of citizens; enforce laws, and bylaws; protect businesses and residential property, identify and apprehend offenders.

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Memo dated November 4, 2009

SUBJECT: New Sector Assignments

SECTION: Sector Officer Responsibilities

Memo dated November 4, 2009

SUBJECT: New Sector Assignments

SECTION: Directed Patrol Officer Responsibilities

Police Calls by Street name

“I want to acknowledge that you are probably not going to hear from the most vulnerable communities who need to be heard, because there are so many issues involved. It takes a lot of courage to speak about the police, and even more courage to speak against the police.” Statement from community member,

CWSG community forum, January 13, 2021

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Part A -- Methodology

Participatory Action Research -- Places people with lived experience as experts of their own situations

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• 4 Workshops attended by CAs (taught by Dr. Sonji Johnson-Anderson and Dr. Katie A. Lazdowski)
• Workshops designed to
1. Present the components and values of participatory action research
2. Discuss the limitations of the research
3. Inform the research design
4. Analyze the data (at end of data gathering)

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Participants

• 6 Community Ambassadors (CAs) recruited
• Spanish and English flyers
• CSWG Website
• Word of mouth
• Social Media

• Diverse Group
• 4 women
• 2 men
• AAPI
• BIPOC
• Representing 4 language groups

Data sources & analysis process

1. Interview/focus group transcriptions with community members (in English, Spanish, Portuguese)
2. Public comments made at CSWG meetings
3. Public forums
4. Emails sent to CSWG members

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Six Main Themes Emerged

• Fear
• Dehumanization
• Distrust
• Incongruity of values
• Lack of diversity
• Disrespect

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Fear

Fear: Death, at the hands of police officers

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• “Police don’t need to acknowledge their biases before they kill Black people.”
• “‘Good’ police officers are still maintaining an oppressive system that murders Black people. They are still culpable.”
• “As a Black person in America, I have to debate whether I should call the police because doing so may cause a situation to escalate and someone could end up dead because I called the police.”
• “Sgt _____ sat me on the floor and said, ‘I’ll f----ing kill you if you f----ing move!... F--k your kids!!”

Fear: Unjust arrest and persecution

• “Don’t ask me nothing. No. I can’t get involved….They push your buttons till you react and to the jail cell you go.”
• “If you get into a fight in town, they ask you who took the first swing. They will flip the script on you, claiming they saw it.”
• “I stay away from them. My kids know if police don’t have a warrant, they should not come inside my house.”
• “I see them often as judge and jury.”

Fear: Of police violence and bodily harm

• “I tell no one in my house to call the police. I don’t call the police because things could go either way.”
• “When police approach especially males of color, the darker they are the more police try to exert dominance. They do this before someone is given the benefit of the doubt.”
• “We never hear of White people getting choked out by White cops.”
• “I feel an anxiety when I see them even though I know I am not doing anything wrong.”

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Fear: Police retaliation and harassment

• “[Police] will harass you till they get you. I’ve seen them do this!”
• “I told you about that girl they slammed to the ground. That [police officer] is a [expletive] captain now.”
• “My sister was harassed a lot by Amherst police… one of the reasons she hardly comes to Amherst now”

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Dehumanization

Dehumanization: Animalistic

• “...Police were on horses. It was dehumanizing to see the police round us up like cattle.”
• “Black community is viewed as threatening, antagonistic, inhuman, animals to be tamed, to be brought down to the ground and kneeled on…”
• “I am a taxpayer; I’m human”
• “Their training doesn’t allow them to humanize people.”

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Aggression / Threatening

• “[Police] see themselves as warriors preparing for battle instead of people serving the community.”
• “... I get to my house as the father of the minor [who called the police because of a white intruder] and the police officer approached me in an aggressive manner - an officer I had just interacted with the week before [at my job in a professional capacity].”
• “ We are viewed as a threat to White supremacy. Our very existence poses a problem to us.”
• “Police officers’ behavior is aggressive from the beginning. Police tend to be more aggressive with BIPOC.”

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BIPOC as Criminals

• “[My loved one] was arrested because he did not show up to jury duty. He had no priors.”
• “Their aim and objective seem to be, to see me as Black and that makes me a suspect and they feel they can control and do whatever they want to do with you.”
• “The first question he asked me [upon approaching me after a traffic stop] was if my car was mine.”
• “I was accused of fitting the description of someone who had stolen at the CVS. The pictures they showed us were all of white people. We were told to go with police nonetheless.”

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Distrust

Distrust of the police

• Police escalate than de-escalate
• “Police always claim to fear for their lives”
• “Their intention should be to de-escalate the situation. They (sic) protecting and serving shouldn’t lead to someone getting a bullet.”
• Do not “protect and serve” BIPOC
• “I can’t remember any good experiences with Amherst PD … everything I can think of ...I can’t recall a positive experience with APD.”
• “I view the police as disconnected from the community.”

Distrust

• “Police enter our lives; we don’t enter theirs. They enter our lives and then take [our lives]away.”
• “Even when we aren’t reaching out to police officers, they interject themselves into our lives. We don’t initiate with them. They initiate with us.”
• “As an African American man, they may misinterpret why I’m on the scene and I end up getting in trouble.”
• “I don’t put myself in the position where I will have to have interaction with police, because, like I said, people who look like me, things can get from ugly to deadly.”

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Disparity / Disconnect

Disparity: “White” Police values with BIPOC culture

• “They don’t deal with de-escalating a situation. At a party they just shut down the event entirely. For instance, I was at a party on campus and something happened outside. Within 30 minutes they had shut the event entirely. Not so with majority white events. Look at Blarney! They de-escalate, but at the Black event they shut it down altogether.”

Disparity: White community and BIPOC community

• “At a Black party they always impose curfew. They do this all the time with [student of color events].”
• “I turn (sic) up to hear that the owner of the establishment called the cops because he hated the way my son was sitting in a chair!”

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Lack of diversity

• Diversity
• “The police force is not diverse. I want to see action taken by police that shows equal respect for people of color as white people.”
• “Diversity trainings have not changed them. They cannot be reformed! They shouldn’t exist as a system!”
• “There needs to be more BIPOC representation [in the Amherst PD].”

Presence of Bias

• “Whenever there is a huge presence of POC the police presence is strong. But not when the crowd is white. Why is there bias?”
• “I recall an incident in which kids of color wearing hoodies were followed off the bus by police and accosted in CVS.”
• “A lot of them are racist! There’s a lot of racism where police go after certain demographics…”
• “Police shouldn’t exist because policing is rooted in very racist systems. They remind me of ‘slave patrols’ and what they did then, they do now: surveil and capture Black people.”
• “Not because someone is not overtly racist does not mean they are not indoctrinated by Black hatred.”

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Disregard / Lack of Respect

Disrespect for communities of color

• “They are disrespectful! They should behave with respect. They conduct unnecessary searches and always claim that I look like someone [who shoplifted] at the CVS!”
• “Police should serve and protect with respect, not just for white or affluent community, but for everybody.”
• “They don’t see serving and protecting us like they serve and protect White people. They think to keep us in line, but serve and protect white people.”
• “They don’t take the time to develop a holistic view of our community.”

Disregard: BIPOC Surveillance

• “There is too much of a saturation of police in Amherst. There isn't really that need. Aside from students the majority of the population is old white people”
• “I was [driving] towards Pelham doing about 35 mph. A cop stopped me. I tried to explain that I had a meeting and was trying to make it on time. We argued back and forth for about 15 minutes. Then he told me to go on my way….They continue to stop us because they want to anger you by stopping you needlessly.”
• “Police were called for [family member with mental health issue]. There were about 10 cops surrounding my family member. They all had their hands on their guns. Just the sight of police holding their guns before even asking questions was beyond scary. Every time I would walk by [the spot] where this happened, it triggers me.”

What does the research mean?

"I hope that the responses from these [interviews], actually, like, create a change, and that they learned from this experience. They just didn't just become a report, you know." Interview with community participant, April 2021

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Overall Recommendations

Additional Public Safety Recommendations:

1. The Town of Amherst create a “Community Responders for Equity, Safety, and Service” (CRESS) program to be a civilian, unarmed alternative to the Amherst Police Department, providing community safety services in non-violent, non-criminal situations.
2. That funds be included in the FY22 budget to support training, outreach, research, and hiring of investigators (as needed), and stipends for a new Civilian Oversight Board.
3. Reduce the number of police by half over the course of 5 years

Additional Preventative Recommendations:

• That the FY22 budget fund initiatives to create a safer and more inclusive community including:
1. Continue the ongoing work of the CSWG
2. An Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Town with qualified BIPOC leadership and program funding
3. An Amherst youth empowerment center
4. An Amherst cultural/multi-cultural center

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Recommendations, cont.

Recommend a graded reduction in the size of the APD force following Table 1:

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The End