Social Justice Committee Decries Lack of Progress on Resident Oversight Board for Amherst Police

Report on the Meeting of the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee (CSSJC), Aug. 12, 2026

The meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Debora Ferreira (chair), Anna Derby, Everald Henry, Bridgid Owino, and Erica Piedade. Absent: Lissette Paredes. One vacancy.

Staff: Camile Theriaque (CRESS director), Pamela Nolan Young (DEI director), who joined the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Frustration Voiced with GOL Deliberations on Resident Oversight Board
Committee members voiced frustration with a discussion held by the Government, Organization, and Legislation Committee (GOL) earlier in the week in which councilors Lynne Griesemer and George Ryan raised the question of whether a Resident Oversight Board (ROB) for the Amherst police was needed now that the state has established the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) to adjudicate complaints about police misconduct. Chair Debora Ferreira noted that GOL had been charged with recommending one of two formats for an ROB — an investigative model, such as the ones used in Boston, Cambridge, and Springfield, or an advisory model, in which the police would do their own investigations — and that the committee was not tasked with exploring whether the town should discontinue its work on establishing an ROB.

Ferreira wondered whether GOL had read the letter the CSSJC sent to the full Town Council on Aug. 6, which explained why complaints about police misconduct in Amherst would not be eligible for POST review and rebutted the town attorney’s arguments for why the town should not establish an ROB. She emphasized that POST cannot address many of the complaints that arise in town, particularly those rooted in race.

Ferreira said, “In this community there is resistance from the police and the Town Council to give BIPOC people a voice and to acknowledge that there are people locally who are marginalized and intimidated by the police.”

Amherst resident Martha Hanner reported during public comment that she had attended the GOL meeting and that it seemed focused on exploring POST as an alternative to a local ROB. She said, “I don’t think that committee understands that the kinds of issues that the CSSJC is concerned with are below the threshold of POST” and hence would not be eligible for consideration by POST. Hanner encouraged residents to attend the next GOL meeting and make public comment so that GOL might become aware of the public interest in having an ROB. She concluded, “There are people on that committee who just don’t understand what the levels of harassment and microaggressions are in this town. I recommend that you round up 50 people to show up next week to attest to this. I think that they did read your letter, but I don’t think they get it.”

Erica Piedade also voiced frustration. “We answered all of their concerns and questions (in the letter). They were educated that there are local accountability measures that are not covered by POST. It is so disrespectful of the work that we do, representing the work of the Community Safety Working Group (CSWG), the Liberatory Visioning Project, the Human Rights Commission, and the League of Women Voters. The town manager and Town Council speak of taking input from the community but then ignore it. The letter was so comprehensive and educational, and it addressed every concern that had been raised by the town attorney. The community has been asking for this for years.”

Everald Henry asked that the CSSJC request to be added to the agenda for the next GOL meeting on Aug. 25. All members of the CSSJC indicated that they would attend.

CRESS Update
Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service (CRESS) Director Camile Theriaque reported that CRESS anticipates receiving a $200,000 Equitable Approaches to Public Safety grant from the state. She reported that the funds must be spent by the end of the fiscal year but that the town may not receive the money before November.

Henry asked whether the funds could be used for staffing. Theriaque said the plan was to use them for training, especially in field mediation, and possibly to hire a temporary clinician, but they could not be used to hire an additional responder.

Henry asked for the rationale for hiring a clinician.

Theriaque responded that a clinician has more authority to act in a mental health crisis — for example, a clinician could send someone to the hospital, whereas a CRESS responder could not. She indicated that a team of a responder and a clinician responding to a mental health crisis could obviate the need to call in police.

Henry expressed concern that hiring a clinician on a temporary basis appears to be outside CRESS’s original mission.

Theriaque said CRESS is looking for grants to make the position permanent and that the original vision was to have teams consisting of a clinician and a responder. “Such a team expands what CRESS is capable of responding to,” she said.

Ferreira noted that CRESS’s previous clinical partner was Wildflower Alliance, a peer support organization that focuses on harm reduction and human rights. Their work with CRESS ended when funding ran short. She wondered why Wildflower Alliance was not being considered now.

Theriaque indicated that she was not happy with the data tracking conducted by Wildflower Alliance and felt CRESS had not received the volume of services it had hoped for. She pointed out that she is a trained clinician with a trauma-informed background and, as a Black woman, she is aware of the issues within the Black community.

Erica Piedade reported that Town Manager Paul Bockelman has been meeting with dispatch regarding the number of calls CRESS is receiving (10 from dispatch in June) and that the dispatch process is now under review. She said Bockelman suggested that 10 calls a month is in line with what Northampton’s responder service receives. CRESS staffing is also under review. Piedade recommended that the council request that those data be shared with CSSJC and CRESS. She suggested that examining the last six months of dispatch logs, which have not been made available to either the committee or Theriaque, would help document the extent to which CRESS is being excluded from calls it should be receiving.

“CRESS and DEI are the departments that the town holds up to show that it is supportive of diversity and social justice, but that is not reflected in the funding.” – Erica Piedade, Community Safety and Social Justice Committee

DEI Report
DEI Director Pamela Nolan Young welcomed the office’s new part-time employee, Tonila Reed-Prempeh, the new project coordinator for the town’s Heart and Soul initiative, who will work exclusively on that project.

The department will hold a community Heart and Soul event in the Bangs Center Community Room on Sept. 2 at 5:30 p.m.

Nolan Young reported that the DEI department has moved back into its home space on the second floor of the Bangs Center following construction work there.

She reported on the department’s end-of-the-year report, which she described as “the same as last year but better.”

The department will present a poster on its work at the Belonging and Democracy conference in Louisville, Kentucky, on Oct. 9-10.

She also congratulated the department’s assistant director, Philip Avila, for receiving an award from the Massachusetts Municipal Association and for his election as vice chair of the Massachusetts DEI Coalition.

Piedade commended the DEI office for accomplishing so much with a permanent staff of only two. She said, “CRESS and DEI are the departments that the town holds up to show that it is supportive of diversity and social justice, but that is not reflected in the funding.”

Nolan Young credited Vira Cage with initiating the town’s community wellness and resilience conversations. She added, “We couldn’t have done all that we did without support from CRESS and their two UMass interns.”

Old Business
Youth Empowerment Center (YEC) — Piedade pointed out that $500,000 in ARPA funding was supposed to be dedicated to developing a YEC but instead went into free cash to prevent losing it. The town manager reported that the town used $45,000 of that money to assess the condition of buildings that might be used by a YEC. The committee has not been informed of the outcome. Bridgid Owino asked that the CSSJC request a report on the outcome of those evaluations.

Piedade said she had spoken with someone who started a YEC for BIPOC youth in the town of Norwood. That center is grant-funded through the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.

Several members expressed frustration that the town manager is not responding to the committee’s inquiries and requests on this and other matters.

ICE Updates: The committee has been looking into how to support community members who are vulnerable or have been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Henry reported reading a report on the limitations of the state’s new law restricting ICE actions. He said that while the new law has its limitations — in most instances, the state will intervene only after the fact — it does eliminate 287(g) agreements, prevents arrests inside courthouses, and expands protections beyond those that currently exist.

Henry pointed out that while ICE cannot make arrests inside courthouses, agents are still arresting people on their way to and from court.

Piedade noted an escalation in harsh DHS/ICE tactics, pointing to a plan by DHS to outfit officers with gloves that can deliver electric shocks.

Anna Derby reported that there are services available to support people who need to go to court but are afraid.

Ferreira said people in the country under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) are being required to wear ankle monitors. She added that the committee needs to be aware of what is happening. She asked whether there is a link on the town website to resources for immigrants and other vulnerable populations and said there ought to be a dedicated web page for this. She asked Theriaque to bring it up with the town manager.

Henry reminded the committee that birthright citizenship remains the law and that people should act accordingly.

Committee Membership: The committee elected Henry unanimously (5-0, with one absent) as co-chair of the CSSJC.Ferreira noted the need to fill the one vacant seat, especially after being informed that member Lissette Paredes will be temporarily stepping away from her work with the committee. The committee plans to hold her seat open for her until she returns.