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Date: 10/24/2023
AMHERST — The embattled director of the town’s Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service has resigned from his position as he remained on administrative leave under the cloud of an investigation that Amherst’s Town Manager has not made public.
Earl Miller, the department’s leader since its inception in 2022 was placed on leave in August in response to an unclarified inquiry.
CRESS has been the subject of controversial discussions regarding their role in community response and their function under the umbrella of the police department, an agency they were heralded as a direct alternative to.
During the Town Council meeting of Oct. 16, Town Manager Paul Bockelman fielded questions from council members in regard to the future of CRESS and its standing in the arena of public safety.
“There’s no denying this is a difficult time for the CRESS department as we go through some transitions in leadership,” Bockelman said. “Everyone who is involved in the CRESS department is 100% committed to the success of the CRESS department.”
Without going into specifics, Bockelman told the council, “We are taking this opportunity to make sure that CRESS is here for the long haul.”
Taking note of recent resignations and now the absence of a department director, Bockelman addressed the council making note of the current vacancies.
“We are down in our staffing. We will be recruiting new staff members for CRESS. We will have a change in leadership and we’ll be recruiting for a new [CRESS] director as well,” he said.
During the meeting, residents offered their response to the current status of the department and the departure of Miller.
“CRESS was set up to fail,” said community member Pat Ononibaku. “The police did not support it, the dispatcher did not support it. Most of you in this room did not support CRESS.”
Council members meanwhile questioned Bockelman as to the current status of the department and its ability to move forward and why details of the investigation had not been made public.
“I would not make assumptions that’s all I would say,” Bockelman told the council.
He also said that the hope was to recruit for a new director and fill a position before Jan. 1, 2024.
In response to a request for comment, Debora Ferreria and Allegra Clark, co-chairs of the Community, Safety and Social Justice Committee responded,
“The CSSJC has asked the Town Council and the town manager to play a role in the transition of leadership at CRESS. We ask that an implementation or leadership transition team is created to review the job descriptions for the director, assistant director and responder positions at CRESS to ensure they are in line with CSWG’s recommendations of CRESS.”
The response continued to address the gap in leadership from Allegra Clark and Debora Ferreira, co-chairs of the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee.
“As it pertains to Mr. Miller’s resignation, Mr. Miller acted as a liaison to the committee during his tenure as director, providing us with updates about the department’s roll-out. He appeared passionate about the work of centering those with lived experience of the problem in identifying and implementing the solution. Based on the updates Mr. Miller provided, his ultimate goal was to have CRESS be an alternative to policing with CRESS receiving 911 calls.”
Seeking clarification on Miller’s resignation, their statement continued.
“We are unaware of the circumstances leading to Mr. Miller’s departure. Even though we understand that Mr. Miller’s departure stems from a personnel matter, we would like to receive from the town any information regarding his resignation. The town does not have many BIPOC employees, let alone BIPOC employees in leadership positions.
“We also note the discrepancy between the recent departure of [former Superintendent] Dr. [Michael] Morris (a white man who received a generous severance) and Mr. Miller (a Black man about whom we have no information as to the investigation or outcome). Therefore, we have questions as to why Mr. Miller resigned,” the statement read.
In a joint statement, the Town of Amherst and Miller announced that “Mr. Miller voluntarily resigned his position as the Director of Amherst CRESS Department effective November 30. Mr. Miller will continue to work in an advisory capacity until that time.”
Miller said, “I will forever be grateful to the town of Amherst for giving me the opportunity to establish the CRESS Department in Amherst. With the support of the town, including the town manager, the Town Council, and many advocates in the community, the Department has had a successful start. As CRESS moves into its next stage of operations, I will be moving on to the next phase of my career. I wish the Town and the CRESS Department the best as the Town continues to develop this important initiative.”
Bockelman said, “The own recognizes Earl’s accomplishments and commends him on imagining and implementing the town’s CRESS department. Earl has been instrumental in bringing the vision of CRESS into reality and getting the department off the ground.”