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Date: 5/28/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – In an effort to engage with community members and educate the public on what goes on behind the scenes, the South Hadley Police Department recently hosted a public engagement forum.
The forum, which took place on May 26 via Zoom, was hosted by the department’s Police Access and Community Engagement (PACE) team and was moderated by Selectboard member Christopher Geraghty. Questions asked during the forum were submitted by residents prior to the forum and registration for the event was required.
Geraghty said the group was hoping the forum was the first of many opportunities for the public to ask questions to the department on a variety of issues. He said in total 24 responses were received by the public and any questions that were unable to be answered in the forum would be carried over into additional forums. Additionally, he said one of the responses was a criticism for requiring questions to be submitted before the forum, but Geraghty said this was to ensure the department had time to research the questions and provide accurate answers.
South Hadley Police Chief Jennifer Gundersen gave a brief description of the PACE team and the effort of the department to help educate and listen to the public. She said in light of last year’s activism around the nation after the murder of George Floyd, she found that much of the public didn’t know how the department functioned. Also in attendance were members of the PACE team including Officers Cynthia Boyle, Jeff Goulet, Junior Swaby, Mark Baran and Detective Feliz Perez.
The questions were asked to the department members on a variety of subjects from how police officers in the department were recruited, hired and promoted to if the town has a quota. Goulet said the town does not have a quota and for as long as he’s been a part of the department there had been no quota fulfillment in South Hadley. He said it was up to the officer making the stop to determine what the consequences for the infraction was.
Gundersen was asked about the use of body cameras, and she explained that the department did not yet have cameras. “It has yet to be prioritized in the community,” she said.
Gundersen spoke highly of cameras and said she had previously worked in departments that had body cameras. She said when she was wearing a camera she felt better and officers in the department believed this would help protect members of the department as well as members of the public. However, she said each body camera cost about $2,000 and each member of the department would be required to have them. Additionally, she said more expenses on the IT level were required to store the data for the cameras, but she was in favor of the cameras and wouldn’t be surprised to see them utilized in the department in the coming years.
Perez was asked what the department does to hold officers accountable. He said training, supervision and peer support were utilized in the department to prevent some of the offenses seen recently across the country. He added, “It’s up to us to police one another.”
When asked about the potential for police officers being charged with offenses such as domestic violence and if they’d be allowed to remain on the force, Gunderson said there was no easy way to answer the question. However, she added that police officers were held to a higher standard, which was known by officers when they signed up for the job. “What I can say is just because we’re police officers doesn’t mean we lose our constitution protections,” she said.
Gundersen said officers have a right to self incrimination and she was not allowed to question them due to their right to be innocent until proven guilty. She said often because of this officers who were charged with criminal acts were placed on administrative leave, which was in the best interest of both the department and the community. Gundersen added that police officers were no more likely than anyone else to either be a victim or perpetrator of domestic violence.
Swaby was asked about the culture of policing and protecting one another that has the potential to impact the reporting of potential illegal activities within the department. He said he didn’t believe there was a culture that prevented officers from stopping one another and holding one another accountable. He said that as an officer they had a responsibility to prevent and stop an excessive use of force should they observe it.
“As officers we definitely intercede and make sure our officers are doing the right thing,” he said. “Yes we protect each other because it’s a dangerous job, but no we don’t protect each other when it comes to doing something illegal.”
Baran was asked about training for officers regarding social justice and equity. He said in recent years the department had been receiving training on such topics both through outside organizations and through the department. This year, he said, training had been conducted for implicit bias and was recently awarded a certificate for a campaign that focuses on mental health. Their policy on unbiased policing, he said, was “fairly new” and would be reviewed each year. He said the goal of the department was to treat each interaction as they would want a member of their own family to be treated during an interaction with law enforcement.
Baran was then asked about de-escalation techniques used by the department and if such techniques were tracked. He said the biggest technique used by the department was simply communication. “We really expect officers to spend time with community members and have a conversation with them, and hopefully by active listening and having that communication we can resolve the situation without use of force,” he said. Additionally, he said the department takes several steps to de-escalate the situation prior to ever using force should the situation require it.
He added that if there was an issue of repeated excessive force by an officer there would be remedial training. This, he said, would include going over the department’s policy and reviewing the policy.
When asked if the department would be willing to recognize and admit to police departments nationally “inflicting terror” on communities of color, Gundersen said she would not be willing to admit it because she felt as though it was not a true statement. She said she felt disheartened that there had been a loss of trust in the police department within the public due to the actions of police officers.
When asked how the department planned to implement mental health professionals within the department, Boyle said the formation of the crisis team was made up of officers who were trained in mental health. She said additionally, the team had de-escalation training dealing with people on the autism spectrum and suicidal individuals. She said in addition to working with clinicians at the Behavioral Health Network using a focused response and approach, they also follow up with families and individuals at their homes following any incident.