Defund 413 Demands (And Receives) Assurance That No Amherst Police Participated In Insurrection At Capitol

On January 7, Defund 413, an Amherst-based citizens organization working to defund the Amherst Police Department (APD), sent a letter to the Amherst Town Council, the Town Manager, and the Chief of Police, demanding a public statement condemning the (in)actions of Capitol police during the assault on the Capitol on January 6 and an assurance that no members of the APD participated in the riot. 

The Letter
The letter, which was also posted on the group’s Facebook page follows.

Dear Amherst Town Council Members, Town Manager and Chief Livingstone:

In light of the white supremacist insurrection at the Capital yesterday, we the members of Defund 413 Amherst demand the following:

-A public statement from Chief Livingstone and the APD condemning the actions of the Capital police forces yesterday, which upheld white supremacist, fascist violence.

-A public statement from the Town Council, the Town Manager, and Chief Livingstone certifying that no APD officers were present at the Capitol yesterday. A caravan of Trump supporters left for Washington from the Holyoke Mall prior to the attempted coup at the Capital yesterday, and our group wants to ensure that no APD cops were involved.

-A public declaration from the APD and Chief Livingstone which affirms their commitment to civilian oversight of policing in Amherst as well as their commitment to protecting citizens and the democratic process.

We, the citizens of Amherst and members of Defund 413 Amherst have described to you in editorials, Town Council meetings and other community events the excessive power potential of police. Will you, our elected officials and our town officers, clearly and publicly assure us that you stand on the side of democracy and not facism?”

The Town has subsequently issued proclamations from Town Manager Paul Bockelman, School Superintendent Michael Morris, and the Town Council (see here and here) condemning the Capitol Insurrection. (Police Chief Scott Livingstone was not asked to sign the proclamations.)

Response of the Community Safety Working Group
At their regular meeting on January 28, the Community Safety Working Group (CSWG) reported that they had received a request from Defund 413 to join its demand for assurance that no one from APD participated in the Capitol Insurrection. Defund 413 also requested that CSWG demand that no police hires are searched before CSWG completes its work.

CSWG member Paul Wiley reported that the two police positions that are open will not be filled before CSWG completes its work. He also noted that the Daily Hampshire Gazette quoted the Town Manager, in a January 28 article about the Town’s response to the Capitol insurrection, stating that no members of the APD had participated in the Capitol Insurrection. According to the article by Scott Merzbach,  “While Bockelman said he can unequivocally state that no members of the police department participated, traveled or took part in the riots, he said there are both free speech issues and collective bargaining matters to the question, ‘If [someone is] just traveling to a location, what does that mean?’”

Wiley noted that “there are several groups in town working on racial and social justice right now and some are offering us [CSWG] information and some are asking for our support and we should take note of how they can offer us perspective as most have been working on this longer than we have. We should think about how we collaborate with these other groups including inviting them to our weekly meetings.”

Wiley noted that the CSWG was about to receive a body of data on the APD that has been assembled by Defund 413 and that this information will be available in next week’s meeting packet.