Public Forum Shows Enthusiasm For CRESS Project

The Community Safety Working Group (CSWG) held a public forum from 7-8 p.m. on Thursday, September 9, via Zoom to solicit community feedback and questions on the proposed Community Response for Equity Safety and Service (CRESS) program, a civilian alternative to traditional policing. The forum was attended by 24 people and was recorded.  That recording can be viewed here.

The Town Council voted to fund the CRESS program on June 21, and Town Manager Paul Bockelman appointed an implementation committee composed of town hall staff and members of the CSWG shortly afterwards.  The implementation was initially under the direction of Senior Services Director Mary Beth Oguleweicz who resigned on August 31. 

A Progress Report On CRESS Implementation
The forum began with a powerpoint presentation from the CSWG providing an overview of the implementation process.  It introduced the members of the implementation team:  Ellisha Walker, Co-chair of the CSWG, Brianna Owen, Co-chair of the CSWG, Jennifer Moyston, Staff Liaison to the CSWG, Scott Livingstone, Chief of Police, Tim Nelson, Fire Chief, and Russ Vernon-Jones, member of CSWG and a replacement for Mary Beth Oguleweicz.

The power point summarized the mission and vision of the CRESS program as follows:

Across the country, many municipalities are finding alternative ways to provide safety services in situations that do not require a police officer. Some have existed for a long time and some are new responses to the demands for change that arose after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police.  The mission of the CRESS program will be to contribute to dismantling systemic racism through racially-aware safety and social services for all people of all races with a conscious anti-racism focus.

The implementation team has applied for three grants to help fund the program. One application has been successful, one has been denied and one is still pending. The pending grant would support a partnership with the African Diaspora Mental Health Association (ADMHA) of Springfield. Walker indicated that the team hoped to develop a working relationship with the ADMHA even if the grant is unsuccessful.

The team listed the following activities that need to be undertaken in the implementation process before the anticipated start date for the program of February 2022. 

• Addressing and implementing recommendations and input from ADMHA, The Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), and consultants yet to be hired.
• Keeping the community and other stakeholders informed about the progress of the implementation team.
• Taking input from the community and other stakeholders
• Hire a CRESS director and program manager
• Identify the total number of CRESS responders required
• Identify the skill set and training required for CRESS responders
• Develop job descriptions for CRESS responders
• Hire CRESS responders
• Mobilize CRESS responders
• Develop dispatch protocols
• Create and alternative number to 911
• Using LEAP data and community input, identify which calls will be routed to CRESS
• Identify the skill set and training for dispatchers
• Develop job descriptions for dispatchers
• Hire dispatchers

Public Input
Throughout the forum there was much expression of mutual gratitude – gratitude from the community for the considerable work that CSWG has done to bring CRESS into being and for the resilience that they have demonstrated in the face of opposition and gratitude from the CSWG for the questions, suggestions, and encouragement offered by the community. CSWG pledged that resident input would continue to inform their work and the work of the implementation team as it moves forward, and they called on residents to continue to stay involved, ask questions, offer suggestions, keep talking, and keep showing up at meetings.  A sample of queries and comments from the public follows.

Moyston noted that several people had raised concerns about transportation and having CRESS help people get to critical appointments. Walker responded that the team had been looking into this and understands that it’s a widely expressed need and that they have been considering the possibility that ADMHA might be able to assist in meeting transportation needs, but much remains to be studied and much depends on the outcome of the grant process.

Lauren Mills asked about the implementation timeline and expressed concern about outreach to communities of color.  She asked for assurance that there would be substantial outreach to BIPOC communities and that CRESS would not be overwhelmed by college students.

Demetria Shabazz asked for a clarification on what was eventually funded by the town council and agreed upon by the town council. She said she understands that the council has fully funded eight responders and if that’s the case, she wondered what the grant funds will be used for. Shabazz later noted in a letter to the CSWG and to the council that the workings of the implementation team are too opaque, that the business of the team is conducted out of public view, without recordings or minutes, and that they need to be more accessible to the entire community. 

Amilcar Shabazz asked if, after the director of CRESS is hired,  there are any plans to formally introduce that person to the community and give them a chance to update their vision for CRESS.

Lev Ben Ezra expressed an interest in how CRESS might articulate with the Amherst Survival Center, where she is director.  She concurred with others who had suggested that CRESS should be accessed by a phone number other than 911, although she also saw that there could be a benefit to using the already known number. She was curious about how dispatchers will be trained to know which calls ought to be directed to CRESS and also wanted to know more about what kinds of responses would be directed to CRESS or to other services. She urged the team to think about developing strong coordination with existing social services in the area and developing feedback mechanisms to identify specific gaps that might create challenges for emergency responders.

Judith Glaser said that she was pleased to hear that CRESS responders will be town employees. She noted that she had worked in human services for a long time, and saw how “those services get squeezed by their own contracts to the point that they’re paying terrible salaries and not giving good benefits”. She said she is looking forward to learning more about the ADMHA, but worried that because they’re an outpatient mental health service, they may be subject to the same kind of squeezing. She said, “I just want to be sure that our responders have salaries that are in concert with other emergency responders…in this community”.

Joanna Mae Boody said that she is not a resident of Amherst but works here. She thanked the CSWG  for providing a local model for other towns to look to.

Some Responses From The CSWG

Alternate Phone Number

Owen said that the implementation team wants a number other than 911 for CRESS, but that people will also be able to reach CRESS through 911 dispatch.  Regarding which calls will be diverted to CRESS and how that would work, she said that the consultants from LEAP are still working on that issue and have not yet produced the data that would help define a procedure.

Time Frame
Walker said that the CRESS program is due to launch in February 2022, so all of the work outlined in the powerpoint needs to be completed by then.

How Many Responders
Walker confirmed that the town council has allocated funding for a minimum of eight responders. But the implementation team is waiting on data from LEAP to tell them how many responders should be on each shift and what the scheduling should look like. That information will also inform any efforts the team makes to pursue additional funding.

Referrals
Owen spoke to the issue of referrals to other social service agencies, noting that CRESS did not intend to “reinvent the wheel” and that the plan was to work closely with the existing social service agencies in the area. She noted while the team has not yet met with the ADMHA, they did ask about ADMHA’s experience with referrals and providing resources for people with whom they interact. ADMHA representatives confirmed that they are experienced with that and can help CRESS in that regard.

Follow Up Process
Walker said that while this is still early in the development phase, the team is  looking into a follow-up process and having some sort of case management, so that there is somebody reaching out to families to work on other things that might be needed. She said that they are hoping to have a referral list or a central  hub of resources available that could satisfy a variety of different needs.

Skill Sets
Owen said that both LEAP and the new director will be working with the implementation team to design each position and suggest training for each role. “And, once we have a better idea of the calls that the CRESS program will cover, we will understand more about the skills that are needed, and that will probably inform the training and the supplies needed” she said.

Continued Outreach
Keeping the community involved has been an ongoing subject of discussion among the implementation team. The team has proposed having additional forums or other events where they can go directly out into the community to get feedback. Those things are all in the works although the COVID-19 delta variant surge has put some things on hold. Walker said “we do plan to continue to present the community with platforms in which they can engage and be informed about the work that is happening’.

Obstacles
Owen reported that one of the major obstacles that the team is facing is the restructuring the original timeframe. She said ” given that we weren’t able to get the contract signed with LEAP in the timeframe that we had intended, everything is a little bit set back, and now we’re really waiting  for the data from LEAP to guide our work and help define the responder position, the project manager position and the skills that we’re going to need for the program”.

Collaboration
Owen said that the team is still working on what collaboration with medics in the Fire Department and with the Police Department would look like. And coordination among dispatchers also needs to be worked out.

Traffic Stops
CSWG members Debora Ferreira and Pat Ononibaku commented on the importance of dealing with the problem of traffic stops and of transferring this responsibility from the police (a recommendation in the first CSWG report) to a civilian agency.   They said that the team must make sure that this gets addressed, if not in this fiscal year then the next.  Ononibaku noted that the CSWG received considerable testimony about people getting profiled by the police and harassed and mistreated at traffic stops, so it’s critical for CRESS to address this.

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