Police Reform in Berkshire County
It’s been almost five months since I traded Brooklyn for the Berkshires (at least temporarily), and I couldn’t help but get involved in some local politics. The following op-ed, published in the Berkshire Eagle last week, sums up a police reform initiative that my friends and I started after reviewing the annual budgets for two towns in Berkshire County. The text below is a slightly extended version — you can read the original here. Let me know if you’d like to learn more.
There’s a striking mural painted on the blast wall in front of the National Directorate of Security in Kabul, just two piercing eyes staring at passers-by next to the phrases, in Dari, “Corruption is not hidden from God and the people’s gaze” and “I see you.” It brings to mind the Latin phrase Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, which translates to “Who watches the watchmen,” a perennial question. In Afghanistan’s climate of corruption, the watching is a people’s initiative. In the United States, where injustice is systemic but more insidious, we see a people’s movement on the rise.
I have called Afghanistan home, as well as New York City, and recently, home has been South Egremont, Berkshire County. From this vantage I have watched an inept president mismanage a national health crisis that has led, in many ways, to the growth of a worldwide human rights movement. From a place of righteous anger and frustration, people are asking questions about persistent racial, economic, and social inequality in America. With the rise of white nationalist hate groups and the unveiling of privilege weaponized (as in the Amy Cooper Central Park incident), people are asking why we have turned a blind eye to blatant racism for so long. Meanwhile, we are bearing witness to police brutality in Minneapolis, in Louisville, in Glynn County, and in Aurora. We say the names of the victims as a rallying cry and as a reminder that their lives matter, that black lives matter. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Elijah McClain. There are so many more. Indeed, even here in our peaceful Berkshire arcadia, the events of recent months compel us to reframe the way we think about so many things, from entrenched narratives of racism to the laws that solidify injustice and perpetuate hate.
“Look at these numbers,” a friend messaged me one evening, along with screenshots of the proposed 2021 budgets for Egremont and Great Barrington. The numbers betrayed striking imbalances. We found that the police budgets in both towns far exceeded the budgets for most other sectors – over $1.7 million was allocated to the Great Barrington PD, a 67% share of the public safety budget, and over $430,000 was allocated to the police in Egremont, an amount nearly ten times the human services budget for a town with a population of just over 1,000. Surprised and dismayed, we organized an impromptu meeting of reform-minded friends and decided to put together proposals to “defund” the police.
Our reasoning was simple: the police budgets for fiscal year 2021 were far too high for small, peaceful towns with very little crime, and compared to other budget line items like health and human services – $118,000 and $25,000 in Great Barrington, respectively, and around $43,000 total in Egremont – the police budgets seemed especially unjustifiable. We agreed that funds could be better allocated to community health programs, youth projects, and other local initiatives than to over-weaponized and over-staffed police departments that seem to serve no real purpose.
And precisely because Great Barrington and Egremont are exemplary in terms of safety and standard of living, they are well positioned to be leaders in public safety reform in a nation struggling to come to terms with institutions that do not serve the people they should represent and protect. What better place to foster healthier attitudes between law enforcement and citizens? What’s more, we know that alternative models work. The neighboring town of New Marlborough, for example, implemented a “proactive community-oriented approach to public service,” employing only a police chief, one full-time officer, and a few part-time officers. Ask anyone in the area if the five villages of New Marlborough are unpleasant or unsafe places to live, and you will hear just the opposite.
With infographics and written statements in hand, we attended the June town hall meetings to propose a reduction of the police budgets, a reallocation of funds to community organizations, and the start of an open discussion about alternative policing models. We received support and criticism in almost equal measure, but in the end our conservative proposal to reduce the Great Barrington police budget by $200,000 failed by a vote of 132 to 74, and our proposal to hold the Egremont police budget at $409,732 (instead of increasing it by a proposed $27,000) failed by a majority. But our message did not fall entirely on deaf ears. Many town residents have since voiced their support for our initiative, and a detailed plan for police reform was presented at a recent Great Barrington Select Board Meeting in July. Further, our discussions with town residents revealed that there is a growing consensus against the American approach to law enforcement, one in which the police are viscerally feared and avoided instead of being welcomed as allies and protectors.
The battle is raging on, so to speak, in urban centers across the country. People are taking to the streets to protest the brutal deaths of black Americans that have been revealed as commonplace. In comparison, our efforts to challenge the policing model in Berkshire County seems quaint, perhaps even indulgent. To bring about systemic change, though, we have to challenge injustice wherever we find it, and reform our institutions at every level.
At the very least we hope our efforts have opened up a discussion among town residents about the consequential issues at stake right now, and emboldened those who will fight for better systems, build stronger institutions, and promote new ways of thinking. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if small-town America became a beacon for change in a world divided?
Radical social change happens incrementally. It is our duty as citizens to keep watch.
