The City Council is set to vote on an appropriation for police gear that has drawn intense scrutiny from community members concerned about police militarization, though the police department says the request is a typical one.
The $75,000 fiscal year 2019 appropriation for police tactical/protective gear and training is set to be voted on in second reading at the council’s Thursday meeting. The first reading of the appropriation, as part of the fiscal year 2019 – fiscal year 2023 capital improvement program, drew about 100 people to the council’s last meeting, more than 30 of whom spoke out against it.
The appropriation was passed by a vote of 7-1, with only Ward 7 Councilor Alisa Klein voting against it. The appropriation will have to be passed on second reading in order to take effect, just like nearly every other piece of legislation passed by the council.
The second reading, which is to take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, promises to draw another large turnout and speaker list. But if a conversation with Police Chief Jody Kasper, and another with appropriation critic and attorney Dana Goldblatt are any indication, it doesn’t look like much common ground will be found between the department and the protesters.
Chief Kasper
Kasper laid out her defense of the appropriation in a letter released to the city council before the first reading, where she said that it represents no change in policy for the department and is like appropriations the council has approved in the past. She also said that the vast majority of the equipment the appropriation would purchase would replace old equipment that the department already has.
Speaking to the Gazette this week, Kasper noted that the appropriation is not like a typical one in that it is not earmarked for specific items or trainings. Rather, it provides money that can be used to fund tactical training, or purchase or replace tactical gear.
“There’s nothing particularly earmarked,” said Kasper.
She did note, however, that the fund buys all the department’s ammunition, and that it will also be replacing gas-mask filters this year as well, as those filters have expiration dates.
On why the fund was laid out this way, Kasper said that the cost of training is hard to determine ahead of time, because factors like whether officers take overtime to participate in a training can change it. As for equipment, she said that the department doesn’t know when a piece of equipment is going to break.
“It’s hard to predict what we might need,” Kasper said.
Some of the items that the department has used the funds to purchase in the past include holsters, firearms, ammunition and less-lethal launchers. Some of the items this year’s appropriation request says the money could be used for include shields and helmets.
Kasper said that the department still has unspent tactical money, but did not provide the exact amount by deadline.
“I’m a fiscally responsible administrator,” said Kasper, on why there were still funds left in the account.
Kasper said that controversy over the appropriation was part of a difference in opinion on police philosophy.
“There’s people in our community who don’t like the police,” she said.
She also said that she doesn’t remember seeing people getting upset about the tactical budget in the past.
Asked whether she would consider having the Northampton Police patrol without firearms, Kasper said that she would not. Indeed, she said that she would not have any officers if the department had to operate without guns.
“There’s no one who’s gonna do this work … without the ability to protect ourselves,” she said, noting that officers go into places where people are armed with knives or guns.
“I just don’t think that that’s realistic,” Kasper continued. “Not in this world.”
She also said that if she had wanted to militarize the Northampton Police Department’s approach to policing, she would have already done so.
“If we wanted to have a shift, I would have already made the shift,” Kasper said. “The money’s been there for years.”
She noted that she has never worn a tactical helmet in her entire career with the NPD, which began in 1998, that the helmets the department has now are from 2003, and that she doesn’t expect to have to buy any more any time soon.
As for shields, Kasper said that she has never seen them deployed at a Northampton protest. Although she would not share the exact number of shields the department has for security reasons, she described the amount as “a handful.” Nevertheless, were a shield to break, she said that replacing one would be expensive.
Asked about the department’s community policing efforts, Kasper noted the Drug Addiction Response Team. The DART program, which came online in 2016, consists of officers who help rapidly connect those who have engaged in behaviors associated with drug addiction, such as overdosing or drug-related crime, in touch with treatment options.
“That is a fantastic community collaboration,” she said, noting that it has become a model program for other communities in the county.
Additionally, Kasper noted the department’s mental health outreach.
She also said that she likes community involvement, but also expressed a wish that people would learn more about policing.
As for common ground, Kasper said that she didn’t see a lot of room presented for common ground, although she has had respectful conversations with people.
Dana Goldblatt
Northampton attorney Dana Goldblatt was among the people who spoke out against the appropriation when it had its first reading.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to give a blank check to a paramilitary organization to train and buy weapons to use against civilians,” said Goldblatt.
A public defender, Goldblatt provided a document listing information she said the Police Department should provide before the council considers approving the request, including: who the department’s suppliers for specific tactical items are, when weapons have been used outside of a training context, the providers of tactical training, which officers have expressed an interest in tactical training and which neighboring departments also have access to hazmat equipment.
“The police department should report what it buys,” she said.
In response to a public records request filed last year by the Gazette, Kasper provided a list of some of the department’s tactical weapons. That list includes firearms and ammunition, pepper spray, batons, rifles, less-lethal launchers and pepperball guns. Kasper, however, withheld more details about the department’s tactical gear, citing a ruling by the state’s supervisor of public records upholding a decision to not compel the state police to release a similar inventory.
Goldblatt said that she does not believe the police should patrol armed in Northampton.
“I think disarming the police would have a really good impact,” she said, basing this off her experiences living in Northampton and as a public defender.
At the same time, she said that she didn’t think it is realistic for the police to not have access to firearms.
Goldblatt also criticized the drug war, and said that the City of Northampton had the power to opt out of it.
“It’s completely ineffective,” she said, suggesting that all the money used to prosecute it be diverted to treatment and harm reduction.
This proposal would include no longer arresting those who deal drugs, as well as those who use them.
“The people who are addicts are dealing,” she said.
Goldblatt said that she hoped that the knowledge that the appropriation was not set aside for specific items would cause the council to not pass the appropriation on Thursday.
“Hopefully that would give them pause,” she said, expressing the hope that the scrutiny will lead to more detailed information on the department’s inventory and practices.
Beyond the appropriation, Goldblatt said that she wanted a civilian oversight body for the Northampton Police Department, and for that commission to not be controlled by the mayor’s office.
“The mayor has indicated that he’s not interested in providing civilian oversight,” Goldblatt said.
Asked about this, Mayor David Narkewicz said that oversight was one of his duties, and that the city council provides a check as well, noting the outcome of the recent debate over additional municipal surveillance cameras in downtown Northampton, in which a police initiative to have cameras installed was rejected.
“I believe we have that built into our system,” he said.
Goldblatt said that her description of the police as paramilitary was meant to be descriptive, as she said it refers to any organization that uses military titles without being the military.
“It has all sorts of negative effects,” said Goldblatt, who also said that paramilitary organizations are authoritarian.
She also said that an armed paramilitary force is not the best way to create people equipped to do normal policing.
“We need something else,” she said.
As for why the appropriation hasn’t caused controversy before, she said that it was because people weren’t aware of it in the past. She also said that there’s more concern about policing at this time.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.