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The national reckoning with racial justice and police brutality has led to a conversation about the role of law enforcement in New England communities.
The May 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody sparked protests across the nation, including in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where residents worked to bring that conversation home.
Residents formed the Racial Justice Police Reform Group in July. They also pushed the town to establish the Advisory Committee for Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity, or DIRE, that same month to lead discussion in the town of 7,500.
One of their first tasks was to cut the police budget, a move that then-police chief Kyle Johnson resisted.