16:28
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.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The chair of the town's committee on diversity, equity and inclusion Monday reported to his colleagues that he had a long conversation with the town's acting.
Bruegl, the director of cultural affairs for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, met with the town s Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee on Thursday to talk about how to take advantage of the new Stockbridge-Munsee extension office on Spring Street. In a perfect, non-pandemic world, we d be able to gather in Williamstown, Bruegl said from her office in Wisconsin. Every year, we host a powwow here in Wisconsin, obviously we didn t have it last year. I wouldn t envision a powwow [in Williamstown], but maybe a one-day conference or something that talks about Stockbridge-Munsee history that shows you there are workshops with history and playing of the drums and things that are traditional to us and how our people would have lived.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. Members of the town s Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee on Monday expressed their displeasure that incidents at the Williamstown Police Department alleged in a federal lawsuit against the town were not investigated at the times that they occurred. As part of its research into town policies and procedures, the DIRE Committee requested records of internal investigations at the WPD for the last 10 years. The response back summarizing was that … nothing was classified as internal affairs records within the Williamstown Police Department since Jan. 1, 2010, Andrew Art told his fellow committee members. There was one investigation that was handled by the Massachusetts State Police that was identified, but the records related to that investigation were not provided to the committee on the grounds that they had not been provided to other requesters. The basis for an exemption [was] the current litigation involving the [Sgt. Scott] McGo