Group seeks feedback for SAFE policing

Group seeks feedback for SAFE policing

By Chris Mays Brattleboro Reformer Oct 18, 2020

Reprinted from an article in Brattleboro Reformer
https://www.reformer.com/local-news/group-seeks-feedback-for-safe-policing/article_3de561c6-1157-11eb-840e-0fd4d1bc5f0b.html

BRATTLEBORO — A local group proposing ways police can disarm is looking for feedback from the community on what “safe policing” means to them.

The phrase is one Brattleboro Common Sense uses when promoting its initiative. The Sensible Alternatives to Fatal Escalation (SAFE) Policing Plan “seeks to eliminate firearms from routine police patrols and most classes (codes) of police activity in order to increase public safety by preventing accidental and hasty use of firearms by police, and in order to increase the safety of police officers, who become pre-emptive targets by carrying lethal weapons,” the group said in a proposal to the town.

“It’s our biggest push at the moment,” said Adam Marchesseault, a research consultant from Waterbury who was hired by the group.

BCS talked with local residents downtown Friday. Kurt Daims, one the group’s directors, said they “discussed their comfort levels while dealing with police.”

The idea is to publish a brief report about community concerns and potential reforms in Brattleboro, Marchesseault said. He’s one of five researchers involved in the project.

By his estimate, BCS is talking at least weekly about the project. In recent years, the group has brought forward initiatives to lower the age for voting on local matters and address climate change.

The policing project started several years ago and involved looking at international examples for inspiration. The hope is to engage with the newly established Community Safety Review Committee in Brattleboro, which is tasked with coming up with recommendations for reform in time for the next municipal budget, but also introduce the idea to other communities in Vermont.

“I think the Select Board’s really stepping up in creating the committee in the first place,” Marchesseault said. “We stand ready to talk to the committee as soon as possible.”

Marchesseault noted the United Kingdom is one of the only countries where the popularity of policing without firearms is higher among police officers than the general public. He said the most recent public polls show 80 percent of officers in the line of duty are supportive compared to about 50 percent of the general public.

His group has heard from officers experienced with the types of policing being proposed. Marchesseault said most of them feel less threatened by the public when unarmed because they’re perceived as less threatening, and that leads to “more wholesome interactions.”

Armed specialized officers working in rural areas of the U.K. shared a different perspective. Marchesseault said they were worried about their guns being “snagged” by citizens.

“It’s a consistent concern of theirs that carrying a firearm could be used against them,” he said. “So therefore, it doesn’t make it safer.”

His group spoke with a retired officer in Scotland who described what it’s like to police without a firearm. Marchesseault said the officer is “very much willing” to set up conversations with the Brattleboro Police Department.

Another model the group points to is found in New Zealand, where firearms are locked in squad cars and supervisors need to approve access. That system works better in rural areas, Marchessault said.

Chris Mays
General Assignment Reporter