Staffing shortages in the Pittsfield, Massachusetts police department and the role of resource officers in the city’s schools were discussed at this week’s city council meeting.
A petition from Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio calling on Pittsfield to replace a resource officer at Reid Middle School opened up the conversation. One city resident – Steven White – said the city needs to find a permanent replacement for Martin Streit, who left the force in December.
“This is a much bigger issue than just one incident. Reid has had a hold and passing and many other issues several times a week since Officer Streit has left the school to move on to the Sheriff’s department,” said White.
Mayor Linda Tyer said Streit left for a better paying job with the Berkshire County Sherriff, and that his departure at the end of 2019 – along with four other officers – left the city scrambling.
“We are for a temporary period of time asking patrol officers to rotate into Reid Middle School so that there is a presence at the school as much as possible,” said Tyer.
The mayor said that the other officers who left were all hired through the civil service application, and returned to their home communities – largely in eastern Massachusetts – after receiving training in Pittsfield and serving for a year or two.
“So we are re-thinking how we request these lists from the Civil Service Commission,” said Tyer.
Pittsfield is budgeted for 99 police officers, but struggles to maintain that number. The mayor said the city is prioritizing filling out its patrols first before turning to the resource officer question.
Another city resident who spoke was Dr. Eden-Reneé Hayes. The dean of equity and inclusion at Bard College At Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, she has a 7-year-old son who goes to Egremont Elementary School. Hayes said the role of cops in schools should be interrogated, especially given concerns like implicit racial bias and the psychological impact of a police presence on children.
“Not an officer in plain clothes – an officer in the school," said Hayes. "What are they going to be thinking? I do something wrong, I’m not being sent to the principal’s office. Where am I being sent? What’s going on with me? If I do something wrong, what type of a consequence am I going to have?”
Ward 1 city councilor Helen Moon echoed Hayes’ concerns.
“I think that as we talk in the broader sense of what’s happening in our community and what’s keeping our community safe, I think we’re frequently expecting our police officers to take on roles that they’re not trained to do," said the councilor. "I think that we are replacing mental health clinicians – and I’m not saying that Pittsfield school departments don’t [have them], I know that they do – but we’re expecting them to replace our mental health clinicians, we’re expecting them to replace the further upstream preventative measures, and we are reacting with criminalizing children’s behaviors. And I don’t know if that that is the pathway we should be going towards.”
The petition was referred to the council subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, which Moon chairs.
Audio from the meeting was provided by Pittsfield Community Television.
