 We are at the final town hall with chief Ting This is an opportunity for him to introduce himself to people who may not know him We introduce himself to people that does and give you a chance as a community to ask some questions about his vision and leadership For the town of Amherst should he become the new chief of police? This is meant to be a Q&A session. So we do ask that people be mindful of that remain respectful There are certain things that of course he can and cannot answer so just be mindful of that and just Remember this is an open forum. We do have people on zoom. This is being recorded I want to give people an opportunity to ask as many questions as possible And we do have him for about an hour. So let's be respectful of that And with that, please welcome chief Ting. I give him a chance to just say a few words. Thank you Thank you everybody for coming here, especially at this hour at night I'm sure it's probably dinner time for most of you. There's some hungry faces here So I really appreciate your time for being here Uh, I just want to talk a little bit about myself I I know a lot of there's a lot of familiar faces in here and there's a lot of new faces for me But um, I think this is an opportunity for you folks to kind of get to know who I am a little bit um So I want to start back with a little bit about my family history My parents are i'm a hundred percent of chinese descent Both of my parents are originally from china But if you were to ask them they would tell you we're not really from china because when they left china they had fled From the communist party and from there they had fled to taiwan From that point on they were looking for opportunities for themselves to better their lives And they thought that opportunities might come through Um in south america So they had relocated to brazil and while they were in brazil my older brother was born there They spent some time there things didn't really work out the relocated back to taiwan to try and regroup And i have an older sister and she was born there So the next move was let's go back to south america and try something new So they ended up in argentina and i was born there in Buenos iris So all of this was my father's doing He was the one that was seeking out the opportunities down in south america where's my mother She was saying the opportunities are here in the united states We really need to come to the us and so after two tries in south america My mother won out and said let's go to the us and here we are so we ended up In south hadley because i have family members there and from south hadley we had um We had these neighbors that were the fitz gerrilds. I was very fond of them. I was very young, but I remember them and uh, mr. Fitz gerrild was uh worked for the university of massachusetts and he was the head of a janitorial staff And he had hired my mother to go work at u mass You know, there were a lot of a lack of opportunities because the language was certainly a barrier Language was technically our family's English was our fourth language, you know behind chinese Portuguese and spanish So there was a lot of work to be done in terms of assimilating into the american culture So that brought us here to amherst and we started our lives in amherst at crown point apartments I don't know if everybody here remembers that that's where hawkins meadow is um So at crown point apartments we had lived there with uh, my grandparents ended up moving in so they lived on the top floor And my parents myself and my siblings lived at crown point But when we started out in amherst, you know, we were really fortunate to begin here My family was trying to learn the american culture and as as children we were just trying to fit in um Where we lucked out was that this community is so diverse We saw so many different faces people from all different walks of life and I think in terms of the asian community I think there was only like two kids who are of asian descent That I knew of in my particular class, but there were so many other People from different backgrounds that I didn't feel like I was an outsider by any means So this town certainly welcomed me in and welcomed my family in This town so after my childhood um Well really throughout my childhood years, I was introduced a few times to the amherst police department Uh, I unfortunately got into some encounters with those officers and uh, you know, just being just being a child and um So I got firsthand knowledge of what apd was all about um From that point on after high school, I had gone on to the university of massachusetts to obtain my bachelor's degree So I was able to experience the town through the lens of a child and now And as a young child and now as a college student And back in I graduated in 1991 from high school when I entered a UMass. It's much different Back then than what it is today. Uh, it's much better today to be honest with you Uh, the the caliber of students that are there now are much better I don't think I would have gotten in If it was today, but anyways, I was very fortunate My older brother and my older sister they also attended the university of massachusetts So we were really deeply rooted in this community from that point on Um after I graduated from UMass My degree was in sociology And I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life All the brother who is now a police officer at the university of massachusetts It really influenced me to try and get into this profession He found it to be very rewarding and he said why don't you give it a shot? You know, you might enjoy it Uh, so I began taking tests all over the place trying to get in and back in those times Um, these police jobs in massachusetts were coveted very difficult to get into Um, when I took the exam here for Amherst, there were over a thousand applicants Uh, fortunately, I was chosen one out of six From the great Don Maya who had hired me and From that point on I was extremely grateful, you know, this this this chief of police This man had given me this opportunity and from that point on I knew That I would finish out my career And my lifelong goal is to Retire from the Amherst police department um So I wanted to give back and the way to give back was for me to work hard And work hard and to prove myself and to prove that I'm an asset to the department And that I can be counted on and that's something that's a tenant that that I focus on Every single day in every single aspect of my career That is something that I want to be known for to be an asset and to be able to be counted on um So throughout my career at the Amherst police department I had gone on and I take my master's degree in criminal justice administration from western new england university Western New England college to me it has now changed um And I started out as a patrolman and as a patrolman, you know Life was pretty simple during those times as a patrolman. You only have yourself to kind of focus on Six years later. I was able to uh find my role as a detective And as a detective that gave me another perspective in policing and what this town is all about I was able to kind of experience some real tragedies in people's lives That were really really uh profound in my career and I realized there's a lot much more than just policing From my experience as a detective um Seven years later. I got promoted as a sergeant and as a sergeant My perspective changed again now. I realized it's not just about me It's it's almost like becoming an instant parent. I now have a whole crew that I have to think about um So as a sergeant, I started to uh, I also had a stint with the fbi jttf, which is the joint terrorism task force I spent eight years there and that experience alone was eye-opening for me It made me realize that this world is truly Much smaller place and there's connections everywhere all across the globe um at that point I decided, you know, I think I have Gained enough experience where I can give back to this community Um, so I decided to become an instructor I went and received my certification. I went to the police academy and I taught a variety of different courses at the recruit level Um, and that was extremely rewarding for me Um, I then got promoted as a lieutenant now my perspective changed again This was now a true introduction into the ministers administrative side of policing and overseeing different programs When I was uh promoted to captain, I realized at this point. I'm no longer a real police officer I'm I'm officially a paper pusher and truly an administrator at this point Um, so my experience there. I was uh an operations captain. I still am that's another job that I'm doing and I was mainly in charge of patrol functions Um, so since chief livingstone had uh had retired Uh, I've been the acting chief of police since may And you know, I was asked a question in my previous interview You know, what have I learned since then I've learned a tremendous amount You know first and foremost, I've been able to Really foster a lot of deep relationships with not only department heads, but people from all different institutions within the town Um, which has really greatly enhanced my relationships With the rest of the community as well And the biggest thing that I've learned in this 10 months Being the chief of police is that I have to have big ears and little in a little mouth You know, I really need to be able to listen to the community and the community needs to be able to decide You know, what is it that this community wants our police department to be? What is it that this community wants our police department to function as? How do we coexist together? After all our police department is a part of that community so, um If I am fortunate enough to become the chief of police, there are certain things that I have a vision in terms of certain things that I want to be able to accomplish First and foremost customer service, which is extremely important to me I think sometimes that gets lost in our profession You know, I think a lot of times our officers become desensitized for the work Um, so we need to refocus on customer service after all customer service is the product that That we are selling in a sense, you know Police department is very much run like a business and that is the product that that we are able to offer to the community which is service Secondarily, I would I would have an open door policy and I've always had an open door policy with my officers They can come and speak to me at any point And I open that up for the community as well. However, I do understand that there are limitations there Where a lot of different segments of society are not necessarily comfortable In just walking in the door of a police department to come and talk to me or anybody else You know, unfortunately the uniform that we wear is a barrier to that So what something that I would do is expand our outreach program Um No quality of life issues in town is always a problem. It's it's always been an issue You know, we have to coexist with the student population of about 30 000 Um, I think we've done a really good job over the years and creating programs to coexist And part of that is our outreach program. We have a neighborhood liaison officer specifically To tackle those issues Um, but one thing that we don't have enough of is liaisons to other segments of our community The apartment complexes specific neighborhoods, you know, I've realized over time that There are a lot of problems and issues throughout town that we may not know about And the reason why is because we are waiting for those folks To come to us to tell them what the problems are and that's just not going to happen You know, we have to make a concerted effort to reach out to these communities And introduce ourselves And develop those relationships so we can learn about those problems and we can contribute in helping out In problem solving we want to become problem solvers not problem creators Um, so that's something that I would certainly promote We are sector based police department and we would assign officers to each specific neighborhood So that way there's familiarity from the different folks that live in those neighborhoods Another thing that I would certainly promote is uh What is truly the most important thing I think to this community, which is the youth of our community Um, you know, I was one of those kids, you know, the youth of our community is is an investment You know, we invest in these children Uh in Amherst, we want them to become successful and productive adults Because we want them to return to our communities, you know, I want to be able to hire these kids back I want them to be afforded the same opportunities that I was given Um and the same opportunities that my family was given So that is something that we have been Really been involved in we have a lot of different programs Within our police department. We have a summer adventure academy. We have a ropes course We have involvement in morning movement, which is a program with the schools As well as steps to success We also have the unity basketball team We have a new program called rise and that rise program Is in concert with the dei department as well as crest and that's an effort to kind of combine Our public safety partners to try and gain as much exposure as possible And lastly, I'm also on the board of directors with ancestral bridges ancestral bridges is a is a nonprofit foundation Which is to try and recognize the history the black history of this town and through arts and through We have a subcommittee where we have uh, we're trying to teach kids Uh financial literacy, you know, this is something that's extremely important We want we want our youth to be able to be prepared when they move on to the next step in life Whether that's college or right in the workforce. So That's our that's my main focus these particular tenants are things that I will bring to you as the chief of police and I truly hope that I am afforded this opportunity the reason why I want to become the chief of police here Is simply because this town and this community this department has given me everything that I have My upbringing my experiences My opinions the things that I've seen things that I've done I owe it all to this community. I now have an opportunity to give it back Um, and I would really really appreciate that opportunity. I have no end game here. What I mean by that is um This is my only interview for a chief of police position I have no aspirations to be a chief of police anywhere else. I'm not going anywhere This is the only place I want to be. This is where I call home I really appreciate your time Thank you chief tang, okay I know he said a lot. Yeah Sorry I think you I think you probably answered a lot of people's questions, but let's take some i'm deba Hi chief ting Um, thank you for that intro learned a lot about you that I didn't know before so I'm appreciative of that So my name is deba ruff rara. I'm a co-chair with the community safety and social justice committee Which I think you're familiar with I am certainly. Yeah, and um before that I was on the community safety working group Um, that made a lot of recommendations. Um, one of which was to put crest in place, but I have Variety of questions because you said that you're about community and community outreach and You've been doing the job. So I'm going to be specific and would like specific responses that so You know css jc my committee. We've asked to speak with you during this past year that you've been interim chief But that didn't happen So you said you're about outreach and we wanted to engage with you to talk about a lot of these issues because One of the things that I said to the previous candidate was that A lot of people by park people people who are marginalized in this community Are afraid of the police. They're intimidated by the police. The police is not a welcoming place um, and and it isn't A place that people go to You know, like you said about service, they don't feel safe, you know And if you know the history of of policing in this country started with patty rollers, which were People which were people that that would go and get Africans who had run away from enslavement to bring them back into slavery That's the origins of policing in this country. So there's you know, a lot of people that look like me get racially profiled So so that's my first question. Why is it that you didn't engage with the css jc? Second question is around the crest program I know that you know, they're an autonomous group. That was the group that we put, you know That we recommended for the for them to to be created So how do you see the expansion? Because I know that right now they're responding. They're being dispatched. They're responding to some of the You know Incidents through dispatch But how do you see the expansion of that because I would like them and a lot of us on css jc Would like them to be responding to everything that's non violent and right now that's not occurring So they don't respond to noise complaints. So What's your response to that and third? How would you Put in place an Anti-racist culture within the police department because it needs to be right out front that the police department is anti-racist Not that it's just, you know, I don't even know I don't even know the messages right now because like I said right now For people that look like me and others people whose english is second language That's not the culture at the police department. So we'll start with those Um, okay to answer your first portion of the question, you know, um I do recall that that there was an invite and the reason for that and now it'll be 100 honest. I didn't think this this uh I didn't think this process would would take so long And I didn't think it was appropriate for me as a temporary chief of police to go and speak on behalf of the department Until there was a permanent chief that was really available to be able to bring forward The for example the the programs and the things that I would like to institute Those are things that I would like to institute if I become the chief of police unfortunately at the time When I as a captain, I had another chief of police that I had to answer to Well as a temporary position, I didn't think it was appropriate for me to Start talking about things that I haven't done So that's that's the reason for that purpose and um, and I hear you in terms of I've heard that before You know The BIPOC community that they don't feel comfortable coming in here and I recognize that and I hear that loud and clear And that's why I want to be able to develop our outreach a little bit more Just in today in a short moment. You've learned a little bit more about me Right, and I think that's really where it starts. It starts with Conversations it starts with building that relationship If you get to know me a little bit more and I get to know you a little bit more We're going to understand Our different perspectives and that's something that I truly want to focus on is different perspectives Because there are a ton of this whole room has a different perspective on everything But we can all find common ground within those different perspectives So I hear you loud and clear and that's something that I certainly want to address Like I said, I want to be able to reach out to the community so we can try and eliminate some of those barriers um And your third question So when crest was introduced, I was actually on the uh community service working group on the implementation team as well So when that was introduced that was something that the community was telling us that the community wanted You know that had nothing to do with what does the police department want? That's what the community wants We work for everybody. So if this is what the community wants, we fully embrace that And we still continue to support The crest department and I hear what you're saying in terms of you know, there was uh There was an expectation for the crest department to be responding to more calls Unfortunately, there are some hurdles to that Certainly there were union implications But we actually jumped over that hurdle the next implication is um Certainly there's there's two pieces here that we always talk about When it comes to uh any type of response or service Which is safety and liability those two components we have to make sure That our crest responders are safe when they're responding We want to make sure that they have all the tools and the resources To make sure that they get the job done to cover the liability aspect after all we do have to protect the town We also have to protect our agencies to make sure that we are doing the right things So Unfortunately, it is it's a it's a work in progress, but I guarantee you it's going to come to fruition That is something that we are working towards And again, this is uh, I think in the words of chief nelson, it's it's it's uh It's an airplane being built while it's uh being flown You know and you know and to be honest with you that's not such a bad thing in this town We're a very progressive town You know things that we've introduced not only in the police department, but within this town We are first on many many things and this crest department in terms of western mass and within the state We are one of the first So we are learning as we come exactly so it's And I I hope you have some patience with us. It is a work in progress We do have a new director coming on board. Camille Theriaq. We're extremely excited about that Extremely excited to work with her. I think she's going to be a huge addition to the program That is at the forefront of our police department, you know As in any police department training is Is extremely important, you know, and I'm not going to tell you we we've had Run of the mill trainings that we're exposed to from from various areas and a lot of those trainings are box checks And we don't like that, you know, because When we seek out trainings, we are looking for Something that's that's going to really resonate with our community and with our police department So most recently we had we had hired pat romney associates to give us a particular training And they had gone out and they had pulled the public To gather information to figure out, you know, what is the pulse from the public? What is it that the public wants from our agency? Where are the pitfalls? What are they seeing that we aren't seeing? you know, again, there's Unfortunately, we see things as a police officer. I see things I try and see things through multiple lenses, but you know, unfortunately as a policeman I still see things as a policeman and not necessarily as a civilian So I count on the community to be able to give me that civilian perspective And so we welcome not only training, but I guarantee you this we police ourselves Also, if there is no way that we would tolerate Racism in-house in our police department because if that's tolerated there Then that's that's the green light to be tolerated out on the street and that's unacceptable My name is Kathleen Anderson. I'm a longtime resident of amherst social justice educator and I I'm spurred to ask a question based on your statement Looking at the situation as from the police lens and not from civilians lens Our police trained to look at situations and is that training socially just Well, I guess I guess what I'm saying to that is um I'll give you an illustration So and I've used this before Because it's really true Have you ever been pulled over by police officer? What was that experience like? I'm sorry to hear that Um, I guess what I'm trying to illustrate is that you know as a police officer we deal with Falls and responded to different situations on a constant basis We pull cars over and to us, you know, it's it's part of the job and Well, I'm trying. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm trying to get to that. So No, that's okay And then we need to be able to recognize that that experience from a police officer's lens That's one of the mill for us. That's routine But that's not routine for the operator for that operator that might be Probably the first encounter they they've ever had with a police officer or maybe not but nevertheless I recognize that that encounter is going to be traumatic for that particular person and so again I tried it What I'm trying to say to you is is perspective is No, I want that perspective. I want to be able to so Hmm So one thing I would like to introduce in the future is we used to have a citizens police academy Um, due to budget constraints and staffing issues We're unable to fulfill that that's something I'd like to reintroduce I want you to be able to attend Do you have a perspective of what it is that we do and how we train? and How we operate I think it would be eye-opening and it would be eye-opening for our officers to To hear your experiences and experiences from others That's how we learn from each other and the more that we can communicate with each other the more we can learn We can figure out how to fix these issues How to fix these different perspectives And really that's really what what it boils down to when I talk about relationships That's really what I'm talking about. This is the first time I've met you And you know, you're describing this experience to me and to me it's horrifying I wouldn't want to be in that situation. I know you didn't want to be in that position So You know, these are stories that I want to hear. I want to hear from the public We can figure out how do we make sure that this community and our police department Mitigates those type of situations But we're going to need to we're going to need to build our relationship together to really answer that question together To be honest with you I have Martha Hanner and I'd like to follow up on on Kathleen's A description here about traffic stops I mean, this is you know, obviously something that's that's a big Big challenge nationally and it also locally so if you were police chief Would you be willing to do a really an in-depth Review of traffic stops and define some new very specific sort of protocols of of how Traffic stops are to be done and handled and so on To answer your question, we actually analyze all of our traffic stops every single year You know, we take a look at the amount of traffic stops are made We try we it's broken down by race by sex by age And we take a look and see what the trends are And why our officers are stopping specific Groups if they're if there is that so far it's been pretty consistent every single year So we do analyze that and we certainly look at that And you know, we do have to recognize and we do this through extensive training that you know What there's no such thing as a routine car stop. Yeah, you know, there's always dangers But nevertheless when we do encounter the motorists, you know We're we're going to treat them everybody with respect However, with that being said we have to recognize who that motorist is You know And so we will adjust to that and that comes down to A lot of training that comes down to a lot of experience with motor vehicle stops You know, unfortunately if I was to stop a car and compared to a first year officer might look a little bit different You know That's something that we need to come together and have a little more consistency So that's something that we will focus on Thank you a med gauge So you're not the only candidate How will it How will you handle if you're not selected and you're still in the emmer's department? I really appreciated your sense of closeness to the department in the town That you're not going anywhere so i'm just curious what what you're you know, not saying you're not going to get it Or you are going to get it, but what would be your strategy or your If you don't if I didn't get it and the other candidate got it. I would fully support that person 100% You know, I'm here for a specific reason that reason is because I care about this community I care very much about our police department. I want to see Us succeed together and if that means that it's a different leader. I'm going to support that leader 100% um Certainly, I know that that other candidate is not from around here So they would they would have a learning curve that they would need And I would hope that I would be relied upon to help that person out through my own experience You know, I have 45 years here in this town on a personal level in 27 years in the police department So my experience I would be able to hopefully impress upon him To help that person out I gave um kathy. Hi kathy. Um, I I thought you're beginning with a story of your family's journey. Um, which Arch one child couldn't stand it if we We went away to a camp in summer. She liked she was home done But you mentioned that you grew up with different languages. Do you still have other languages? So for example, um, you were arch you were the argentina baby. I think right You know, so I still speak chinese, but it's really at a like a seven year old level So it's not very good. I can understand a lot of it But I I couldn't fluently I'll communicate with somebody so chief living stone has daughters that went to the chinese immersion school And their chinese is phenomenal. They've had conversations with my mother who is fluent and my mother Will tell me and they're good They're fantastic. So unfortunately my language is very limited in terms of chinese my spanish I totally forgot but my mother still speaks spanish I have an older brother that speaks spanish and they're both very fluent So it's still we still maintain a little bit of it Thank you Obviously if there's other questions, I don't want to bogar everything, but I have plenty of questions Um Because you at you you you made some comments around youth and young people which obviously is very critical You know to us on css jc the community safety working group, you know myself as a black woman But but as we were doing all of those studies and the research and bringing in our consultants and the stories We heard from the community is that unfortunately a lot of their The the interactions that the young people have had especially by pop young people Young people who you know look like me and others right and in all different cultures Have had a lot of negative interactions with the police that they get profiled You know, I know there was this one young person from you know The program a better chance abc that one time was just coming off of the bus because he's a black male And got harassed by one of the apd like what are you doing here? Why are you here? And he was just like I just got off the bus from you know His his home. I think he was like he lived in new york And and you know one of the directors at abc had to get called To come in and and talk on the behalf of this of this young male And then also what happened in terms of july 5th, you know when all the young people Were, you know You know said to set set down and then one of them said you don't have any rights one of the You you heard about that whole thing. So where was your voice and all of that, you know So one I want to hear about how the police interact with with young people and how that is going to change because obviously It hasn't and then two Where was your voice and those things because that was Handled very badly For months until finally, you know, there was an apology from the town manager, which then Deescalated the situation but at first it was a lot of It wasn't me. It wasn't my fault. No, you know so on so forth as opposed to Taking responsibility And saying that some actions were going to be taken But that didn't happen. So I know you talked about young people that being important to you So we're trying we're trying to change that perception. Certainly, you know, like I said, we're trying to build that foundation All of the programs that I mentioned are targeted with with BIPOC community in mind of course Everyone's welcome to join in But that welcome to join in on these programs But that's our target is we want to focus that relationship with the BIPOC community because we have heard Those stories that that you're talking about and those are things that we want to try and eradicate as much as possible You know in terms of the july 5th incident Um, I wasn't the chief of police and I'm not trying to put it on On chief living stone by any means But you know in terms of where a paramilitary Outfit so there's a rank structure. So I can't just go off on my own And offer an opinion you know the chief of police dictates that and So if you're asking me for for For why I didn't personally say anything. That's the reason why it's I fall under his direction You know, that's a difficult question. The reason why I say that is because the chief of police had a lot of different interactions At the department head level that I wasn't privileged to So if I had that information, you know, I might have done something differently I can't I don't think it'd be responsible for me to Give you an answer without all of those interactions that he was privileged to You're welcome I'm sorry, even if you cannot answer because you weren't the chief of the time I imagine It's been some time So what has the department learned about what happened and what has been implemented or talked about to be changed I think there were a ton of lessons learned from that particular incident You know, we heard from a lot of the community members You know, certainly people that were involved We had a lot of discussions. We were able to The the silver lining in this if there was a if I could say that there was a silver lining Was we were able to interact with our town counselors in a more meaningful way You know, the town counselors at the time, I think they were about three years in so they're still relatively new They're still learning about our police department as well. They're still learning about the community from their perspective So that was fantastic insight. That's an incident. Unfortunately, a lot of times for change to happen It's usually piggyback off of something that's a bad situation So I take that as a learning experience and I learned a tremendous amount Something that you had said earlier is something that I had heard from that particular incident Is that there's no accessibility to the police department? And that resonated with me So that's why I've always thought to myself. Well, if I become the chief of police I will have that ability to try and change that and change that narrative And so that that is the opportunity that present is presented to me now And that's something that I will strive to work towards I was going to ask a different question. So if someone has a follow-up to that so we um um another big factor about amherst it makes us unusual or special is the huge number of students Probably, uh, the student body is probably about half of the population And we all know the problems with the parties and the problems, you know For every level with pilot money in the parties and the relationship with UMass police But also just the abuse some of us take All the time I had this terrifying experience yesterday where I was just wandering down north pleasant street It wasn't aware of anybody and all of a sudden there's this huge yelp loud And a young white male buffy beefy went whizzing by me on the sidewalk probably 15 miles an hour as fast on a bicycle Um, and he just roared at me like I was in his way And it was terrifying because if I had been 10 or 12 inches further to the left he would have hit me Going 15 miles an hour and so it's not just It makes it really hard, especially I try to be really positive about the students I used to be a student But it makes it really hard when you have these things happen to that are that are Dangerous and insulting And I'm just curious what your I shouldn't probably focus so much on my personal experience But it was it was truly terrifying. I had to just stand there I mean he yelled at me first of all because He thought I was going to walk in front of him I didn't even know it was coming But it was the yelling and then the whooping by and I of course screamed out I'm you're supposed to ride on the road which he did not do until he got down to Halleck street, but then Anyway, what's your thinking in general about Your role as police chief And the students and the residents of our town safety and well-being and wanting to have Neighborhood integrity Sure, that's extremely important to me, you know, I'll tell you Like I said, I've seen it from the perspective of of a citizen from this town as well as a college student And now as a professional So I've kind of seen it from from full circle be honest with you and You know quality of life issues in this town is I think I mentioned before is always going to be an issue You know, we need to years ago I I recognized that there was almost like a clear delineation between townspeople and the university and we quickly learned that, you know We are one big community. So we have to include You know the the college community into our community because they are woven into the fabric of every aspect of our lives Unfortunately, sometimes there's negative experiences such as the one that you had But what we've been trying to do is to try and Have the students have more of a voice And try and have a better relationship with our university partners not only with the police department But all the different other aspects from the university the dean of students office Code and conduct. So we have very deep collaborations With all of these different Institutions to try and figure out. Hey, where are the problems? And one of the issues with the college community is it's a new group every single year So we have to re-educate the new group and they move so frequently So I'm not sure what neighborhood you live in But from year to year that might change one year They might be fantastic the next semester new group comes in and they're pain in the neck So it's a constant. This is something that that uh Is is really important to us because we've realized that you know, we have to coexist We have to coexist, but we need to find strategies to be able to manage that in a wise way So one example is we just had the Blarney blowout and We had pre-planned that for months not only with us but with our partners at the university And we also had if if you were around you probably saw a couple hundred cops that were hanging around from all over western mass So it's a huge huge project One thing that we did differently in this particular year Which made a huge difference was we had the fraternities and sororities coming clean up Afterwards all along main street all along townhouse. They cleaned up all the different bags of trash Now the reason why that was significant was because if you understand you live in an area You recognize that the Blarney blowout is coming and you know that for that one day It's gonna be they're gonna wreak havoc. You have no choice. You can't stop it You can only try and maintain and control as best as you can which we did But then the next morning when you wake up You know, you're thankful. It's over with and then you look outside and all you see is the remnants of the trash That is what's going to trigger somebody to be extremely angry about the whole situation So we had we incorporate our fraternities and sororities to come and clean that trash up And i'm here to tell you most of the folks that lived in that neighborhood when they woke up in the morning They knew it was over Everything was clean and they realized okay. It's done It's done just that one little act made a huge difference And those are the things that we learn from each year each year we start building upon it to try and find solutions to help our Permanent neighbors and to make sure that our students are not only safe but getting a good education, which I know they are I want to make sure our students Are here and get a good education as well Thank you Good evening. I just came here from the Amherst police supervisors union in the Press release. I thought it was important to come here and provide feedback on the chief Ting's ability and his commitment to our agency and I thought it would Give some insight The people that are actually working for him and his ability and his leadership So as part of the union president everybody got together we came up with a statement that I would like to share with all of you It says dear members of the selection committee on behalf of the Amherst police supervisors union I'm here to express our support for temporary chief ting's candidacy for the position of chief of police for the town of Amherst He has dedicated 27 years to serving the town of Amherst While working with many positions in the police department during this time Temporary chief ting has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to public service leadership and community engagement From his early days as a patrol officers to his investigative work as a detective and then his leadership roles as a sergeant Lieutenant captain and now temporary chief He has consistently shown the ability to adapt grow and excel in his every assignment His progression through the ranks is a testament to his hard work integrity and display of dedication to our department and the community that we serve In the past three years in senior leadership He has not only managed his responsibilities with exceptional judgment But has earned the respect and admiration of both members of the department and also our broader community His approachable and warm demeanor has fostered an environment of trust and collaboration And it is indispensable for effective community policing Moreover temporary chief ting's roots in Amherst run deep As you learned this evening He's raised in the town educated with both the Amherst regional school system and the university of massachusetts here in Amherst He embodies the spirit and values of our community his personal and professional life or intertwined with the fabric of Amherst Highlighting his commitment to the town's safety and well-being temporary chief ting's vision for a progressive and collaborative police department aligns with the aspirations of the town His leadership would not only maintain what was built by his predecessors But further enhanced the bond between the Amherst police and the community Ensuring that Amherst remains a safe and welcoming place for all We are confident that temporary chief ting's And is is the right choice for Amherst next permanent chief of police his experience Dedication and leadership qualities stand out as exemplary and we believe you will excel in this role Guiding the department towards a future marked by professionalism trust and mutual respect Thank you for considering our support for temporary chief ting We're eager to see the positive impact his leadership will have on our community and the police department as our next chief of police I'm truly humbled. Thank you for that Um, are we talking about the july 5th incident? Yes, I said so where were you when the Police officers harassed these young kids and told them they had no rights and what kind of training did they have? I wasn't present for the for For that specific response. I aren't is that what you're asking if I was there or You are a police officer who works with these people. Yes, ma'am Yes, ma'am. We are not perfect. We have work to do Absolutely. So how are police officers trained? Such that they would have those kinds of words coming out of their mouths and they harass young black kids Yes, ma'am. So You know, I The past is something we can always look we can always learn from you know, we will never forget the past That's something that we can build upon I'm looking towards the future and how we can better that and prevent that from ever happening again another question I have a question from Miss pat on any baku because she unfortunately was trying to Get in through zoom, but I guess you all are having technical difficulties And no voices come no sound I have two questions from miss pat on any baku. She was also a part of the community safety working group Yep and so her questions are What are your thoughts on the resident oversight board? Because as you know that we had recommended that and we're in the Mids of trying to put that together because unfortunately a lot of people feel intimidated and do not Feel like they can go and complain to the police one. They're afraid they're going to get retaliated against Or they're the or they feel the complaint is not going to go anywhere. Nothing's going to get done So that's the first question and then the second second question is whether you've read the report status community safety working group Put together because as as someone had said, you know, we did a part a and part b um, and one of them included a lot of recommendations from the leap group that I'm sure you're very familiar with and Whether you'd be implementing some of those recommendations And then uh lastly and this one's from me I know you talked about going and outreaching to communities so that you hear from them But one of the things that when we had our consultant from from the seventh generation collective We saw that that this kind of quadrant Thing that you all do it's pretty much a lot of times going to communities and apartment complexes that have Majority BIPOC people low income folks and really over policing them so That would need to change So I want to hear your thoughts on that. So rob leave and and over police. What was the first one? Sorry Oh, so the resident oversight board, so I I certainly welcome that You know, like I said, um the police department is part of this community And for us to be a part of this community, we need to hear from voices from other parts of the community And certainly if If those parts of the community don't feel comfortable In reporting certain segments. Yeah, there certainly needs to be another avenue. So I do welcome that The second portion. I'm sorry So you're going to need to give me specifics because there were a lot of recommendations So I will tell you this, um, you know, and this is kind of a generalized That report in front of me, um, you know, we are an accredited agency and we have been since 2003 And that accreditation process We were the second in the state to obtain that process Since 2003 and what that is is that is an overview from a commission Uh of our peers that kind of dictates best practices for our policies procedures rules and regulations And that is heavily scrutinized Um on a monthly basis and at the end of three years There's a uh, there's an internal examination Of all of those policies and procedures rules and regulations to ensure that our department is compliant To be able to obtain that accreditation status. So that's something that's very important to us Um, we definitely want to have the best practices to make sure that our officers are doing the right thing According to what we are preaching and the last question Right, so we want to try and change that that perception to you know, and I've heard that before Um, you know, we've taken a look at our statistics and we've shown that you know, a lot of the apartment complexes where Where it might be believed that it's over policing because we we are a problem-solving sector-based Uh community policing agency what that means is we try and incorporate a lot of uh a lot of pre-care Right, so we try to be real proactive to try and stop crimes and problems from happening before they have So there is a perception of over policing. We want to try and change that You know, because we do go to places that are called You know, and I agree with you. There's certain neighborhoods that we won't police as much because we are not called there We're not called there sure I guess what i'm trying to trying to illustrate is that you know, um when we get called to places we respond And we respond to everything You know, so and that's that's a tenant that that's been passed on since chief Maya to chief sherpa to chief living stone Is something that we've Decided as an agency that no matter how small the call is we will always send an officer You know other communities for example, something as minor as my mailbox was smashed Oh, we'll take a report over the phone. We will still send an officer there We owe that to the community members to have an officer present to be able to respond Face to face And to be able to figure out what's the problem We want to show that community care aspect and unfortunately I do see that that that vision might be Um different from a different perspective again I'm going to just draw back upon Having some better relationships because we see it from a different lens. We don't see it as over policing We're seeing it as trying to be proactive to be helpful Unfortunately, you know, it's seen in a different light. So we do have work to do so game Yes, sir I've always thought of you as a smart guy And you've had this job for 10 months And you still want it Why absolutely, you know You know, it's funny because uh to me work is work, right, you know, it's never ending. It will always be there Um, to me anytime that there's something I like challenges anytime that there's a challenge that we can Try and figure out a solution to we learn upon that and that's what makes Us better if we can make our community a better place. That's really my goal You know, uh, you know, I again I think we need to invest in our youth in our community Um, that investment will pay us back Tenfold, you know, and I think I'm a testament to that Um, this community has given me everything like I've mentioned And here I am, uh, in a role that I never expected to be at to be honest with you I have an opportunity to be able to try and give back and help out this community from my own experiences as best as possible And that's what I truly hope to do. So yes, I still want it And with that square time. So thank you everyone for coming out. Thank you chief tank for making the time Thank you folks. I really appreciate it