Friday, May 1, 2015

Public Safety Force Multiplier

225 police officers help keep the peace in Amherst on the day of Blarney Blowout (3/7/15)

On March 7th -- to ensure peace and tranquility in neighborhoods adjacent to UMass -- Amherst police benefited greatly by use of the Western Mass Mutual Aid agreement, a pact signed back in September between Amherst and 26 other local departments.

The main reason Blarney Blowout became riotous over the previous couple years was a lack of boots on the ground dressed in blue.

 North Pleasant Street 3/8/14

In 2014, the worst-of-the-worst year with 58 arrests, vastly outnumbered police had to rely on pepper balls and less gently methods of physical interaction with the alcohol fueled rowdy mobs.  But this past year was different as night-and-day, or drunk-and-sober as the case may be.



Like traditional fire department mutual aid, which has been around forever, when a sudden emergency prompts a nearby city/town to call for police assistance, Amherst will simply respond with no expectation of reimbursement.

 AFD Engine 2 and an ambulance responded to Northampton Hotel fire on Tuesday

That of course works both ways, as someday that same department may respond to Amherst when the need arises.

Since Blarney Blowout was a "long standing incident or pre-planned event" APD (the "receiving party") was responsible for reimbursing responding departments, a $30,910 cost picked up by UMass. 

The 60 State Police officers used that day did not require reimbursement, and APD Chief Livingstone does not anticipate mutual aid will be required (other than normal paid traffic details) for UMass graduation next week.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do we have a Mutual Aid Pact for children attending our schools who live on tax-exempt UMass land?

Larry Kelley said...

Sort of.

The "5 Year Strategic Partnership" which expired 6/30/12 mentioned it.

Larry Kelley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

If the AFD was to spray gasoline all over downtown and then have a conflagration, might the conflagration be viewed in a slightly different light? If the AFD requested mutual aid SO THAT IT COULD spray gasoline all over downtown, what would people say>?

Larry, all that this mutual aid pact accomplished was to increase the carnage of the inevitable "bloody Sunday." It's gonna happen - sooner or later, one or more mistakes will ignite it, and Amherst will be no more.

Larry Kelley said...

No Ed, it's not gonna happen. Not in a million years.

Anonymous said...

Larry, is he ok?

Anonymous said...

To the commenter that mentioned bloody Sunday....it simply won't happen, well the blood may, but any punishment or consequence to those with the guns and never ending backup, nah, never, esp not for hurting a low class, non-resident, non-tax paying student. Students are guilty by association, no concern for blood needed.

Anonymous said...

How many people thought that Gay Marriage would ever happen?

I can see Amherst burnt flat...

Anonymous said...

What's with all the apocalypse fantasies on this blog?