It is clear that while there may be a need for a restorative justice program in Northampton, that this program belongs outside of the purview and control of the police department.

We are urging you to hand control, funding, and administration of any restorative justice program to an organization outside of the DA’s office and Northampton Police Department. We also demand that you demonstrate plans to have any restorative justice program be community-led and driven, which you have already failed to do by working with a non-profit without consulting those most impacted by police violence and the carceral system. Furthermore, you have rolled out a restorative justice program with the NPD without soliciting any feedback from the community and have not even disclosed which “community stakeholders and local volunteers” you are supposedly working with. This is after the community has demonstrated for months overwhelming interest in weighing in on these issues.

Restorative Justice belongs in the hands of the people and not in the hands of your police department. Just like training police to carry out "wellness checks" and respond to mental health issues, activities in which they should not be engaged, having police conduct a "restorative justice" program is not only inappropriate, it does not shift or alter the fact that policing is essentially a racist endeavor that has enormous potential to inflict harm on members of our community. In hiring an organization without community transparency and rolling out a restorative justice program conducted by the NPD, you continue to prove to our communities that you are not listening to our calls for meaningful ways to pursue public safety outside the purview of the system of violence and racism that is policing and mass incarceration.