Captain Robert Powers: Resign!
Robert Powers, Police Captain, Northampton MA
This petition was authored by a group of unaffiliated organizers in Northampton, MA. Pioneer Valley DSA is publishing it on their behalf in order to protect their anonymity and prevent police retaliation. Solidarity forever.
Captain Robert Powers is currently in charge of hiring, promotions civilian complaints, and internal investigations for the Northampton Police Department. He has a history of alleged racist stereotyping (as detailed here: https://theshoestring.org/2020/06/12/captain-robert-powers-who-went-viral-after-hamburger-comments-was-the-defendant-in-a-civil-rights-lawsuit-and-was-then-promoted/).
As such, he should not be in his position at all, let alone in the NPD. We are calling on him to officially resign.
Note: In order to prevent retaliation, we welcome anonymous signatures, which you can make by leaving your name and Zip code blank. Please sign at your own comfort level.
Sponsored by
To:
Robert Powers, Police Captain, Northampton MA
From:
[Your Name]
Captain Robert Powers,
We are calling on you to resign, effective immediately.
We firmly believe, based on previous lawsuits and ongoing statements, that you have a history of racism and not thinking before you speak. You have stated that you do not tolerate police brutality, but this movement is more than simply ridding the country of police brutality, it is about ending the systemic racism and white supremacy which all police uphold.
You allegedly taught recruits to racially profile “ethnic” drivers in a 2014 hazing lawsuit. A lawsuit that also alleges you “went on to advise the student officers that Massachusetts police officers could issue citations to ‘ethnically altered vehicles all day long.’ Sgt. Powers later admitted to this commentary and confirmed that he refers to ‘ethnically altered vehicles’ as those commonly driven by ‘Hispanics.’ Sgt. Powers regularly used the term ‘ethnics’ interchangeably with ‘Hispanics.’” (Paragraph 25, Turley Complaint, Case 1:14-cv-14755-LTS, Document 1, files 12/31/14) And that “In a module on motor vehicles law, [then] Instructor Sgt. Powers clearly expressed his pleasure that Mr. Turley’s class was not ‘ethnically diverse’ because the entire class was made up of apparently ‘white’ recruits.” (Paragraph 24, Turley complaint)
A local resident during one of the city council public testimonies stated their succinct opinion:
“Does [Powers] sound like someone fit to oversee the citizen complaint process put forth by the police department? Or someone who should be in charge of the hiring and promotion of police officers? Does this sound like someone who can uphold the department’s commitment to providing law enforcement services that are fair, effective, and impartially applied? In case I’m not being clear, the answer is no.” (source: https://theshoestring.org/2020/06/12/captain-robert-powers-who-went-viral-after-hamburger-comments-was-the-defendant-in-a-civil-rights-lawsuit-and-was-then-promoted/)
As a Captain in the NPD, it is our imperative belief that you should lead by example, and not just through empty statements or weak displays of appeasement, but by showing your community that you care about addressing white supremacy in the NPD, which means you no longer being part of that institution. It is our firm opinion that your statements of the afternoon of June 6th (https://youtu.be/Wf4cea5oObY?t=1767) show that you are leading with poor judgement.
We demand you act now, for the good of the community: Resign.