NORTHFIELD — University of Massachusetts Amherst Police Lt. Jonathan Hall will be offered the position of Northfield’s next police chief following a unanimous vote of the Selectboard on Tuesday.
The Selectboard met for more than three hours to interview two finalists for the position and, after “splitting hairs,” Selectboard members ultimately voted to offer the job to Hall, subject to contract negotiations. The decision concludes a search process that began in July following former Chief Robert Leighton’s retirement on July 8. Police Sgt. Alexander Pirozhkov has been serving as acting police chief since then.
“We just made a decision that is going to affect Northfield years after any of us are associated with the Selectboard,” board member Alexander Meisner said after the vote was cast.
Selectboard Chair Heath Cummings spoke positively about Hall’s experience as a member of the UMass Amherst Police Department and his “laundry list” of certifications and training, including extensive racial and anti-discrimination training. Hall was a sergeant for six or seven years at UMass Amherst before being promoted to lieutenant a few years ago. Having worked as a college campus police officer himself, Cummings said he recognized the “exemplary” value of the training opportunities available to officers with university police departments.
Member Mary Bowen cited Hall’s responses to questions about institutional racism. Fellow board member Barbara “Bee” Jacque agreed that she enjoyed Hall’s answers to these questions, as well as his interest in promoting available training for officers.
“The thing that really impressed me had to do more with the care and well-being of police officers,” Jacque said.
During his interview, Hall referred to an “hour workout program” at UMass where officers are paid for an hour’s workout for the betterment of their physical and mental health. Additionally, he referred to resources available for officers who experience a traumatic event through their job — from witnessing the scene of a fatal accident to coping with the death or suicide of a fellow officer.
“I feel like every negative call you have, you hold on to just a little bit of that,” Hall continued. “The better you can deal with that, the longer you’re going to go into your career without letting it affect you too much in your personal life.”
Answering questions about institutional racism, Hall used examples of marijuana and motor vehicle charges. He said “you have to question” why certain people have been arrested for minor crimes.
“For instance, we’re next to New Hampshire,” Hall said. “If someone from New Hampshire comes over here to Mim’s (Market) and they forget their driver’s license, that’s an arrestable offense. The question is, should that be an arrestable offense?”
He said this may come down to the discretion of the officer, and people of color who are pulled over or arrested for minor infractions may question the legitimacy of the charges.
“Who are you going to arrest for that, and under what circumstance?” Hall asked. “I don’t even personally believe an officer should have the power to arrest under that circumstance, but we have to question why these things are in there and how they affect different races.”
He shared an example of people he knows personally, who are Black and Puerto Rican, who got pulled over in the Springfield area. Hall said the driver had an expired license, but one of the other passengers in the car had a valid license, which meant the officers did not need to tow the vehicle as the passenger could drive it from the scene.
“But they wanted to tow the car,” Hall said. “They got everyone out of the car and towed the car because that means they can search the car. Because it was in the area where drugs go from Springfield to Vermont, they were looking for some sort of drugs, fishing for drugs. It’s hard for me to believe that if there was a group of 50-year-old white men and women in that car they would have gotten treated the same way.”
While the Selectboard spoke highly of the second finalist, Leverett Police Chief Scott Minckler — whose department also provides services to Wendell — members voiced interest in someone who would bring a new perspective to the position. Minckler was a member of the Northfield Police Department roughly 13 years ago, and said he left the department to seek leadership experience.
Cummings said he “would be lying if (he) said his heart wasn’t broken for Scott.”
“Even though it’s difficult and I appreciate the difficulty,” Jacque said, “I think this is precisely where we wanted to be, which is slicing and dicing hairs between two excellent candidates.”
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.