AMHERST — Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Police Chief Scott Livingstone are pledging to be more sensitive to the community during investigations into youth bullying after concerns were raised by parents who were not present when a police officer recently visited their home to meet with their son.

The joint statement, part of which was read by Bockelman to the Select Board Monday, states that the policies surrounding such investigations are being examined and will ensure that parents and guardians are notified in advance if an officer is planning to drop by.

“We did not do that in this case and we apologize for that lack of sensitivity,” Bockelman said.

Bockelman said he understands that the visit created anxiety and stress for at least one of the three families whose children were part of the possible bullying.

The statement reads, “The officer’s intention was to make all involved feel safer. The visit actually had the opposite effect and made at least one family feel less secure for themselves and for the future of their child. They felt that what had been viewed as a school matter that had been resolved at the school level now looked to have become a police matter.”

“The purpose of the visit was to confirm that the issue had been addressed, and that children felt safe attending school together,” Bockelman said.

Bockelman explained that police were involved because the incident was first reported to the department, which then informed school officials, as protocol surrounding bullying requires.

Prior to issuing the statement, Bockelman had a joint meeting last week with the parents, Livingstone, Acting Superintendent Michael Morris and Human Rights Commission Chairman Matthew Charity.

The response also follows an effort by Town Meeting member Michael Burkart, at the final session of Town Meeting May 15, to reconsider the public safety budget based on what he said was a violation of department regulations in how it does community policing.

Burkart sought to remove $5,000 from the public safety budget out of what he called “grave concern” for the officer’s visit to a family of color to interview the child whose parents were not home.

Town Meeting opted not to pursue that avenue, with Livingstone defending the department’s actions as an important aspect of community policing.

“(It was) completely as a community policing initiative to check on the well-being of a child there, there was no interrogation, no questioning,” Livingstone said.

Livingstone said in a later interview that the department’s approach was to do outreach to make sure the three children involved in the alleged bullying were getting along and rekindling their friendships.

The statement goes on to thank the Amherst community.

“We are very proud of the work of our police officers and we all appreciate the support we receive from the community. We are resolved to continue the serious work of aligning our community policing work with the many communities in Amherst.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.

]]>