October 17, 2012 Chief John H.

Horvath UMass Amherst Police Department 585 East Pleasant Street Amherst, MA 01003-9600 Re: M.G.L. c. 138, 68

Dear Chief Horvath: Thank you for hosting yesterday evenings community meeting, and for striving (together with the Amherst Police Department) to keep the peace and enforce the laws in our community. As a parent, local attorney, and alumnus of the University, I am grateful for your service and that of your officers. So I apologize for having failed, as a member of this community, to maintain a fundamental social norm that is essential to effective policing, namely the norm that puts assaulting an officer beyond the pale. An attack on a police officer is outrageous in and of itself. But it also represents contempt for the community those officers are sworn to protect. As I mentioned at the meeting, I believe that the recent spate of attacks on police officers indicates that we have now crossed an important line, and that as a community we are in danger of acquiescing in and thereby tacitly condoning a new norm. I would like to help re-establish some reasonable expectations and, because the vast majority of public order offenses (including assaults on officers) are alcoholrelated, ask you to consider the following: In cases of riot or great public excitement the Select Board has the authority to order the holders of liquor licenses not to sell, give away, or deliver alcoholic beverages for up to three days (M.G.L. c. 138, 8). So far as I know, no Amherst Select Board has ever used its power under this legislation. Given the failure of current policies to prevent the uptick in violence, I believe that the current Board should now prepare to do so, and to ask their counterparts in Hadley and other neighboring towns to do likewise. Even if other communities do not collaborate, a temporary alcohol ban in Amherst alone could help reduce the number and scale of disturbances. So while a joint approach would be ideal, Amherst should prepare to go it alone. You are in a unique position to determine whether great public excitement is imminent. 1

If and when you make such a determination, I ask you to communicate it to the Select Board promptly. The onus will then be on Amhersts elected representatives to decide whether to exercise their statutory authority to impose an alcohol ban. If they choose to do so, local bars and restaurants will undoubtedly suffer, as will their law-abiding patrons. Diners will experience inconvenience and proprietors will lose revenue. The question the townspeople will face is this: Are we willing to endure the inconvenience of 72 hours without being able to purchase alcohol in order to help the police protect us? If we are not willing to pay that price in the short term, we will continue to send a clear message that we will put up with public acts of violence. The long-term consequences will be much worse, with our collective definition of an acceptable level of violence expanding year by year. I would be grateful for your thoughts on this proposal. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Yours sincerely,

Peter Vickery, Esq.

cc:

John Musante, Town Manager Chief Scott P. Livingstone