A Williamstown, Massachusetts, police union is criticizing the town's select board for not standing up for the department.
In a letter sent to the town manager (PDF) earlier this week, officer Brad Sacco, president of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, Local 424, said "morale in the department is the lowest it has ever been."
Sacco also said that since the town appointed a Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee in July, a hostile environment toward the police department "has worsened."
Mohammed Memfis, the chair of the committee, said it's discussing ways it can engage with the police. And police officers are invited to raise concerns during the public forum part of their meetings.
"If it's about there being a hostile environment in the town, we [also] welcome that," Memfis said. "And that's something that we want to know, so that we can address it, and move in a way to work more productively moving forward."
The criticism from the union comes after a Williamstown police sergeant filed a $500,000 civil rights lawsuit this summer, alleging racial discrimination and sexual harassment in the department.
The letter from the union reads, in part, "Our members are asking for IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION by the Select Board to not only address the hostile environment we are in, but to start to heal or fix the dissention caused by the DIRE committee and lack of Select Board support."
The select board chair declined to comment.
The defendants in the lawsuit — the town, the police chief and town manager — have until next week to respond in court.
