Police dismantle community organized 'Moose Camp' for unhoused Northampton residents

The city of Northampton has cleared an encampment for people who have been living in tents near Lake Fitzgerald. On Friday morning about 10 unhoused residents were told to gather their belongings by Northampton and Easthampton police officers as well as Hampshire county sheriff officers.

Paris Lawrence is an unhoused resident who was staying at the encampment and was told to leave.

"I was woken up by roughly 30 police officers and no DCC [Division of Community Care]. I was given maybe 30 seconds to grab what I could and everything was very unclear and unexpected,” Lawrence said. “There was no email warning us. That didn't end up happening, so it was a very frightening time."

Lawrence said he will not have access to many resources with the long weekend ahead.

Alan Wolf, chief of staff to Northampton's Mayor Gina Louise-Sciarra, said these residents were granted two extensions to vacate the area.

"The city cleared the site as soon as it was safe to do so, in line with all of our previously stated commitments this morning," Wolf said.

Wolf said there were officers from Northampton, Easthampton, and the Hampshire county sheriff’s department because they expected a larger group of people similar to what was seen at a protest in support of the encampment on Monday.

“Because there were between 60 and 100 people there on Monday, there were not enough personnel on site to safely clear that either for the city's people or the people there. So [the Northampton police] reached out for assistance today,” Wolf said.

Wolf said there were less than 10 people present at the encampment when police officers from multiple departments showed up today.

Community organizers said they tried to get in touch with the Sciarra's office and the city's Division of Community Care for an eviction timeline, but were never provided a date.

Ty Nichols, a lead organizer in the encampment site referred to as “Moose Camp,” said they were willing to work with city officials.

“We were ready to start the conversation about how to best move forward and then they woke us up this morning like this,” Nichols said.

Nichols said Victor Caputo, the captain of operations for the Northampton Police, promised to communicate with them and other organizers through email to set up a meeting with the camp, but did not hear back from him. Caputo did not return a request for comment.

“People don't have anywhere to sleep. All of our stuff is being held [at the campsite]. We're told we're not able to get it till Tuesday,” Nichols said.

The now vacated encampment off Cook Avenue is being blocked off with yellow tape by Northampton police officers. The officers said anyone who enters the site will be considered trespassing.