$13,000 ammunition donation from Walmart controversial among Northampton city councilors

MassLive

NORTHAMPTON — City Councilors are debating whether or not to accept a gift to the police department of approximately $13,000 in ammunition from Walmart.

Some councilors were wary of delving too deeply into a discussion that could turn “philosophical” and could “send the wrong message” about the level of trust in the police. 

A handful of residents came forward during the public comment period at Thursday’s council meeting to speak against accepting the donation.

“This gift is a transaction between two incredibly powerful institutions,” said one speaker named Blair. “Please begin having conversations about why NPD needs bullets in the first place.”

“This body has said they only have the power of the purse. But if Walmart wants to supply endless guns and ammunition, the power of the purse is worthless,” said attorney Dana Goldblatt. “I don’t think these are my values or your values. I would say these are Walmart’s values.”

Mayor David Narkewicz told councilors that the Northampton Walmart store is no longer selling ammunition and that it approached the police department about donating its leftover inventory. The ammunition would be used for training purposes at the police department’s firing range.

Narkewicz said the level of discussion during the meeting over a gift to the city was “unprecedented.” Other corporations and organizations regularly donate items to city departments without the same scrutiny, he said.

Ward 7 Councilor Alisa Klein said comparing the donation of ammunition to other gifts that have been made to the city — like school buses or laser equipment to help the fire department find people in a home — was like comparing apples to oranges.

“It’s one thing to get a bus to transport children for educational purposes than with bullets, which are used for purposes that can kill people,” Klein said. “And the police do have to come under a particular type of scrutiny because of the power they hold, and the responsibility they have in our community is a particular kind of responsibility.”

According to Klein, the donation would include nearly 70,000 bullets. Not all the various types of bullets are used by police and would have to be passed on to the state police to be destroyed.

Klein said she asked Narkewicz if this donation would offset the police department’s request for funding in the next year’s operating budget. In an email reply, he said her request showed a “lack of trust” in the police and that it was “feeding into an anti-police mindset,” she said.

“I’ve never heard someone say that now that the school got this money, we need to reduce their budget,” Narkewicz said during the meeting.

He also said he’s not aware of any situation where the Northampton police have discharged their weapons in the line of duty since 1978.

“I do understand how that training is probably a good part of the reason there hasn’t been a discharged weapon outside of the firing range in all these years,” said Ward 2 Councilor Dennis Bidwell. “I’m comforted that training is required and that the police take training very seriously.”

Klein made a motion to refer the discussion to the City Council’s City Services Committee, which handles matters relating to public safety. Bidwell cautioned about delving too deeply into a discussion about the merits and implications of the gift.

“I don’t think this is the time for City Services to tackle the question of … do we want our police department to be armed,” Bidwell said.

“I’m not having a problem with this (donation),” said Ward 6 Councilor Marianne LaBarge. “What I’m having a problem with is how come only the City of Northampton is having a problem with the police department? Easthampton is not, none of them are.”

If councilors accept the gift, Klein said, she wouldn’t want the local police to “act as a liaison” between the corporation and the state police and to take on the responsibility of destroying the unusable ammo.

Councilor-at-large Bill Dwight added that even though Walmart wouldn’t be given a tax break by the city for the donation, Walmart would likely get a write-off from the IRS, and that he wouldn’t want the unused ammunition to aid in “padding (Walmart’s) pockets.”

Councilors ultimately directed Narkewicz to obtain information about how much of the ammunition could be used by the police department so that the city could accept only what would be used. Then Walmart could destroy the remaining ammunition itself rather than relying on the local police to carry that out.

In a 6-3 vote, the council decided to send the gift acceptance for further discussion by the City Services Committee at its Jan. 7 meeting. Bidwell and councilors David Murphy and James Nash were the dissenting votes.

https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/12/northampton_could_accept_13000.html