BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

ADD 1 10/7/20 — Here are the details of today’s near-fatal stabbing in Pittsfield:

This morning at approximately 8:40 AM Pittsfield Police, Pittsfield Fire, and County Ambulance responded to the report of a stabbing on Weller Avenue in Pittsfield. The victim was immediately transported to Berkshire Medical Center with life threatening injuries.

Shortly after, the suspect was observed driving in the area of the East/Elm/Fourth Street intersection and a brief pursuit ended when Officers lost sight of the vehicle in a thickly settled neighborhood.

Approximately 5 minutes later, an off-duty Great Barrington Police Officer observed the vehicle on Route 7 in Lenox.  That Officer, along with the Lenox, Stockbridge, and Massachusetts State Police Departments pursued the suspect into Stockbridge, where Stockbridge Police deployed a Stop Stick unit, successfully disabling the fleeing vehicle.  Those agencies were joined by Lee Police and took Stephen Moss, age 31 into custody after a brief foot pursuit.  He is now in the custody of the Pittsfield Police.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by members of the Pittsfield Police Detective Bureau, Drug Unit, and Patrol Division.

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(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY OCT. 7, 2020) — As most know, THE PLANET accepts guest columns. We welcome all contributions and publish most of them subject to routine editorial standards, clarity and reasonableness mostly. We welcome pushback as well as agreement.

This is a column from Mama Mia, sent after Ward 1 councilor Helen Moon’s request to defund the police. At the time, Moon was employed by the Berkshire County District Attorney’s office. She has since been fired from that office. In light of the most recent murder in Pittsfield, we thought it might be a good time for this piece.

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New Cabal of Johnny-Come-Lately Players ‘Entirely Obsessed with Political Power’

BY MAMA MIA

Special to Planet Valenti News and Commentary

Local police departments have officers certified in Crisis Intervention Training. Based on the nationally-acclaimed Memphis model, officers attend a 40-hour training on responding to calls involving those with chronic mental health issues, traumatic brain injuries, autism, and suicidal thoughts. Many community members have a dual-diagnosis and suffer with substance use disorder. CIT seeks to improve outcomes for both the public and the police by teaching officers to recognize when folks are in crisis and how to approach and communicate with them so as to de-escalate the situation; the idea is to move people into treatment and not the criminal justice system. Chief Wynn was very much a proponent of this program and by the time it ended in 2018, over half of PPD officers had been trained. Other local police departments, correctional officers, college security, dispatchers, and EMTs were also trained over the years.

The training was a collaboration between NAMI-BC, BCC, Berkshire County Sheriff’s Department, and the Berkshire DA under Dave Capeless. Sending officers to a 40-hour training is extremely expensive, even though presenters and organizers [this writer included] donated their time to the training. Training participants were given a pre- and post-training assessment test, the results of which were examined by a Williams College Ph.D. on the level of comfort and confidence officers had in dealing with individuals with lived experience; each year the results revealed that officers went away from the training with the confidence and knowledge they needed to improve these outcomes.

Of course PPD took this one step further and hired a clinician to ride along on certain call where subjects were in crisis. I believe that this practice continues.

For those who were not aware of this program, you are not alone. Clearly Ms. Moon is unaware of it. During the last DA’s race it was clear that Ms. Harrington was unaware of it. Why is that? I suspect that it is because unlike the current “administration” the prior DAs did not view everything as a photo opportunity, staged, packaged, and displayed on social media or the subject of a press release or interview. The DA’s Domestic and Sexual Violence task force [which has its own FB page] is not a new idea–there have been various iterations of such a task force for decades; the previous participants were not the DA’s political pals, but rather direct providers. Diversion of mental-health cases? Absolutely, both in district and superior court. Evidence-based prosecutions of domestic violence case? The DA doesn’t realize the prior administrations successfully used this approach for decades and all new ADAs and VWAs trained to prepare for cases like this. Vertical prosecutions of serious district court cases? Nothing new. Domestic violence, child-abuse, and juvenile units working together? Of course. My point is this–just because the prior office didn’t trumpet each and every event, training, and task force doesn’t mean it didn’t exist. So the fact the the new comers think they invented this stuff is just wrong. And kind of pathetic.

This is just one example of why the Moon maneuver to unfund [because that’s what it is as far as she’s concerned] is without any thought to public or community safety, understanding of history, or perspective on what actually works.

 This new cabal of johnny-come-lately players is entirely obsessed with political power, because with it comes the promise of money, status, and influence. Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong [the current D.A.] hates the cops, because they see her for the amateur she is. Oh, to the press she praises their work because she has to. But she will never forget or forgive those who were against her; she will reward her friends and punish her enemies.

And, lest you think otherwise my gentle readers, this writer is pro-cop and pro-black lives matter. You can be both, you know.

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THE PLANET thanks Mama Mia for the commentary. We welcome guest columns on relevant topics, all POV and political persuasions. You have something to say? We’re open for business.

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“If it weren’t for Daylight Savings Time, many households would have no savings at all” — Sir Donald Turpentine.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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