CHICOPEE - A handful of protesters came together outside the police station on Friday afternoon in hopes to get their voices heard about the change they want to see locally.
Johnny Miranda is a business owner in Chicopee and a community activist. He said the youth he works with wanted to organize this.
"Things that are happening at the national level are happening in Chicopee,” said Miranda. “We may not have a Floyd here, but we have other incidents that happen in the city that reflect a larger problem."
Miranda says he wants to see more consequences for officers and doesn’t want to see racism coming from any member of the department.
Racism isn’t the only issue these people were discussing. Another resident, Aimee Lee Plasse was there raising awareness about another issue.
"We have police officers that have violated to protect and serve, my sister as one example and they still have their jobs today,” Plasse said.
Her sister was murdered in Chicopee. Photos of the scene were taken by an officer on a personal cellphone which were later shared. At the time of the incident, one officer was fired but won an appeal to get his job back. Plasse is going to all the protests to get support for reform.
"I'm out here trying to get signatures for this pre-written letter to the committee board asking the state to make this legislation a law,” said Plasse.
The law would prevent law enforcement and EMTs from taking personal photos of a crime scene. She’s hoping at these protests she is able to get enough signatures to take to the State House to pass Amanda’s law. At the protest in Westfield, she said she was able to get over 200 signatures and would like to get even more in Chicopee.
"This is my hometown, this is where the incident happened and we are looking for support from the community here,” said Plasse.
Like many other cities, the people in attendance were asking for law enforcement and the system to change.
"It has to do with problematic behavior, it has to do with racism, it has to do with brutality, it has to do with abuse of power and it happens and because its happening at a national level, people are speaking up in the local level,” said Miranda.
