GREENFIELD — Local police met with members of the Greenfield Business Association on Tuesday evening for an in-depth discussion on the department’s downtown public safety initiatives.

Police Chief Todd Dodge, joined by Lts. Jason Haskins and Christopher Greene and Sgt. Jay Butynski, reviewed the department’s efforts to mitigate sidewalk loitering and crime downtown while weighing in on Mayor Ginny Desorgher’s recent decision to remove the park benches and chess table at the end of Miles Street. They also discussed the future opening of the department’s new substation at 205 Main St.

Dodge opened discussions on the substation with an admission that, ideally, the decision should have received more community feedback. He added that with 30 years of policing experience in Greenfield, he had a thorough understanding of the need for an enhanced law enforcement presence downtown. The plan is to station two police officers in the substation, which will be equipped with a front door face-to-face dispatch screen, allowing fast community access to law enforcement.

“As far as the substation is concerned, I hope people don’t feel slighted in that this decision was made without including you in it. In retrospect, a meeting like this probably should have come first. It would have been better to hear from everybody, we kind of were just taking the bull by the horns,” Dodge said. “[The officers’] mission, when we start with them, is to take full ownership of downtown. We want them to know everything that’s going on down here. They should know all the business owners, anybody involved down here, in any way, shape or form. They need to know the individuals walking around; they need to know the unhoused folks; they need to know everyone.”

A roughly 45-minute conversation ensued after Stephanie Gale, an applicant for Greenfield City Council’s vacant at-large seat, criticized the decision to remove the benches, which Dodge said the mayor made at the request of Greenfield Police.

The chief added that the bench removal was not about deterring the city’s homeless population, but rather, clearing room on the sidewalk that had been previously occupied by a group Dodge described as being very loud and, at times, disruptive.

“It wasn’t about getting rid of benches. It was about moving the crowd of people who wouldn’t listen to another place,” Dodge said. “Individuals were stacked on a sidewalk in Greenfield, directly taking up an entire portion of a sidewalk in Greenfield. They turned it into a recreational area, and it has nothing to do with homeless people. … The vast majority of them are housed people.”

With the portion of sidewalk surrounding the end of Miles Street cleared of its benches, local business owners aired their concerns that the decision would ultimately result in that portion of the population congregating near other local businesses and organizations, such as those surrounding the deeper pocket park.

Library Director Anna Bognolo explained that although Greenfield Public Library is open to everyone, staff members often find themselves acting as “babysitters” for disruptive regulars.

“We are accommodating to everyone, but we have this problem ongoing every day with different groups of people coming in and out. We’re very respectful when we ask them to keep the language down. We serve all ages, so you can imagine parents coming in for a child time and you’ve got folks outside who are cursing and yelling and doing lewd gestures and things of that nature,” Bognolo said. “It’s kind of like babysitting, going out and reminding them, ‘Can you please not smoke on the premises?’ or ‘Could you please keep your voices down?’ … Yesterday, we had two women fighting in the library, screaming and yelling. It’s really hard for us to keep all of this at bay and do all of the work that we have to do to serve everyone who comes there.”

Similarly, Greenfield Solar partners Claire Chang and John Ward said they have, on numerous occasions, had to ask loud groups of people gathering outside their Fiske Avenue office to quiet down.

Still, Ward argued it might be a better alternative to let people gather where they are once the substation is active. He said although there have been instances of drug use and sales on Miles Street, he believes people are less likely to break the law near Main Street than they would be in an area that is more obscured from the public’s eye.

“Where else do we have that we can put people? If we put people down in Energy Park, they’re going to be doing things that they can do in private that they can’t really do in the light of day, because there might not be people down there,” Ward said. “You want to take those benches out there so you don’t have people congregating on the sidewalk, but what are we going to do with those people? What might be a better idea is to take those benches, turn them around 180 degrees. Nobody’s going to want to stand behind somebody’s back at a bench.”

Members of the Greenfield Business Association and Greenfield Police floated a number of ideas aimed at mitigating street crime and loitering, from public art projects to incentive programs rewarding residents for acts of community service. Dodge noted that building relationships between residents and police officers downtown will be the cornerstone of any future mitigation programs or policies.

“The police get kind of a bum rap, like we don’t have a pulse, and we constantly get targeted with the idea that we don’t have good relationships with the people that are downtown. Honestly, it’s not true. We have a very good rapport with a lot of them, and we do know what’s going on,” Dodge said. “The goal since February has been to get our faces out there, not just to drive by you in a car. That’s why I have officers showing up at various meetings all the time, introducing themselves. I want people to understand that they can break down that suspicion of who we are. You’ve got to know we’re only human.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.