Northampton District Courthouse, Massachusetts Legal System

Northampton District Court Directions from Google Maps


The courthouse is located at the intersection of 2 of the most well known streets in the town of Northampton, Main st and King st. Technically the building has an address on Gothic st which is always under construction for one reason or another so be prepared to take a little walk if you have court in the morning. Always leave yourself enough time to park at one of the meters on main st, which means bringing some change so you don't get a RIDICULOUSLY HIGH PRICED TICKET.

Proceed to walk over to what looks like the back of the courthouse and go through the metal detectors and then proceed upstairs to whichever court has summoned you. When first arriving always make sure to check in at the probation office which will notify the court of your presence and where you will be filling out paperwork to determine if your eligible for a "free" attorney or must hire one yourself based on your income. The attorney is NEVER actually free though as there is a min $150 fee which can be worked off through community service if the judge allows. Typically your working at a rate of $10 per hour so you'd potentially owe 15 hours of community service somewhere in the near vicinity. 

Police Departments- Local Western Mass Towns

Deerfield Police Department: For years the Deerfield police department was a solid group of veteran policemen that all lived locally and had built longterm relationships with the community as a whole earning them respect with almost everyone. They had a job to do but balanced the need of having a positive re-pore. Knowing when to give a simple warning on the first nice day of spring rather then a speeding ticket can go a long way in a small town. In a place like this where news spreads like wildfire the poor treatment of citizens won't be kept quiet and won't be tolerated. By poor treatment I don't mean a needless speeding ticket either though, it's obnoxious but not something to stage a protest about.

The department has now shifted to bringing in a younger generation of officers by sending local applicants to the academy and then hiring them afterwards. Out of the total of 6 or 7 full time police officers working in the town 3/4 are from the "old guard" and I went to school with at least 3 of them. 1 a year below me, 1 in my class and 1 a year or 2 years ahead of me. This is the kind of hire that could really help the community by having officers that can relate and easily communicate with the citizens along with working knowledge of possible trouble areas and overall knowledge of roads and landmarks.

However, they happened to choose guys who don't exactly scream "Thank you for being a citizen in this town, we are here to serve and protect you and if there is anything you need were always here" More of the kind of guys that wear sunglasses indoors in the summer, hand out tickets to people like there is an expiration date on each one and one has set the record for most tickets/overall money brought into the town by those tickets in a month+quarter. That's quite the accomplishment for someone that has only been working there a couple years and there has been a department for a little while longer I think, haha.

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