Wakefield Police Department Annual Report 2007
January 30, 2008
Honorable Board of Selectmen
William J. Lee Memorial Town Hall
1 Lafayette Street
Wakefield, Massachusetts 01880-2436
Dear Board Members
Report of the Chief of Police
I am honored to present to you the Annual Report for calendar year 2007. Once again, the Wakefield Police Department has been able to move forward, initiate positive change while at the same time maintaining a level of critical services to the people who live work and play in Wakefield. Please find the following overview of the year 2007.
January was a month of preparation for upcoming personnel changes. Sgts. Gerry Curran and Thomas McHenry, as well as Patrol Officer David Dushane indicated their intent to retire. With that came the planning and training of the new officers to replace them. Sgt. Richard DiNanno was selected to succeed Detective Sergeant Curran in the Detective Bureau. He assumed the role as trainee during January to ensure his knowledge base will be up to the task of running the Bureau. Our new officers were hired and began their 23 week basic training regimen at the MBTA Transit Police Academy in Quincy.
Aside from those changes, we suffered a rash of armed robberies in the Salem Street area near the off ramps of Route 128. These crimes are certainly crimes of opportunity. Directed patrols were sent to the area to help reduce the threat of the robberies.
During the month of February, Sergeants Curran and Officer DuShane officially retired. Both officers represented well over sixty years of service to the Wakefield Police Department. It was during February that the Town finally received the $45,500 Community Policing Grant from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. The original amount of $50,000 was cut by $4,500 by the Patrick Administration.
A few very violent crimes started off the month of March. A violent sexual assault and two armed robberies were reported to the department. Due to excellent police work and the perseverance of our staff, arrests were made in these cases. Kudos goes to all the officers who helped solve these crimes. With the new infusion of Community Policing funds, we started our third Citizen’s Drug Recognition Academy. This program has been extremely successful in training groups of citizens in what to look for in children regarding drug use and abuse. Additionally, the Patrick Administration reinstated the $4500 that had been cut from our Community Policing Grant. We thank the Governor for his insight into the value of these important community programs.
The Wakefield Police Department has always been a leader in the Rape Aggression Defense Program, commonly known by the acronym RAD. This month we hosted a training session for RAD instructors. Having said that, one of our own officers graduated the intense training session. Officer Meaghan Leary will be our newest RAD instructor. Lastly, Sergeant Tom McHenry retired after 32 years of service.
April was a month dedicated to prevention. With the upcoming prom season and the desire by many to get out of doors, we began working to prevent underage drinking and through a few grants, to deter aggressive driving. Operation Shoulder Tap was commenced. This program is used to make adults who buy liquor for minors aware of the penalties for what they are doing. Targeting our local liquor stores, we spoke with 116 people of whom only one had offered to buy alcohol for undercover officers posing as minors. Less than 1% of the people interviewed attempted to buy for the minors. In the end, we were successful in deterring people from providing minors with alcohol.
Disturbances began to rise in May due to the onset of nice weather and the season of outside parties. Officers were called to the Agape Church on West Water St numerous times. As a result of many meetings, the property owner, the Fire, Building and Police Departments, as well as Town Counsel, all came together to mange the ongoing problem. I am happy to state that in the spirit of true Problem Solving Policing we were able to come to mutual understanding of the problem and how to fix it.
While maintaining the drive to constantly improve, the Department began moving forward to rewrite our policy and procedure book during the late spring and early summer. This massive project is being managed by Lieut. Mark Pherson. This is the first step towards certification. At the same time, we committed resources to a new software program called Sharepoint. The goal of this program is to assist us in the day to day management of information, both internal and external, keeping our officers up to date on current events while at the same time improving accountability and productivity. Sgt. Ron LeBlanc had a flag shipped from Afghanistan where he has been deployed for the last four months. We will be proudly displaying the flag in the front of the Police Station until his safe return.
Summer brought on a large number of identity theft cases. Residents were warned of this increase and some educational sessions were held to help people understand how to best protect themselves. The recruits were finally put on the street to replace the retirements from earlier in the year. Additionally, due to retirements, we made some internal staffing changes.
One of the greatest changes and additions to the Department came in September. Through the help of the community, we purchased a new police canine. To my knowledge, it is the first time ever that the Wakefield Police Department has had a canine within its ranks. Both canine and handler embarked on a sixteen week training regimen in Plymouth.
With the opening of school in September and into October we embarked on a drug intervention initiative. Drug control officers made some major arrests for narcotics violations, hopefully to curb the use and abuse of drugs in town. Additionally, we held a competition in the elementary schools to name our new canine. That coupled with our Halloween Safety Program took quite a bit of time during October. We were pleased with the results.
November and December brought news that we would be required to reapply for the GREAT Grant which had been awarded last year for the Galvin Middle School. We rewrote the grant and submitted it to the Department of Justice in Washington. In the same vein, we applied for a $3000 traffic equipment grant, $7000 in traffic enforcement money and for $50,000 from the State “Byrne” Grant for Community Policing funding. Officer Leary was assigned to represent the Department in the Wakefield Alliance Against Violence (WAAV), a not for profit organization developed to help reduce incidents of violence in town. We closed out the year with a few bank robberies which have become frequent in the greater Boston area around the holiday season. Our officers are working with federal agents on these cases. On the
technology side, we are rolling out our Sharepoint information system and will be training all of our officers in its use. And lastly, we have partnered with the Middlesex Sheriff on a youth grant to bring kids together in the winter at a “Quickball” program. This program, funded by the Cal Ripken Foundation, will allow us to serve as mentors for our youth.
The request for police services for the year is outlined below:
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COMMUNITY POLICING
The Town of Wakefield is truly a community in every sense of the word. So, to say that we embark on Community Policing is actually saying we are doing our jobs. During the course of business every day, we do a number of special projects as funding and manpower allow. In 2007 we continued with our Drug Recognition Police Academy geared toward adults. Additionally, we took a very proactive step and began training officers in the Rape Aggression Defense Program which is funded through the Byrne Community Policing Grant. These officers will work both in Wakefield and surrounding communities to teach women, both young and old how to defend themselves case they are assaulted or attacked. Wakefield has been a leader in this area for many years and now we have graduated to the level of being a training
site for other officers; a true honor. This year, WAAV was established and we worked hard to work with this group. We assigned an officer to work with this violence prevention endeavor; the goal being to reduce violence in town and protect those who have fallen victim. We have developed school evacuation plans for our schools and have updated our floor plans of each and every school in the district. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and the Wakefield Police continue to meet with school officials on a monthly basis to ensure that our schools are safe and that those attending have the best opportunities for a solid education. Our web page has been updated and we have assigned an officer to maintain the site. As we all know, fostering relationships with the community is key. Officer Al Sarafian runs and works closely with the US Marine Corps Reserve in collecting toys for the Toys for Tots program in an effort to deliver toys for the holidays to
those who are less fortunate. Officer Sarafian was the recipient of an award last year for his efforts in this area. Additionally, we are still performing the annual Halloween Safety Program which is funded in part by the Wakefield Rotary. We are grateful for their support. We would also like to thank Verizon for assisting us in procuring a server for our E911 system. As always we continue to lobby our legislative contingent to seek more funds for our worthwhile projects.
INVESTIGATIONS
During the year Wakefield Police Officers investigated a number of serious crimes. The majority of those are outlined below. With the new personnel in the Detective Bureau due to retirement and transfer, we have had a new direction. Much of the focus has been to try to reduce property crimes and a large part of time has been invested in trying to reduce the flow of drugs in town.
OFFENSE
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QUANTITY
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Homicide
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0
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Sex Offenses (all categories)
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10
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Robbery
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5
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Burglary
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89
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Assaults
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43
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Motor Vehicles Stolen
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28
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Disturbances
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1039
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PERSONNEL
In 2007 Sergeants Curran, McHenry and Officer Dushane all retired. In addition to hiring officers to replace them, we suffered the deployment of Sgt. Ron LeBlanc as he served with the US Army in Afghanistan. As a result of the retirements and some internal adjustments, we assigned Sgt Rick DiNanno as the Detective Unit Commander and reassigned Officers Grace and Ryan to the Detective Bureau. Additionally, Officer Dave Driscoll has been assigned to assist the NEMLEC Information Technology Unity with his expertise and Meaghan Leary has been working with the Wakefield Alliance Against Violence. I cannot express the importance of have our officers assisting in these external endeavors in addition to their regular assignments and duties at Wakefield PD.
TRAINING
Specialized training is something that is mandated for all Massachusetts police officers with the focus being on updates and improving the skill sets already in place. Each and every year we send our officers out for a week of mandated “refresher” training as well as qualifying twice annually in firearms. This year we changed and improved of firearms sessions. Officers are required to compete in a number of new drills that involve semi tactical situations and some situational awareness drills. All of our officers continue to receive the best training we can provide for them. Officer Mike Taylor completed the rigorous training to be certified as a Drug Recognition Officer. Officer Taylor can now be used as an expert in recognizing drivers who may be impaired by the ingestion of controlled
substances. Having and officer with this level of training is key to our Department in combating the use and abuse of illicit drugs and driving under the influence of those drugs. Also this year, with the help of funding from Homeland Security, we trained all of our command staff in the upper levels of Incident Command. As a result of us being ahead of the curve, we have now met all of the Incident Command training mandates. Sergeants Beede and Skory completed leadership training commensurate with their promotions while at the same time we focused some specialized training on handling missing children. Officers are also recertified annually in CPR and First Responder. I am proud that our officers embrace the new training and constantly strive to better themselves.
The men and women of the Wakefield Police Department come to work every day and perform well beyond what is expected of them. They are proud, dedicated and focused on delivering the best in police services that they can provide. They work through some of the most adverse conditions in the world we live in and show up the next day to do it all over again. It is an honor to have the opportunity to work with these fine police officers and each and every resident of Wakefield should feel safe knowing that they have these dedicated professionals protecting them.
Respectfully submitted,
Richard E. Smith
Chief of Police
WAKEFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT
ANNUAL REPORT
FUNDS RETURNED TO THE TOWN-CALENDAR YEAR 2007
CATEGORY AMOUNT
QUINN BILL REIMBURSEMENT 212,432.41
PAID DETAIL 10% SURCHARGE 13,614.45
FIREARMS LICENSING 7,512.50
ACCIDENT/INCIDENT REPORT FEES 2,134.10
ALARM RECEIPTS 500.00
SOLICITOR PERMITS 650.00
PARKING ENFORCEMNT FINES 59,329.00
TOTAL FUNDS RETURNED TO THE TOWN IN 2007 $296,172.46
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