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2010 SHARON POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT
Joseph S. Bernstein, Chief of Police
With 2010 behind us, we look forward to 2011. Although looking forward is a must, the guidelines in developing the Department Annual Report require writing about the past. Like a line in an old movie where someone said, “we must know where we come from to know where we are going”, I write this report. Much thought is about the changing times and events that impact policing, while focusing on those more specific to Sharon. We are all aware of various actions throughout the world that are indicative of the turmoil and violence impacting our individual daily routines and policing as a whole. Of course the deadly attack upon our nation on September 11, 2001 tops the list, but other events certainly shouldn’t be viewed as secondary. As I am writing, today’s news is focused on a deadly
shooting in Arizona where several people have been shot and killed, including a Federal Judge and nine year old girl, while a Congresswoman fights for her life. All were gathered at a ROUTINE event in their community. These horrific events continue to impact our mindset, civility and feeling of security. According to a local expert we deal with approximately twenty such shootings annually in our country. However, our memory many times is short lived, possibly as a defense mechanism. As time passes many people become complacent about safety and security, but we should not. We should continue to live our lives and not let these events change our daily routines. However, all of us must be vigilant about being aware, reporting suspicious activities and behavior, so those in the law enforcement community and other public safety personnel can better serve you. There is no text book with a step by step plan to make us perfectly safe.
The personnel of the Sharon Police Department will continue to do their best to provide for your safety and well being working with other local, Federal and State agencies, and most importantly the general public who have more eyes and ears than all policing agencies combined. Only with the combined efforts of all working together can we achieve the safest environment realistically possible.
During this past year we restructured the Command Staff of the Police Department, creating a new position of Deputy Chief. This initiative was taken on to better serve the community and personnel of the Department. Our goal was to provide better command/control oversight, have a positive impact on first-line supervisors by reducing the number of times they must be ordered to work beyond their normal hours, and accomplish this without any increased costs. We were able to accomplish this, and will realize some cost savings as a result of these changes. After extensive review by the Finance Committee and with final review and unanimous support of the Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator Puritz this was accomplished. As a result John McGrath was promoted to Deputy Chief, John Ford to Lieutenant and Don
Brewer to Sergeant.
Also, during this past year Officer Leavitt received a Life Saving Award for actions taken upon a man suffering from a medical condition.
Although the economics of the time are not conducive to expanding the force, and maintaining our current compliment is challenging in and of itself, the need for more personnel is imperative. We desire to continue to provide a high level of innovative, proactive and responsive services to the community; however, with the recent developments throughout the Town and anticipated projects, we must address our personnel needs to continue services at current levels. Since 2008 with the cooperation of the School Committee and Board of Selectmen, a School Resource Officer (SRO) position was established and funded. The benefits of the SRO in the schools have exceeded our expectations with requests by some citizens for a second, specifically for the Middle School. We had anticipated employing four additional police
officers in 2009 in preparation of the Sharon Commons Development as it takes approximately one year to hire and train each police officer; however, due to the economic climate both the development and hiring was put off. Once the development starts to move forward we must take the appropriate steps to address personnel needs to maintain services. Policing continues to become more complex, requiring more expertise from your law enforcement community, but at the same time we must continue our traditional efforts such as: traffic enforcement, routine patrols, responding to various emergencies and maintaining a rapport with our citizens to foster trust and maintain lines of communication. We continue to evaluate programs and initiatives; making adjustments as needed, to best serve our community, ensuring that front line traditional policing initiatives of answering emergencies are not compromised. We hope that our funding levels allow us to continue the
development of the Police Department and services to the community that we all expect and deserve.
Some programs we continue to offer on a limited basis are more critical for the times, such as “R.A.D.” (Rape Aggression Defense), a newly enhanced “Project Lifesaver”, which helps locate wandering Alzheimer patients or others with medical conditions, the “Are You O.K. Program” to check on the elderly, “A Child is Missing”, Junior Police Academy, and most recently, joining with numerous other agencies coordinated through the Norfolk Sheriff’s office a Rapid Alert Notification System enabling us in case of emergency to notify by telephone large numbers of people in a short period of time. Our affiliation continues with the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council (Metro-LEC), a contingent of approximately forty local law enforcement agencies and two Sheriffs’
Departments, formed to promote greater public safety and protection within local communities through the sharing of resources and promoting greater capacity which exceed the capabilities of any one single agency. Through this Law Enforcement Council many initiatives have been accomplished, well beyond the means of individual agencies, including the web site, Massachusetts Most Wanted (www.massmostwanted.org), which has been very helpful in identifying and solving numerous crimes, including those in our community. Metro-LEC also maintains a forensics computer lab which includes state of the art equipment and specially trained police officers from various member agencies which have assisted us
with various investigations including sexual assaults, identity thefts and illegal drug activities.
In 2010, as in past years, we aggressively pursued outside funding to augment Town resources for equipment purchases and additional officers in the field. Due to the unfavorable economic times, most funding for local agencies like ours has almost been eliminated, with the limited available resources being directed to regional initiatives such as Metro–LEC and our regional drug task force. However, even our regional drug task force which received grant funding for many years is no longer eligible. Nevertheless, the Sharon Police Department did receive grant monies which assisted in: training personnel in the use of the enhanced 911 Emergency System; supplementing Town funds for E-911 Dispatchers’ personnel costs; purchasing ballistic vests; and, holding a bicycle rodeo with the assistance of the Recreation
Department where participants were given free bicycle helmets. Additionally, we received a grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau to address safety belt usage, driving while under the influence and other traffic safety concerns.
Communication with everyone in our community is something we continually foster. Initiatives in this area include many of the programs listed earlier as well as: local 1630 AM radio through Civil Defense; cable TV; officers visiting the elementary schools; participation in reading programs at the elementary schools; and, our ongoing participation with various other civic groups, all in an effort to provide high quality services and for our citizens to interact with officers in varied settings. In terms of services directed to our senior population, the previously noted “Are You Okay Program” which, in conjunction with the Sharon Council on Aging and Norfolk Sheriff’s Department, monitors at risk seniors on a daily basis and “Project Lifesaver” provided essential safety net functions.
Please visit our web site through www.townofsharon.net to view additional information and informative links, including “Mass Most Wanted” noted earlier, Sex Offender Registry, Domestic Violence resources, Identity Theft resources and others, as well as the Police and Town General By-Laws.
We continually strive to develop our organization in an effort to better serve our community. Staff development and training are key components. Personnel have attended numerous training sessions to keep current and expand their knowledge with the goal of delivering ever improving quality of service and protection of the community. A wide variety of courses and seminars were attended by various personnel in addition to all officers’ annual participation in a week long training program through the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council covering legal issues, firearms qualification, first responder certification, defensive tactics and community policing.
The Police Department was involved in approximately 20,500 incidents in 2010, relatively consistent over the past couple of years. Officers responded to 306 motor vehicle accidents, of which 229 required formal reporting and 30 involved personal injuries. The numbers of overall accidents, both reportable and non-reportable were down approximately 10%. Many times accidents can be avoided by drivers being more attentive and following the rules of the road. Over the last few years I requested everyone’s assistance in monitoring their own driving habits, and advised that officers were going to be more vigilant in addressing this issue, which they have. Many things factor into accident statistics including weather, enforcement, and inattentiveness of drivers. In partnership with the Sharon
Education Foundation, for the second year and prior to the changes in the law, together we recognized and launched the “DNT TXT N DRV” campaign. Officers strike a balance in levels of enforcement actions, issuing 1,819 written warnings and 374 civil violations. Your continued vigilance in monitoring your own driving habits is the most effective way in making our roads safer for all. Officers also issued 89 criminal complaints. We responded to 832 burglary alarms, of which almost all were false, weather related, malfunctions or operator error. Officers were called upon 74 times to assist citizens who locked themselves out of their vehicle and assisted in installing 56 children/infant car seats. There was 29 reported house or business burglaries, considerably more then the low of 15 in 2007, but less than 2008. Fluctuations in this area have been the norm, as often one person or group usually does not commit just one burglary and
disappear. We call upon all our neighbors to assist us by being aware and reporting suspicious activities. Reported larcenies remained consistent at 81. Many of these larcenies are from unlocked motor vehicles. There were 14 identity thefts, 50% less then reported in 2009. Senseless acts of vandalism decreased again this year to 32, from 84 in 2007. Please remember that with your help we can continue to have a positive impact in deterring criminal activity and again stress the need for all of us to become involved and report suspicious activity to include, if possible, description of the people, vehicle, and especially the license plate number of the vehicle. The overall crime statistics for our community are very positive. They are reflective of the hard work and commitment of the men and women of the police department, and citizen vigilance, serving as extra eyes and ears for the police department.
As in past years, I will conclude by thanking all the people who have supported the Sharon Police Department. Many of you have spoken to me personally, and others sent notes of appreciation complimenting various members of the department. Your expressions of thanks are greatly appreciated. If you have any comments or suggestions, which you feel would be beneficial to us in better serving you, please let us know. You can telephone me at 781.784.1588, stop by the Police Station, or send us a note.
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