Many changes took place in 2006. The police department has undergone some renovations during the year, some for the first time since its construction in 1975. We have repaved the entire parking area at the department as well as painted the interior and will be installing carpeting throughout as well. We have installed some windows that open to ease our fuel bills as well. We still await the installation of some shower facilities, which had never been installed during the original construction, for our officers.

Personnel wise we have promoted to Sergeant, Jeffrey Dalessio a 19 year member of the Department. He fills the opening of Sgt. Thomas Templeton as Tom retired in September of 2005. We have also filled open patrolmen positions replacing Officer Danielo Feliciano who left in late January to return to the Springfield Department where he had been laid off. We hired Donald Cavanaugh a member of the Longmeadow Police Department and an East Longmeadow resident in late June and also added Jeffrey Niznik and Daniel Manley from the reserve intermittent ranks to the department upon successful completion of the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Police Academy. These officers started the academy in late November and we anticipate their graduation in late April 2007. Once they graduate the East Longmeadow Police Department will have 23 full time officers the first increase in staffing in over seven years.

Being when school started this fall we initiated a school resource officer program. This was formulated over the early spring 2006 with discussion involving Dr. Edward Costa superintendent of schools, Selectman James Driscoll and myself. In light of the violence that has plagued school systems throughout the country I believe that this program is a positive step towards protecting and helping our students. The following four officers expressed an interest in this program, Officers Tim Daley, Donald Cavanaugh, Scott Skala and Steven Manning. These officers received a one week training course on the School Resource program and have been working various days and schedules at the high school interacting with the students and staff there. It is our goal to eventually assign a permanent officer and assistants to this program and eventually provide this service to the middle and elementary schools as well.

We have continued to offer training programs for our residents as well. We held two Internet safety programs one at Birchland Park Middle School and another at the High School in an effort to bring our parents up to speed on some of the dangers that exist in the Internet. We have had specialists from the Attorney Generals office as well as State Police personnel here to deliver these programs.

            Officer Frederick Bailey remains active in the TRIAD group within East Longmeadow. TRIAD is a cooperative program involving the police department, the council on aging and various senior support services. This program meets the first Friday of the month from September through June at the senior center on North Main Street.

I have worked with the East Longmeadow Public Safety group in an effort to assess the public safety program we provide for the Town. We worked on and distributed a survey earlier in the spring and one area of discussion was for emergency medical services and the possibility of starting a 24/7 fire and ambulance service. More work will continue with this group of concerned residents. I appreciate the time and effort they have provided on this committee.

Traffic Safety – We continue to be a commuter based community with a major state highway Rte 83 cutting across our town in a north to south direction. With the businesses based within our boundaries and the closeness to Interstate 91 and the Mass Pike we have our share of traffic. We actually saw a decline in motor vehicle accidents but however we did suffer a fatal accident in late August that claimed the life of a 17 year girl. We have received grant money from the Governors Highway Safety Program which allows for directed patrols in monitoring aggressive driving, drunken driving and seat belt enforcement. These patrols are staggered during the calendar year and allow this department to place an officer on duty for a four hour block during the day or night in an effort to curb these actions.

Crime – As you can image neighboring the third largest city in the Commonwealth and the upsurge in crime there can splash over into our community. We have experienced some violence related crime in regards to armed robberies. Our robberies have increased from 3 in 2005 to 5 in 2006. I am pleased to say with the good work by the responding officers one robber was caught within minutes of a bank robbery and the other was captured for a supermarket robbery through the use of in-store cameras and the publics help viewing these films on television. As you see it takes all of us in helping to fight crime. Burglaries have dropped by 17% from 69 in 2005 to 59 in 2006. Vandalism continues to be a problem within the Town. Our increase is 28% from 229 reports in 2005 to 319 in 2006. I can not stress the fact that we need your help in curbing crime in Town.

Please do not hesitate to call the police when you see something that appears to be strange going on in your neighborhoods. Timeliness is very important. You are the eyes and ears of the community! Our number is 525-5440 or 911 for emergencies only; we are staffed 24 hours seven days a week. We experience many calls later in the day of vehicles that had been entered during the night, as well as calls of suspicious activity that happened late at night but they chose to call us the next day. Crime is in many cases one of opportunity. I would like to have our department made aware of it when it occurs. We have seen this repeatedly with reports of larcenies from motor vehicles. Let’s face it if you leave something of value in your vehicle and do not lock the doors or hide items then chances are they are going to be stolen! As mentioned above it takes all of us working together to stem the flow of crime and violence.

You will find more statistics on the types of crime and the number we have as reported to our Department on the following pages of this report. I wish to commend the men and women of the East Longmeadow Police Department for the great work they perform on a daily basis and the support I have received from them in new efforts we are undertaking within the Department.

I would also like to recognize the hard work of Pennie Trembley my secretary and the department manager who is always there willing to help. A welcome to the Department’s new part time clerk Robin Granado-Cross as she continues to gain experience and helps in the orderly process of administrative paperwork. I would like to also extend my appreciation for the support from Nick Breault, Town Executive Secretary and the East Longmeadow Board of Selectmen, and their staff as well as Fire Chief P. Robert Wallace, DPW Superintendent David Gromaski, Dr. Edward W. Costa II and all the Department Heads for the pleasure of working cooperatively on the various issues facing our Town.