To the Honorable Select Board and Residents of the Town of Longmeadow:

I respectfully submit the following annual report of the Longmeadow Police Department.

There were several personnel changes within the Police Department during 2005. Working to achieve budget mandates, department staffing was reduced this year by one Patrol Officers position. These reductions brought the Department staffing down from the 2000 level of 31 to 27 Officers yet were able to maintain an adequate level of personnel resources. These reductions were accomplished over the last five years fulfilling a long-term reorganization plan. All five eliminated positions were achieved through attrition. Two other Patrol vacancies were created during 2005 with the resignations of Officers Michael Perry and David Cayer. Officer Paul Ostrikis,
formally of Ft. Lauderdale Florida, and Longmeadow Reserve Officer, William Albano, were appointed to fill those vacancies.
Animal Control Officer, David Yoho, unexpectedly resigned earlier this year. In our search for a replacement, we were fortunate to secure the services of East Longmeadow’s part-time Animal Control Officer, Marty Lee Caramante. This arrangement is a win for both communities as Marty Lee provides responsive, professional Animal Control services at an economical cost. Recently, the Town received over $5,000.00 in revenue from owners of 2005 unlicensed dogs. Marty Lee was responsible for the follow-up work in getting these owners to comply with licensing and payment.

Training and continuing education remains a high Department priority. Department Supervisors have attended Command Training Courses through Roger Williams University and the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association program. Patrol Officers have received training in Community Policing, legal updates, and have attended many specialized training sessions in areas such as crime prevention, interviewing techniques, bike patrol, and investigative procedures. Several Officers have been involved in a series of training classes dealing with “effective school policing” and initiating a School Resource Officers program. Hopefully the School Resource Officer concept will be adopted in the near future.

Department members have maintained their proactive approach to the Community Policing concept. Officers have continued their efforts working with school and elderly programs and Park Department projects. The Department’s Bike Patrol Officers have been actively involved in outdoor school functions, sporting events and patrol of schools, parks, pools and the business community. Police Community Services Bureau again ran several of the very popular Rad defense classes. Another Project Cope session was held this fall. The weekend session was well attended and was a great experience for all.

The Department is actively working on response and training protocols dealing with preparing for and responding to a critical incident in schools. The Longmeadow School Department presently has a critical incident “lockdown” policy in place. Integrating our response policy with the schools lockdown policy is key to the safe handling of a critical school incident.

I wish to commend the members of the Longmeadow Police Department for their professionalism and dedication to duty throughout the year. These men and women are true professionals who are the backbone of the Department.

Respectfully Submitted
Robert R. Danio
Chief of Police