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February, 2013 -
Police Department Readies to Take Occupancy of New Headquarters
The final countdown is underway in the long
anticipated move of the Duxbury Police Headquarters from the current police
station on West Street to the new Police Headquarters on Mayflower Street.
The department will be leaving West Street after calling it home for over 45
years. The structure at 443 West Street has been in steady decline in the
last ten years as major repairs or upgrades where often passed over in that
time because construction of a new building was thought to be inevitable and
imminent. However, after years of delays, Town Meeting, and the special
election that followed, approved the project in March of 2011. Construction
of the new 15,000 square foot facility began a year later in March of 2012.
The building contractor, Castagna Construction of Newburyport, has recently
indicated that they will reach substantial completion of the new building by
the end of February 2013. The push is now on to prepare the department for
this monumental move. No solid move-in date has been selected, but it should
be sometime in March. A formal ribbon cutting ceremony is being planned for
later in the spring. The fate of the old station will be in the hands of the
Board of Selectmen once the police department is settled in at the new
Police Headquarters at 155 Mayflower Street.
January, 2013
- The DECC Has Moved
On January 29, 2013 the DECC ( Duxbury
Emergency Communications’ Center), our 911 answering point, moved from the
soon to be retired Duxbury Police Headquarters building on West Street to a
newly renovated space at the Central Fire Station on Tremont Street. The new
DECC is actually located in a non-public space on the second floor of the
Emergency Operations Center wing of the Central Fire Station. The move into
the new state of the art center will improve service delivery to our
residents by eliminating additional and potentially distracting duties of
the dispatchers who previously were called upon at times to greet visitors
to the police department lobby and also serving as initial call takers for
non-emergency police business lines. On Tremont Street the dispatchers will
not have interaction with lobby guests to the Fire Station and will not be
answering police or fire non-emergency phone calls allowing them to focus
solely on answering our 911 emergency calls.
January, 2013 -
Stephen McDonald Installed as our New Deputy Police Chief
Mr. Stephen McDonald, an eighteen year
veteran of the Mashpee Police Department and a retired Senior Chief Petty
Officer with the U.S. Coast Guard was sworn-in on Friday January 18, 2013 as
Duxbury PD’s new Deputy Police Chief. Deputy Chief McDonald was selected
over twenty other candidates after a rigorous selection process that
included an assessment center of the finalists. The Deputy Chief was
sworn-in at a ceremony held at the Duxbury Senior Center by Town Clerk Nancy
Oates with a large crowd of family and colleagues on hand. Duxbury Town
Manager Richard MacDonald broke the room into laughter by quickly pointing
out the difference in spelling of his and the deputies last names. “There is
no familiar relationship” he joked. Mr. MacDonald then presented Deputy
Chief McDonald’s badge to Mr. Fred McDonald to pin his son. The new Deputy
comes from a military family as his father Fred served 40 years in the U.S.
Army, retiring as a Command Sergeant Major.
November, 2012 -
Officer Timothy Wigmore Recognized by AAA
In a ceremony in Somerset in November of
2012, Duxbury Traffic Safety Officer Timothy Wigmore received an award from
the American Automobile Association (AAA) of Southern New England for his
work in 2012 in heading the Duxbury Police Department’s Traffic Safety
program. Officer Wigmore was named by AAA as a Community Hero. Officer
Wigmore is pictured above being congratulated by Mr. John Paul, Director of
Government Programs for AAA Southern New England.
October, 2012 -
New Reserve Officers Complete Training and Hit the Streets
Officer’s Nick Jamali and Stephen Hall, two
of five new permanent intermittent police officers hired from the Civil
Service eligibility list in September of 2012 have begun full service with
the department. Hall and Jamali were previous graduates of the Reserve
Officer Basic Training Academy and were able to begin field training
immediately. Both officers progressed nicely in the field training program
and were cleared for full duty in October of 2012. They are both working
regular patrol shifts, filling in for officers who are absent. The three
other new intermittent officers hired with Hall and Jamali are Matthew
Donoghue, William Goldman and Kathleen Hartley. Donoghue, Goldman and
Hartley are currently attending the Reserve Officer Basic Training Academy
and are scheduled to graduate in February of 2013. On graduation they will
begin their field training program with the department and should be ready
for full duty by early summer.
September, 2012 - Department Unveils New Patrol
Vehicles
Model year 2011 was the final year of
production for the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. The Crown Vic as
it is commonly referred has been the workhorse of the Duxbury Police fleet,
and police fleets across the country, for decades. The retirement of the
Crown Vic Police Interceptor has left police departments scrambling to find
a replacement. At Duxbury PD, our fleet coordinator, Lt. Roger Banfill, has
spent the last year researching the various alternatives from Ford, Dodge
and Chevrolet. Lt. Banfill, a former GM Factory Master Mechanic, narrowed
the field to four models. Then Lt. Banfill was able to put demo units of
each model through their paces. The lieutenant arrived at the Ford Utility
Police Interceptor was the vehicle of the future for Duxbury PD. Lt. Banfill
and Chief Clancy presented their findings to the Fiscal Advisory Committee,
giving members of a sub-committee the opportunity to test drive the Utility
Interceptor for themselves. They were sold as well.
The Ford Utility Interceptor is not a Ford
Explorer. The Utility Interceptor is not considered a member of the Sport
Utility Vehicle (SUV) class, but rather is marketed by Ford as a cross over
vehicle. The Ford Utility Interceptor provides 6 cylinder fuel economy that
surpasses that of the old Crown Victoria but also provides greater interior
space for officer comfort and substantially more storage space that easily
accommodates the vast array of specialized equipment carried in modern
police vehicles. The Ford Utility Interceptor’s greatest feature is the
all-wheel drive option which was a key in the decision process. The Duxbury
PD Utility Interceptors are equipped with all-wheel drive, providing ease of
access to our beach and substantially improved mobility in the snow as
compared to the Crown Victoria’s which were rear wheel drive vehicles that
struggled in snow and were simply unable to access our drive-on beach. For
the time being, the patrol vehicle of choice at Duxbury PD will be the Ford
Utility Interceptor.
May 3, 2012 - Duxbury Police
Re-Accredited
Duxbury PD Accreditation Team:
(Left to Right) Cheryl Stearns, Chief Matt Clancy, Sergeant Kristin Golden
(Accreditation Manager) and Lieutenant Lewis Chubb.
On May 3, 2012 the Duxbury Police was awarded re-accreditation by the
Massachusetts Accreditation Commission at the Commission’s Annual Meeting
held in Andover. Accreditation is a seal of approval that signifies that a
department meets or exceeds all law enforcement industry standards. A team
of Commission auditors arrived in Duxbury in April, spending three days
reviewing the overall operation of the department as well as inspecting the
facility, fleet, and other tools of the trade. The audit focuses mainly on
policy and mandate compliance issues. The Duxbury Police was the first
Plymouth County department to reach accredited status in 2006. Accredited
agencies are required to successfully participate in a reaccreditation audit
every three years to maintain the designation. Sergeant Kristin Golden, the
department’s Accreditation Manager, worked tirelessly to ensure a successful
audit.
April 10, 2012
- Patrolman Dan McGonagle Graduates Police Academy
Officer Dan McGonagle is greeted by his
wife and daughter at the commencement of the Plymouth County Municipal
Police Officers Academy held at the historic Memorial Hall in Plymouth.
March, 2012 - Groundbreaking on
New Duxbury Police Headquarters
Town officials, the DPD
command staff, the Public Safety Building Committee and residents gather
on Friday morning, March 16 to commemorate the start of construction on
the new police station. The new headquarters is located on Mayflower
Street and will replace the current facility located on West Street on
completion of construction. The new building consists of approximately
15,000 square feet of working space. The complex will also include a 2,400
square foot auxiliary building in the rear for storage of vehicles and
archived records. The new building will replace the current building which
was constructed in 1967 and provided a maximum of 6,000 square feet of
working space. The Town’s population was 6,000 when the current station
was opened. Today the Town’s population is approximately 16,000. In that
time, the size of the police force grew correspondingly, making the
current station obsolete. We are very grateful for the overwhelming
support of the voters at the 2011 Annual Town Meeting and the general
election that followed. The new station has been in the planning stages
for 12 years and we are hopeful that we may occupy the new station in
March of 2013.
January 9, 2012 - Introducing
Patrolman Andrew Homestead
Recently, Patrolman Andrew
Homestead was sworn-in to fill a vacancy on the patrol force. Patrolman
Homestead was introduced to the community at the January 9, 2012 Selectmen’s
Meeting where he took the Oath of Office as administered by Town Clerk Nancy
Oates. Patrolman Homestead transferred to the Duxbury Police from the North
Adams Massachusetts Police Department where he was a veteran officer.
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