Amherst Police Department
2003 Town Report
The year 2003 brought more change to the Amherst Police
Department. Lieutenant Patrick Doherty,
best known as the Department’s first D.A.R.E. officer, retired in July. His contributions in providing direction for the
department, as well as his tireless work with the youth of
Adequate staffing continued to be a problem in 2003 due to the
retirement of these two veteran officers who, combined, gave thirty-nine years
of service to the Town. Law enforcement
hiring and training is a lengthy process, and as the year came to a close, one
new officer was completing his field training, while employment testing was
underway to fill the second vacancy. In
addition to the retirements, the Department continued to be short one officer
who is recovering from medical issues following his military activation in
2002. His return is eagerly anticipated
in early 2004.
In comparing 2003 to 2002 statistically,
some of the categories that were influenced by self-initiated officer activity
rebounded, in part due to improving staffing levels. These categories included the total amount of
traffic enforcement and the total number of reports. Unfortunately, these improving numbers were
not enough to prevent increasing numbers in several other areas that do not
bode well for the Town. Despite a modest
increase in our traffic violation enforcement, the Department logged the
highest number of traffic accidents on record.
In addition the number of complaints from citizens concerning improper
operation of motor vehicles increased by thirty-seven percent. These numbers are not acceptable and indicate
more effort must be expended to make
The Department successfully instituted two long
anticipated programs this year. Our
speed display trailer was received earlier this year and it has already been
utilized in nineteen different locations in town. It is typically located on a particular
street for several days in an effort to educate motorists as to their
speed. Residents have enthusiastically
received it wherever the trailer has been deployed. Though it is too early to statistically
measure its success, many citizens are commenting they have noticed a decline
in residential speeding while the trailer is in place, and even a residual
effect after the trailer has been moved.
The trailer purchase was primarily funded by a federal grant and local
donations.
The second new program instituted was the School Resource
Officer at the
The
Department has proposed an additional officer in the upcoming budget. This position, to be funded commencing in September
to lessen the fiscal impact, will be assigned to the detective unit as an
additional investigator. This additional
position would allow the Department to address areas which need to be refined
in order to be proactive, and to keep up with the changes in Town and the
surrounding area. These areas include
the need to devote much more time to crime prevention efforts. For years the Department devoted manpower to
crime prevention programs for both residents and business owners in an effort
to reduce the opportunity for crime to occur.
Dovetailed into a strong patrol presence, these programs can be very
successful in maintaining a low crime rate over a long period of time. As the workload of the Department has
increased, the ability to dedicate hours to these programs has suffered.
A second area identified as
requiring improvement relates to specialized investigations, particularly drug
investigations. Over fifteen years ago,
the Department operated with two detective positions, as well as an officer
assigned on a part-time basis to serve as a prosecutor in district court. Today, the prosecutor function is
incorporated into the same two detective positions. In addition, the commercial growth within the
Town, as well as the opening of the high school, has caused substantial
increases in the workload of the detectives.
Specialized investigations are very labor intensive, even in their early
stages of development. Although the
Department has conducted several drug investigations in the past few years,
their success has been lessened by a lack of manpower.
The third area the department needs
to address is accreditation.
Accreditation can be accomplished on both a state and a national level,
and typically it begins at the state level and transitions to the national
level over several years. This was an
area originally identified as a Department goal nearly ten years ago, but
because it is a man-hour intensive project, it has been barely touched during
those years.
The final area the Department seeks to address is the further
involvement of senior staff members in the administration of the agency. It is critical for the long-term success of
the Department to develop key personnel to be in a position to assume command
of the agency when the time presents itself.
To maintain a safe community there must
be collaboration between the police department and the citizens. Without the eyes and ears of the community to
assist the police department, the quality of life erodes as crime and safety
issues increase. The Department strongly
encourages citizens to report suspicious or unsafe activity as it occurs, and
to take ownership in the type of community you want to live in. In an effort to seek new or better ways to
provide a high level of police service to the Town of
Once again this year, the police
department wishes to thank the other town departments, particularly Fire,