SHELBURNE — Gregory Bardwell, the police chief serving Shelburne and Buckland, made his case for creating a shared police department to residents of the two towns on Wednesday night.
The two towns have created a working group and obtained a $200,000 grant to begin investigating what it would take to create a shared police department. The project started in July 2021 when the Buckland police chief retired, at which time Bardwell was hired to lead both police departments. The towns are now at the stage of soliciting public feedback, with the final goal of bringing the question to residents at each town’s annual meeting.
Speaking to about a dozen residents gathered at Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School on Wednesday, Bardwell explained that, as a result of police reform laws of 2020, policing in small towns that rely on part-time officers is going to get increasingly more expensive. The reforms eliminated training for part-time officers, who must now receive full-time training through the Bridge Academy.
“My fear as a lifelong resident of Shelburne and a father with kids is we can’t provide services,” Bardwell commented. “If there is a domestic dispute, and we decide that as a town we can’t come together and try to solve this, you will get a response that is two to five times longer.”
There are currently many gaps in the weekly schedule for both departments. When there are no officers on duty, the emergency call gets directed to Massachusetts State Police. The call response from State Police can be two to five times longer than if local police respond, according to Bardwell.
The Shelburne department has two full-time officers aside from Bardwell, and several part-time officers fill in on weekends working once or twice a month. The Buckland department has one full-time officer aside from Bardwell, and also relies on several part-time workers.
“There are departments that are just folding,” Bardwell told attendees. He pointed to the Colrain and Charlemont police departments that rely fully on part-time staff and that are struggling more than Buckland and Shelburne.
With the shared policing arrangement that Bardwell proposed, Buckland’s department will “fold” and both towns will be policed under Shelburne’s purview. Alternatively, if the towns were to create a new combined department, they would have to get legislative approval and jump through more bureaucratic hoops.
By combining, all four full-time officers would keep their jobs, and Bardwell said two more full-time officers would be hired. When asked at the meeting if any officers object to the merger, Bardwell said, “I know every officer in both departments feels comfortable with this happening.”
In fact, through all the work that has been done so far, Barry Del Castilho, Buckland Selectboard chair and a member of the police working group, said there hasn’t been any opposition yet.
There was also discussion on Wednesday of potentially allowing other neighboring towns to join this police merger and create a policing district. Those involved with the working group explained that this may be getting ahead of themselves, but that may be where the region is heading.
The next forum for a shared policing service will be held in February, though an exact date has not been decided yet. Budgets for the shared and separate policing options will be discussed.
Bella Levavi can be reached at blevavi@recorder.com or
413-930-4579.