GREENFIELD — After 13 years of service in the city, Emily Rowell-Kanash has been sworn in as Greenfield’s first female lieutenant.
Rowell-Kanash stepped into the lieutenant role in a temporary capacity in November, after former Lt. Jason Haskins left the position to serve as Montague’s police chief.
Before City Clerk Kathy Scott swore Rowell-Kanash in on Tuesday, Police Chief Todd Dodge and members of the Public Safety Commission spoke to the new lieutenant’s high productivity, attention to detail and collaborative mindset.
“Emily is an extremely, extremely strong, detail-oriented accomplisher of tasks like no other. I’m extremely, overwhelmingly proud to recommend Emily as our next permanent lieutenant,” Dodge said. “It will be Greenfield’s first female permanent lieutenant in Greenfield. I want to be very clear that is not why [she was promoted]. It has nothing to do with that and has everything to do with the fact that her completed work is, quite simply, amazing.”
With her cousin Chris Rowell serving as a sergeant with the Greenfield Police Department and her uncle, Richard Rowell, also a former Greenfield officer, Rowell-Kanash will be carrying on her family’s law enforcement legacy.
Rowell-Kanash, in an interview on Wednesday, said she hopes to continue the progress she’s seen in the department over the last 13 years. She pointed out that accreditation has been one of the department’s primary achievements in the last several years.
As lieutenant, Rowell-Kanash said she hopes to bridge the gap between administrative roles at the top of the department and patrol officers. She added that she takes pride in being a mentor for officers-in-training.
“[Haskins] really brought this department forward into the accreditation era, and now it’s a matter of maintaining it with a new implementation. What my job is now is to bring all the accreditation standards into a new policy program that we have for our department that most of the county is actually transferring to,” she said. “I have a huge passion for teaching and mentoring, building up people’s confidence, skills and abilities, and that is kind of my biggest point of pride in this profession. It’s seeing everybody that I’ve trained through the program thriving and continuing to get check-ins from everybody.”
Before voting unanimously to approve Rowell-Kanash’s promotion, Public Safety Commission members took turns commending her positive legacy within the department.
“One of the things that impressed me about Emily is the fact that all her colleagues that I questioned had high respect for her,” commission member Maria Burge said. “I had the pleasure of sitting at her interview and her presentation, and it was amazing, absolutely amazing. Everyone did a very good job, but there was no doubt in my mind that [Rowell-Kanash] would get the job, and I’m very proud that you became the first woman lieutenant.”
Commission Vice Chair David Moscaritolo, explaining the interview process for the lieutenant role, said candidates were asked how they would respond to a specific scenario in which Greenfield residents and officers were placed in a dangerous situation. According to Dodge, there were five candidates for the lieutenant position. Moscaritolo said he was impressed with Rowell-Kanash’s response to the question.
“It was proof to me that when I sat and looked at your presentations, that you were thoughtful with your responses back. You were very professional, and you owned what you said and what you did, and when you were up presenting, you presented very well,” Moscaritolo said to Rowell-Kanash. “Your goal was to ensure the safety of the residents of Greenfield and it was very detailed. That really was important to me, because it wasn’t just your average everyday assignments.”
Rowell-Kanash, in Wednesday’s interview, said she looks forward to carrying out her family’s law enforcement legacy and expressed excitement for the new position.
“I appreciate that I’ll be continuing a family legacy, and being able to work alongside family and the friends I’ve grown with along the way,” she said. “This is always what I’ve wanted to do. I’m continuing my own education and staying on top of trainings and pursuing knowledge and experiences and networking, and that really goes a long way, especially in this new position.”