Support Police Funding

I am writing to express my support for the Norwood Police Department's plan to add officers to the Department. When I joined the NPD as a young patrolman in 1982 we had 61 officers. When I became chief 30 years later there were 58, and I worked to restore those three lost positions. In 2021 we added four officers when we transitioned to the regional dispatch center in Holbrook, but they were strictly for the purpose of keeping the police station open at night. Given that we lost four dispatch positions in the process, those four officers working inside did nothing to expand the Department's footprint on the street. We are still where we were in 1982. Much has changed in policing since the 80's. The caseload is heavier; the calls are more complex, and they thus take more of an officer's time off the street. Norwood remains a nice community and the men and women of the NPD deserve some credit for that, but the time has come to commit more resources towards keeping it that way. Chief Padden's plan is to add sergeants, one to each shift. That makes sense. A sergeant can typically run a shift by him or herself, provided nothing goes wrong. But let a serious crash, a complex arrest or a violent assault occur and all bets are off. A supervisor can't be in two places at once – in the station helping officers piece their case together and on the street overseeing everything else. And tasking a detective to a federal task force is a good idea too. He and I discussed it prior to my retirement, but tight staffing held us back. Many towns around us have detectives serving in task forces, and everyone benefits. I don't often speak out, but I hope that when voters head for the polls June 15 they recognize the need for the NPD to move beyond the staffing levels of the 1980's. Bill Brooks Chief of Police (Ret.)

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