WESTFIELD — At the request of Westfield City Councilor Brent Bean II, Police Capt. Steve Dickinson attended the council meeting on June 4 and spoke about the department’s activities in several areas, including community policing, retail store shoplifting calls, the size of the force and the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail.
“I’d love to expand that, but because of manpower issues, we’re not able to,” Dickinson said about the department’s ongoing community policing program.
He said the department had just appointed Sgt. Sean Smith as the director of Community Policing and gave a rundown of the officers now covering Union Street, Powder Mill Village, and Elm and Mechanic streets.
“When problems arise, we’ve met the challenges in certain areas,” he said.
He said that after the city installed a speed bump on Hubbard Street to slow motorists down, one resident who attended a community policing meeting was very happy.
Dickinson said the man told him that installing the speed bump had been very helpful
“Having a meeting and listening to the residents down there…that is what community policing is,” he said.
About shoplifting calls, Bean said he wanted to know if those calls, specifically at Walmart, were a drag on the department.
Dickinson said when he was first named captain, there were some communication issues between the retail store and the department.
“We decided to meet with them quarterly to iron some things out,” he said, adding that the service calls were up to one every 2.5 days.
Bean wanted to know if the country’s largest retail store would consider hiring police officers.
Dickinson said it would take too much time to discuss in detail during the council meeting, but that Walmart would only hire officers if there were violent disturbances or people being injured.
“We don’t reach that threshold,” he said.
As for the service calls there, Dickinson said every one requires two officers to respond because of officers being injured in previous incidents.
“We do have minimum manning, so when you’re talking about two [officers] going to a call [there], and sometimes more than that, they’re tying up resources,” he said.
He also said that most of the shoplifting calls don’t involve city residents but those from other cities and towns.
And when there is a city resident involved, the department refers them to the Behavioral Health Network or members of the community policing unit.
“So, we try to reach out to them to learn; why are they shoplifting? What is the issue?” Dickinson said.
Despite the ongoing challenges with the store, he said communication is better.
“I think there’s a better working relationship now…but it does take a toll on us,” he said.
The primary issue on the rail trail has been the dramatic increase in the number of e-bikes and e-scooters.
Dickinson complimented the council on recently approving a new city ordinance that will give officers additional tools, like levying fines, to keep the rail trail safer.
“We’re looking forward to getting guys out there to enforce,” he said.
The effort has already started with community policing officers on the trail educating residents and passing out flyers, and offering incentives for following riding safe.
“Our community policing unit’s been handing out coupons for ice cream for kids that actually are following the law and have helmets on. That seems to be a big hit right now, so hopefully, that’ll spread,” he said.
About monitoring Hampton Ponds State Park, Dickinson said the department does use its boat to patrol the ponds, but it’s all about manpower.
“Those are overtime [hours], and it’s based on our budget. So, when we can afford that, we try to put the guys out there,” he said.
Responding to another query by Bean, who asked if there was a way to put pressure on the other agencies that have oversight of the park, like Massachusetts State Police and the Environmental Police, Dickinson said often neither agency has available officers nearby.
“When you’re calling the state police and there’s nobody close by, we’re the people that are responding,” he said, adding that MSP is spread thin and they do back up department officers, but it’s often a while away.
Dickinson then shifted to talking more specifically about manpower, which affects every aspect of policing the city.
“We’re supposed to have 66 patrolmen … as of right now, there are 55 working patrolmen,” he said.
There are a variety of reasons for that, he said, including injured officers and those who are in the military reserves.
Referring to budgeting, Dickinson said that when officers are out for reasons out of there control, “we can’t hire backup, so it comes out of overtime.”
He said the overtime alone could cover the cost of two to three more officers, while thanking the council for approving the department’s request to add four officers to the force.
Bean then asked about security cameras that cover various areas of the city and if they helped with policing.
Because of the number of cameras operating, it would be impossible for the department to have personnel watching them all the time.
However, he said they were great for helping with investigations.
