ANNUAL REPORT TOWN OF GRANBY MASSACHUSETTS FOR ...

that involved victims in Granby and other jurisdictions. Those
three investigations lead to the arrests of suspects who are
currently awaiting trial. While there were several serious crimes
investigated this year, these three cases bare mentioning due to
the fact that they received a lot of attention and where of specific
concern for many residents of Granby.
Just as it did for every resident, the weather had a huge impact
on the department’s responsibilities this year. On Saturday
October 28 th one of the worst natural disasters to hit our area
began. We received the first call for a tree in the power lines at
approximately 3:30 PM. The first power outage was reported at
4:45 PM. The storm quickly began to take down trees and power
lines on every street in Town. The roads were basically
impassable. From Saturday October 28th through Sunday
November 6 th officers responded to 374 calls for service.
Several officers were called in to assist, extra dispatchers were
called in to handle a major increase in call volume and
supervisors were put on rotating shifts. Calls of note include;
assisting in the evacuation of a family who had a large tree come
down on their house, checking on the well being of a mother and
her two year old who were trapped in their house by downed
trees and several calls of stranded motorists who had utility lines
down on top of their vehicles. A state of emergency was declared
in Town at approximately 9:30 PM on Saturday. An emergency
shelter was set up at the high school and the Red Cross was
called to help support the shelter with food and cots. The shelter
was manned by police officers and ambulance personnel. The
shelter remained open until Friday. Most residences in Town had
power back by Saturday. As far as we know, there were no storm
related injuries that occurred. That’s quite remarkable
considering the magnitude of this crisis. CodeRed emergency
messages were sent out daily to inform residents about recovery
efforts, shelter availability, debris clean up and road closures.
Residents should know that several officers and dispatchers
put in countless hours to help keep our residents safe and to staff
the shelter. Some officers slept in chairs in the station because
the roads were blocked and they could not get home to check on
their own families before their next shift. Cell phone coverage
during the storm was not good which also made it difficult for
employees to contact their families. It took one officer over three
hours to drive from Springfield to get here. Some officers
housed their families in hotels and still came to work. One
officer, who had a family member pass away, still made sure he
was here to help. Everyone at the police department was also
without power and yet they still made huge sacrifices to serve the
Town. I’m incredibly proud of their service.
Dedicated service certainly did not start and stop with the
police department. Numerous fire, ambulance and highway
department personnel made similar sacrifices. All Town
employees worked cooperatively toward the common goals of
clearing the streets, assisting citizens and restoring power. The
perfect example of that cooperation was realized when 24 hours
after the worst storm in our history our roads were clear for
traffic. There were several towns and cities that couldn’t say that
for several days or weeks. I also believe that the National Grid
crews that usually work in our area deserve a lot of credit. They
worked with the Town services to assure the areas and roads that
we thought were hazards were prioritized accordingly. During
the height of the storm the local National Grid crew responded to
19
calls with highway, police and fire in order to clear a path to the
residents in need of service. Their service should not go
unrecognized.
One of the unfortunate consequences of the storm is that we
had to effectively cancel Halloween trick or treating. Due to
safety concerns, an indoor trick or treat event was organized at
the high school. The school department, the Lions club, the
police and fire associations and a student group assisted in the
funding and planning of the event. It is estimated that
approximately 500-600 children took part in the event. It was a
nice opportunity for our residents and employees to get away
from the reality the week had dealt us. This event was a great
example of how a community can come together in times of
crisis.
The emergency ended and the clean up began. In the 15 years
that I’ve worked in this department, I’ve never seen anything
close to that level of devastation. As of the drafting of this
report, February 15 th police officers are still working with
Massachusetts Highway tree crews who are cutting damaged
trees along Route 202. The town area of responsibility has not
only been cleaned up but is almost completely removed already.
I’d like to thank Fire Chief Russ Anderson for continuing to
foster a great relationship between our respective departments.
The police and fire departments continue to work hand in hand in
a cooperative effort to provide a high level of service to the
Town. I’d also like to thank Highway Superintendent Dave
Desrosiers and the members of his department for their efforts
this year as a major part of the storm and clean up responsibility
fell on their shoulders. The storm debris was cleaned up quickly
and at a fraction of the cost it was first projected. I’d also like to
thank School Superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez and her staff
for their continued support and also for their specific
involvement in housing and maintaining the emergency shelter
during the storm. Finally, I’d like to thank Town Administrator
Chris Martin and the Town Hall staff for their involvement in the
storm response and recovery and also for their support of the
police department throughout the year.
The department staff remained for most part status quo in
terms of people and responsibilities. Sergeant Mark Smith
continued to oversee the department’s follow up investigations.
He has also overseen a major training increase in the dispatch
center. The training increases are the result of new State 911
Department regulations that set increased minimum training
standards for call takers. The changes include mandatory
Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) training and other inservice
training requirements. In effect, all of our employees
need to have the training as they all spend time in the dispatch
area. The training increases are also being implemented as part
of an accreditation program we have been working on in the
dispatch area.
Sergeant Kevin O’Grady continued his responsibilities in
regard to sex offender registration, vehicle maintenance and
statistical reporting. Sergeant O’Grady is also responsible for
the department’s technology equipment and also for a number of
online training programs. He completes these tasks while
maintaining his responsibilities as a responder and the supervisor
on the evening shift.
Both sergeants also took on the administrative tasks of
applying for and administering grants within their respective