The Holden Police Department Detective Bureau is responsible for following up on preliminary crime reports the patrol officers investigate, and also serious crimes such as sexual assaults and robberies. To accomplish this task, the officers assigned to the Detective Bureau work closely with the patrol officers of the department as well as other law enforcement agencies and detectives in the central Massachusetts area.

Additionally, since crime is not restricted to municipal boundaries, Detectives participate in certain specialized organizations such as: the Worcester County Counter Crime Task Force, Worcester Police’s Street Violence Prevention Group, Worcester County Fraudulent Check Association, New England State Police Information Network, and the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators.

Again, crime has remained at a relatively low level even for a community of 18,000 individuals. House breaks and other crimes are low in Holden largely due to alert community members calling if they see something unusual. Crime is also low due to Patrolmen actively patrolling the town looking for suspicious activity.

During 2008, we, as in past years, continued to investigate various scams. The majority of scams involve wiring money upfront to receive a large payout. These can be foreign lottery scams, sweepstakes scams or a variety of different types of scams. If you are asked to pay a fee to receive money, it most likely is a scam. Other types of scams involved overpaying for an item and sending the excess money back to the person. Just remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you have any questions or concerns about Identity Theft or Internet Safety please contact the Detective Bureau.

The Holden Police Department continues to investigate Identity Theft cases. To protect yourself from being a victim of Identity Theft, do not give any personal information to anyone that you don’t know. This includes phone calls you receive and unsolicited emails. Also, you should check your credit history by contacting one of the three credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. You are able to receive one free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus yearly. Please review your credit card/bank statements each month to limit your losses.

The Detective Bureau uses an email alert system to provide residents information about criminal activity occurring in and around Holden. To receive these alerts, please sign up on the Town of Holden webpage and choose Police Alerts.

Sgt. Timothy Regele
Det. Albert Bourget
Det. Christopher Carey

As the Sergeant in charge of the Traffic Division of the Holden Police Department, it is my duty and responsibility to ensure that our officers are maximizing every opportunity to keep our roads safe for all drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

The constant increase in vehicle volume moving around and through town, along with changes in traffic patterns at key intersections engineered by the state highway officials present a significant challenge when working toward safer streets. In spite of this, continuing to vigilantly patrol our major roads and neighborhoods while implementing new, innovative programs and ideas maintain HPD’s reputation as consistent enforcers of state and local traffic laws.

Citations issued are up slightly about 6% - from 2007, with a total of 4,585 tickets written in 2008. These citations are given for a wide variety of traffic offenses ranging from speeding to red light violations to faulty equipment. To help us pinpoint where some of our safety problems are, we now offer the opportunity for drivers to request enforcement at particular “hotspots” which are of concern to them, via our new Traffic Enforcement Request Form. This tool has become a popular website destination for residents as well as an extremely effective communications pathway for your police department. In addition to radar, crosswalk enforcement, and stop sign observation, one of the enforcement options available for request is our speed trailer, which has proven to be a useful, cost-effective way to remind drivers to slow down.

I n addition, we continue to assign our officers to a specific radar location each day. Along with other safety information, this monthly radar schedule is available to the public on our website. Since our goal with radar is to slow traffic down (not to give out more tickets), we have found publishing the radar schedule to be an extremely constructive way to alert people to areas where they may tend to drive too fast for the terrain, conditions, and traffic volume.

For additional traffic safety information, try these pages of our website:

http://www.holdenpd.com/tickets.htm and
http://www.holdenpd.com/links.htm.

Back at the station, we are proud to have two certified child safety seat installers on staff. Officers Janet Bourget and Gregg Sculthorpe have attended various training seminars and complete frequent updates in order to remain certified. This program allows us to offer free safety seat installation and checks to parents, grandparents, and caregivers. If you wish to have a seat installed, moved, or checked, or if you have questions about child seat laws or recommendations, please call our business line at 508.829.4444 at any time to find out when one of these officers is next on shift. Installations are done on an officer availability basis and are offered to Holden residents only.

O f course, the ultimate goal of all of our safety initiatives both on and off the street is to prevent accidents and injury. Unfortunately, increased volume and traffic pattern changes work against us as we strive daily to reduce accident occurrences. In 2008, the Holden Police Department responded to 216 accidents our lowest number since 1999. Unfortunately, 2 of these accidents resulted in loss of life. Although both of these fatalities were single car accidents, any serious incidents result in the reexamination and renewed commitment to Holden’s aggressive traffic safety standards.

In large part these efforts center around our most dangerous drivers; those under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Even with tougher new laws, operating while impaired poses a significant danger to innocent drivers and pedestrians. Frequently, erratic operation is called in to our dispatch center by concerned, observant citizens. In many cases, these calls result in an OUI arrest. At other times our patrolmen stop cars they have seen weaving, randomly slowing or stopping, or disregarding traffic signals, the conclusion of which is an OUI arrest. In 2008, our department made 38 such arrests, compared with 25 in 2007. Clearly, this nationwide problem is of strong concern on a local level. HPD will continue to arrest and prosecute this serious offense strictly and consistently as we approach the second decade of the 21 st century.

As we begin 2009, I personally wish to thank the residents of Holden for their continued support of the Holden Police Department and our traffic enforcement efforts, and extend to you best wishes for a very safe new year.

R espectfully submitted:
Richard E. Horrigan, Sergeant
Traffic Division

One of my responsibilities as the 11:00pm to 7:00am supervisor is to ensure that officers are conducting regular business checks through out the night. On average, each officer will conduct between five to ten business checks each night. This means that multiple businesses are being checked on a weekly and yearly basis. Business checks are a proactive way of deterring crime and promoting a visible police presence in the community. During the past year, the surrounding towns businesses were hit particularly hard, however, that trend did not carry over into Holden due to this proactive approach.

Another responsibility of the midnight shift is to conduct regular inspections of the patrol cruisers, equipment, and the police station to ensure everything is in working order. This includes minor maintenance and upkeep of the interior and exterior of the vehicles. Any problems that are discovered are passed on immediately so that they can be fixed. Since the cruisers are the primary mode of patrolling the town their upkeep is critical. In addition, I conduct a regular check of the building generator to make sure that it is running properly and would continue to operate properly in the event of a power outage.

In addition to my regular duties on the midnight shift, I also coordinate the Rape Aggression Defense Program for women. The RAD program consists of a series of classes that combines rape awareness education and physical self-defense techniques that teach women how to defend themselves in the event that they are attacked. To date over fifty women have graduated from the HPD sponsored program and hundreds more have gone through the same program taught in conjunction with Wachusett Regional High School . This class continues to be very popular with women in the community.

Respectfully submitted,
Timothy J. Sherblom, Sergeant

As Sergeant in charge of the evening shift, my responsibilities lie with the support services section of the department. Along with the basic everyday operations of the evening shift, I am also tasked with firearms training, teaching the basic firearms safety course, NIBRS/accidental/racial profiling/report error clearing, and finally LEAPS/NCIC testing for all officers.

For 2008, the department purchased approximately 4600 rounds of handgun ammunition, 250 rounds of shotgun ammunition, and 4600 rounds of file ammunition for training.

This year, firearms training was conducted in two phases – a daytime basic qualification course in which each officer was required to pass the course with a minimum score of 80 out of 100 with their department issued duty handgun, a shotgun and rifle. Two other courses are included in addition to the basic round of qualifications. These courses are used to add stress and adversity to the training environment, forcing the officer to implement the skills they have learned in a more realistic setting.

The second phase of training was conducted at night for a low light effect. This type of training is used to instruct the officer in shooting in low light conditions using flashlight or other light sources. The use of simunitions was also incorporated into this section of training. Simunition training is conducted with simulated ammunition made of paint. This training is particularly important as it gives a realistic form of training. The officer is placed in a real world setting and is asked to complete a series of mock calls. This training is also used for “active shooter” training drills.

Other responsibilities include checking all reports for errors before they are submitted to NIBRS (National Incident Reporting System). Of these reports for 2008, 884 were incidents, and 390 were for arrests. Racial profile data generated from m/v stops is also submitted by the department to the state.

All officers and part time dispatchers are tested and certified to use the LEAPS/NCIC terminals. The information received from these terminals helps facilitate a more productive, more efficient police officer.

Respectfully submitted,
Sgt. Christopher K. Noyes, Jr.

The year 2008 was a satisfying year for us at the Animal Control office. The total calls received to this office decreased 10% when compared to the number received in 2007 (390 calls versus 431 calls). This continues the downward trend over the last four (4) years since the start of my tenure on January 3, 2005 . This is significant because the number of licensed dogs has countered this trend by steadily increasing for the last four consecutive years, rising from approximately 2295 dogs in 2005 to the current level of 2524 (approx.) dogs ending 2008. Indeed, this last year saw an increase of 3% from last year’s level (2524 dogs in 2008 vs. 2458 in 2007). We take pride in these statistics as evidence of our hard work, as this office has been very visible while at the same time being very responsive to citizen complaints. Our citizens have also seen the value of our efforts and have responded, as a whole, very favorably. Our major efforts and areas of concentration are summarized below.

For this first time in four years, LOOSE dog complaints were “unseated” as the number one complaint category, falling to number two spot. These calls fell significantly from 116 calls received in 2007 to 85 calls received in 2008, a 27% decrease. Our dog owners have been made well aware of our 24 hour leash law and have shown to be much more responsible in this area. In addition, citizens have continued to show little tolerance for owners who deliberately let their dogs roam free and have been quick to report these violations. Likewise, this office has been quick to respond to complaints and has been very visible patrolling the town. The combination of all these factors has undoubtedly resulted in this positive effect.

LOST & FOUND takes the number one complaint spot this year. We received 98 calls in 2008 for dogs and cats that were either lost (escaped their confinement) or found by a responsible person. This was a 20% increase over the 82 calls received in 2007. The majority of these calls involve cats. Few dogs escape their confinement accidentally, but there is no leash law for cats so they roam freely. Unfortunately, most of the time these cats are missing for extended periods of time and are not recovered. There is little this office can do in this area, but the Holden Police Department keeps a Lost & Found clipboard in the dispatch area where callers can report their animals lost or found, and this has proven to be effective in reuniting some owners with their pets. While on patrol Animal Control will also keep an eye out for any cats or dogs seen roaming freely that might meet the description of a missing pet.

WILDLIFE calls continue in the number three spot for the fourth consecutive year, with the numbers holding pretty steadily over the past three years. For 2008, the 75 calls received were very close to the 70 calls received in 2007 and the 73 calls received in 2006. As more houses go up in town more trees go down, hence disturbing and displacing our wildlife. Foxes, skunks, raccoons, and coyote sightings in our neighborhoods make up the majority of our calls. These animals are usually not sick but just looking for food, so we urge people to bring their small pets and garbage indoors so the wild animals will continue to move along. However, do not hesitate to call this office if you observe an animal acting unsteady or lethargic so that it can be checked out. There were a few reported bear and bobcat sightings in 2008, but these animals do not appear to be a problem at this time. Also, our office does not remove small varmints (e.g. chipmunks, squirrels, mice, etc.) from homes or property, but we can provide a caller with the phone numbers of local organizations that do. I’m happy to report that there were no confirmed cases of Rabies or West Nile Virus in Holden for 2008.

BARKING dog complaints fell dramatically in 2008 as we received only 25 complaints. In 2007, we received 35 complaints, so this was a 29% decrease. While everyone understands that dogs bark, there is such a thing as excessive, nuisance type barking, particularly when this occurs in the evening or night time hours when people are trying to sleep. This office considers excessive barking to be barking that continues unabated for 30 minutes or longer, so we will respond to complaints of this nature. However, at the same time, we remind complainants to try to be as tolerant and understanding as possible and to consider their neighborly relations before they call here. We urge people to try and speak with the offending party first so as to reach an amenable solution. Often times this will solve the problem without involving this office, and will have the added benefit of maintaining nice, neighborly relations.

The last significant area concerns STRAY CAT reportings. These types of calls remained steady in 2008 compared to 2007 (exactly 33 calls each year). At this point, given the relatively low number of calls and absent any further information, it is not felt that we have any significant feral cat colonies living in Holden. It seems to be more a matter of people abandoning their pet by leaving it to fend for it’s self, and the animal thereby shows up on someone else’s door step or patio. “Abandonment” of animals falls under the animal cruelty law, and it is a Felony, so we caution people not to do this, but instead do the humane thing and take their pet to a shelter. Our office can assist with this if needed. At the same time, we caution reporting parties to be sure an animal is stray and not their neighbor’s pet, and to please not feed the animal so that we can better determine its true status.

The Office of Animal Control is located at the Holden Police Department at 1420 Main Street . The direct dial phone number is 508-829-0215. It is typically staffed Monday through Friday. For after hour emergencies, please call the general business line at the Holden Police Department at 508-829-4444. You can also visit our Animal Control page on the Holden Police Department website for more information.

Respectfully,
Michael S. Sendrowski
(Full-time Animal Control Officer)
Thomas S. Walsh
(Part-time Animal Control Officer)