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Main Page SEMLEC CONTRACT
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Posted by: Brian823

Halifax OKs police mutual aid accord

By Janice Nickerson, Enterprise correspondent
HALIFAX — Selectmen agreed to enter into a contract with the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council after meeting at the police station Tuesday with Police Chief Michael Manoogian to discuss the proposal.

The contract with SEMLEC will provide the town with regional resources, including police officers from other towns, if needed in incidents requiring specialized training or equipment.

Several towns in the region have already committed their police departments, Manoogian said.

Manoogian said Halifax passed an article at town meeting in 1994 that allows him to enter into reciprocal aid agreements, but the SEMLEC contract requires the approval and signatures of selectmen.

The regional mutual aid response team will also give officers the ability to make arrests in towns other than their own when called upon to provide aid by the chief of the requesting community.

The organization is relatively new, Manoogian said Tuesday, and will need some time to further develop the specialized units and sort out what towns will be purchasing the various types of equipment needed to provide regional support.

Manoogian said several towns south of Halifax have signed into mutual aid agreements by adopting state Chapter 40, Section 8, as have many communities outside Boston, including Gloucester, Lexington, Carlisle and Lincoln. Those towns have agreed to be part of the response of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council.

Manoogian said it is probable that the region will have a marine unit, including trained divers.

Halifax officers will have to be trained in some of the specialized units over the next few years, Manoogian said.

Manoogian said the training will require some overtime pay, but said the return on the services from other departments in emergencies will benefit the town.

"If I have word that there is going to be a protest, and several hundred people are expected, I would only have to make one phone call to the SEMLEC" and they would know which departments within the area have officers specialized in crowd control, he said.

Now, Manoogian said, if that kind of situation were to take place he would call around to area departments one by one requesting help.

Manoogian said he does not anticipate this all coming together overnight, but it is a relatively easy process that will help bring departments together, he said.

"This allows the officers a venue to train together, and bring the officers closer together, through cooperation and knowledge," Manoogian said.

Being the northern most department for SEMLEC, Manoogian said he hopes neighboring departments, including Plympton and Bridgewater, are able to sign the agreement.

Manoogian said that would require voters in those towns to adopt Chapter 40, Section 8, at their spring town meetings.

Posted by: mpd61

HOLY JEEZUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we go again. "train together", "take a while to get going", 'Hope other towns accept it." What a waste of time. We already have STOP.

Lets start spending $$$ on overtime to train and more $$$ for equipment.
Wait though........Lets see what towns sign on first! Lets re-invent the wheel again WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

Stop the Insanity!

Posted by: SRRerg

The contract with SEMLEC will provide the town with regional resources, including police officers from other towns, if needed in incidents requiring specialized training or equipment. The organization will need some time to further develop the specialized units and sort out what towns will be purchasing the various types of equipment needed Halifax officers will have to be trained in some of the specialized units over the next few years, the training will require some overtime pay, but said the return on the services from other departments in emergencies will benefit the town.

This is good, towns are still laying off people, the 77th RTT is still on hold, but Halifax will have a marine unit. Thank God, Some of those ponds are pretty big. I am all for mutual aid and assistance, but this is nothing more than an excuse for a few people to go shopping.

I am sure the regional team defenders will assail me now, fine, by all means, just be sure to reread the threads regarding "getting on the job" and "Funding for 77th" - those aren't going away anytime soon....

Posted by: lima1411

Sounds like the selectmen in Halifax are being sold a bill of goods by the Chief. The interview of Manoogian is very telling for what he does not say as much as what he does. He claims if he received word of a protest involving several hundred persons ( give me a break... in Halifax, but I digress. ) he'd have to call area departments one by one to request help. Never does he inform them or the paper that all he'd have to do is call the Troop D duty office and request the help of the Sert or Stop teams no cost to the town. " Training will require SOME overtime"... Yeah and just wait till you get the bill for the callout, and the backfills for training and incidents in other towns. It's a wonder how Halifax has been able to survive this long without belonging to such a high speed outfit. Marine Unit, Dive team... Admiral Manoogian has a nice ring.

Posted by: q5_po

Halifax already has a "Marine Unit", ie; a boat that the Officers patrol the lakes on during the summer. In this particular area of the State, Dept's are very short staffed and mutual aid is huge. I guess this helps out on the legal end. Halifax Officers regularly respond to E.Bridgewater, Plympton, Hanson, and Middleboro to assist. As well as the other agencies come to Halifax to assist when they are busy. I don't see Halifax getting into a "regional" SWAT team. But who knows, stranger things have happened.

Posted by: SRRerg

q5,
It's all smaller population towns down there and I agree, mutual aid is huge. I'm sure Hanson, Halifax, and Pembroke, et al back each other up regularly. I had always assumed most of those town would have a boat for either the FD or PD to use due to all of the ponds, so why do land-locked municipalities need a marine unit?

A mutual aid agreement shouldn't cost the taxpayers any extra money.

Posted by: q5_po

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about letting each unit do what they are good at and not duplicating services. Now, in speaking with some friends of mine, this is what I have found out about this thing. All this "partnership" is doing is to basically put on paper what is going on right now and to set up a command structure. Now with that said, Halifax, as an example, has 2 quads, a boat, and access to a hovercraft (Halifax FD) for ice rescue. If a kid gets lost in the woods in say Lakeville, the Lakeville Chief can pick up the phone and ask for the resources and there is already an agreement in place to get the resources, and manpower to operate them as quick as possible. From what I have been told this is just to streamline mutual aid type situations, not steal the thunder from any other agencies.

This is just what I have been told by some fairly well placed sources.

Posted by: bbelichick

Quote:

Originally Posted by q5_po

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about letting each unit do what they are good at and not duplicating services. Now, in speaking with some friends of mine, this is what I have found out about this thing. All this "partnership" is doing is to basically put on paper what is going on right now and to set up a command structure. Now with that said, Halifax, as an example, has 2 quads, a boat, and access to a hovercraft (Halifax FD) for ice rescue. If a kid gets lost in the woods in say Lakeville, the Lakeville Chief can pick up the phone and ask for the resources and there is already an agreement in place to get the resources, and manpower to operate them as quick as possible. From what I have been told this is just to streamline mutual aid type situations, not steal the thunder from any other agencies.

This is just what I have been told by some fairly well placed sources.

The well placed sources are lying. Take a look at NEMLEC and tell me all they do are doing is "streamlining mutual aid".

When you start seeing the $500,000 SEMLEC "Happy Fun Cop Van" driving around, you will know you got scammed.

Posted by: SRRerg

If it was a streamlined mutual aid agreement, it wouldn't need a high speed name. Problem the high speed names - people want to start buying things to put it on -

Speed dial and a written agreement w/each town - one phone call, and people can back each other up, no extra cost to taxpayer.

Posted by: j809

What i don't understand is what is the difference from regular mutual aid to these teams, except for some mutual training.
We have mutual aid with all our surrounding towns and work together, respond to calls in each other's jurisdictions for assistance. None of us have a SWAT team, right now we use MSP STOP Team.

Posted by: MiamiVice

Hmmmm Foxborough isn't even in Middlesex County, or North Eastern Mass....................

Posted by: Wolfman

Neat how their camera is extended - are they trying to peek over the wall & watch the game? Too cheap to buy a ticket like everyone else?

Posted by: Dane

Well now, that's about the fanciest looking rig I've ever seen run a parking lot detail! I know it's not "commanding" the "incident" inside the stadium because there is already a permanent command post right inside the back door.

Hmmm...

"Good morning. Senator Pangiotakos' office. May I help you?"

"Yes, as a voting constituent, I'd like to know why my tax dollars are funding unnecessary law enforcment ventures that are costly, duplicative and frivolous."

"Oh?"

"You might want to make yourself comfortable. This is going to take a little while."

Posted by: GARDA

Manoogian said several towns south of Halifax have signed into mutual aid agreements by adopting state Chapter 40, Section 8, as have many communities outside Boston, including Gloucester, Lexington, Carlisle and Lincoln. Those towns have agreed to be part of the response of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council.

That is just PISSA!!!

.....one example given.....Lexington PD does belong to NEMLEC...but guess what...they laid-off NINE officers last year, and by some miracle was able to ONLY re-hire FOUR of those officers this year as a result of some extraordinary early-retirements offered!!!

Do similar South-Eastern-Massachusetts LE Agencies need to re-think their extra curricular activities/capabilities/expenditures before they TOO sacrifice basic services to their communities?
I think so...You do the Math!!!

We all know that a duplication of services is Wasteful! The MSP STOP / SERT Teams are not only readily available; but are also fully capable, and more economical as well. Again...do the math, I smell political gamesmanship here, not conventional wisdom nor practical or traditional
procedure at all.............

.................GO PATS!!! Skin the Cats!

Posted by: Killjoy

Sniff....sniff.....why, I smell political bs!!! Just what we need; less cops on the streets and more boats, hovercraft, armored assault vehicles and command posts gathering dust!! SCAMLEC part II......

Posted by: masstoazcop

Here is food for thought, instead of wasting money to fund these regional SWAT Teams, how about using that same money to hire more officers. Does that sound reasonable or wierd????

Posted by: MatchStick

MA->AZ:

This is MA, hiring more officers and buying less shit would be too LOGICAL.

Posted by: lima1411

There is no streamlining going on here. If anything creating new "agencies" only adds to the mess. A new entity requires bureaucracy "hint...hint". This means cops off the streets and out of the towns which pay their salaries and expect their services. A recent conversation with some guys from both Weymouth and Braintree PDs revealed that certain sgts and patrolmen have been spending more time attached to these "teams" than they have in their own towns. This has resulted in some hard feelings amongst those who are left to pickup the slack. Again, in times of budget cuts and cuts in services its only a matter of time before the tax payers start wondering why. I know the chief in my town has already gotten an earful.

Posted by: mpd61

Mutual Aid is fine down here on the South Shore. East Bridgewater FD got their Thermal Imaging camera from community fundraising and corporate donations. The EBPD has Bikes/Quads and other toys from grants.

Imagine that! Funding for toys from traditional sources. And sharing with your surrounding towns. Need a K9? Call PCSD. Need firepower call MSP STOP.

Naw... lets just keep spending money

Posted by: USMCTrooper

Cape police chiefs forming non-profit with regional aim

Group seen as beneficial for training, competitive grants

By Edward F. Maroney
Time was that a meeting of the Cape's police chiefs would have required that guns be checked at the door, or so it seemed. The lawmen were fiercely protective of their fiefdoms, and woe betide he who urged regionalization.

Population growth and the lure of federal and state funds have a way of changing things, however. Thus it was that a positively chummy brace of chiefs, including Barnstable's John Finnegan, visited the county commissioners Wednesday to speak about a new level of cooperation among the Cape's 15 departments.

Yarmouth Chief Peter Carnes said his colleagues and he are forming a non-profit corporation called the Cape Cod Law Enforcement Council that will be able to accept grants to enhance mutual assistance between police departments. A similar regional police cooperative existed on the Cape in the 1970s, he said, and others can be found in northeast Massachusetts, the Pittsfield area and around Worcester.

With retention of local control a guiding principle, Carnes said, the council would enhance local services by tapping regional resources and coordinate training that speaks directly to the Cape's needs.

Finnegan, who has already drawn instructors from U-Mass Lowell to the Cape to train his officers, noted that Barnstable was looking at expanding its headquarters building and could include a training facility. Attracting a faculty would not be a problem, he claimed.

"Instructors love to come down here, especially those who love to play golf and enjoy the beach," he said with a smile.

Cooperation between departments could extend to forming a rapid response team that would be on the scene faster than a special State Police unit coming over the bridges. Finnegan noted that Barnstable Municipal Airport had to be closed for hours during a recent incident because the response team had to come from off-Cape.

"We could easily find ourselves cut off for a period of time down here," said Dennis Chief John Symington. "This organization provides some legal basis and authority to move people among communities in disasters and critical situations."

Symington stressed that the chiefs are "not looking at creating a regional police agency under regional control." Nor would the organization take over any of the county sheriff's functions or those of the Cape Cod Drug Task Force, according to Carnes.

"We are a county that prides itself on local control," Finnegan said. "This is about getting our federal and state tax dollars back."
Getting those dollars requires an upfront investment for legal costs involved in state and federal registration of the group, however.
"How much?" asked commissioner Lance Lambros.
"How much have you got?" Carnes replied with a grin.
All kidding aside, it appeared that $10,000 was a target sum, one that could come from the county's legal reserve. No commitments were made, but Lambros stressed his interest in the county involving itself more with public safety issues.
Longtime county official Mary LeClair, now a commissioner, praised the chiefs for cooperating so effectively.
"I can remember when you didn't want to sit in the same room together," she said.

http://www.yarmouthpolice.com/ypdwebnew/CCRLEC.htm
WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Board weighs joining regional police group

http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1...888466,00.html
DITTO!?!?!?!?!?

Posted by: Webster

Did any other community, besides Natick, file any grievences or ULP's when this crap started?

Posted by: jimbo

isn't it better for local communities to have police officers in nearby places help each other than to have political hacks who got their job on the sheriffs dept by holding a campaign sign, and only attended a reserve academy, form a regional emergency response team ???????????????????
my faith is in police officers, not publicity hound sheriffs....................

Posted by: jimbo

many communities have had their police trained in rapid response to emergency situations, such as clearing a high school and confronting an
active shooter, by the State Police STOP team - they are excellent and would be my first choice - BUT as the Barnstable Police Chief pointed out - sometimes it takes a while for them to respond - through no fault of their own - i can just see some sheriff looking for photo ops in an election year trying to form a team as a result - they are not police officers and most never attended a full time police academy or answered 9-1-1 calls for a living - i would rather see police form regional teams to respond to a real crisis IF the State Police STOP team cannot be waited on - merit before politics

Posted by: PearlOnyx

Jimbo,

What about college educated Deputy Sheriff's, who are also reserve police officers? Who never held a sign for anybody or donated a dime to anybody? Who attened a wide variety of training? Do you have any faith in them? or do you dismiss them completley because of complete bias against a group due to stereotypes?

Posted by: Wolfman

Quote:

Originally Posted by PearlOnyx

Jimbo,

What about college educated Deputy Sheriff's, who are also reserve police officers? Who never held a sign for anybody or donated a dime to anybody? Who attened a wide variety of training? Do you have any faith in them? or do you dismiss them completley because of complete bias against a group due to stereotypes?

In this case, let them affiliate themselves as a reserve with an established police department and act in that capacity, not in an enforcement capacity as a Sheriff. I can't speak for Jimbo but my bias (if you can call it that, bias is such a loaded word) is people, qualified or not, acting outside the scope of their purpose. If a Sheriff wants to do patrol work, by all means put your training and experience on your resume when you apply to a PD, that could well place you ahead of other candidates and closer to realizing this goal.

Like Garda said earlier, Lexington had numerous layoffs while at the same time managing to affiliate themselves with a regional team. If you're not worried about your job, how about worrying about your brother/sister's job?

Posted by: PearlOnyx

MT1,

As you and I have had this conversation a zillion times, you should remember that I do not support Sheriff's doing patrol work. What I took issue with in the previous post was the inference that all Deputy Sheriff's were sign holding, donating, political hacks! I will do patrol work someday, but as a Police Officer, not a Sheriff. I have no interest in working in a patrol function as a Sheriff, because I don't believe it will be done right, supported propertly, and thus making it a safety issue for me.

Bias is a strong word, and when I read this, I felt it was a good choice of words for the situation, and still do:

"have political hacks who got their job on the sheriffs dept by holding a campaign sign, and only attended a reserve academy"

There are ways to say things, and there are ways not to. Maybe I misinterpreted what Jimbo had to say, and if so my apoligies, but I think that comment was unnecessary, and possibly in violation of the terms of service of the message board. This is not my topic and not my issue, so I'll leave that to you. While I don't intend to start arguments, I will defend my profession, because I worked hard to be where I am, while I realize other did not. Hope this clarifies my repsonse, and if I misunderstood what someone had to say, then my apoligies.

Posted by: MC1010

PearlOnyx,

I can answer your question without any bias. I was a Deputy Sheriff, educated and had reserve academy training. No, i wouldnt have any faith, nor did i have any faith in myself to do any of the patrol functions let alone jump into the fire pit with some kind of critical incident. The reserve academy gives you the bare minimum basics that you can barely get away with to save yours or someone elses butt.. The training does help with working in the prison system, but no way touches base on what real partol work is like. To work on the streets, you need a lot more training than what the reserve academy gives. Also experience is a key factor, i got some experience riding around with a full timer...again, im not trying to bust your bubble, but you are questioning about being bias..how better can it be then to get the opinion of someone who has been through the same thing you are. I worked in the prison system for 7 years and worked part time in a small local dept. until I won the lottery, was chosen and made it throught the MSP.

Posted by: Wolfman

Pearl...
...that's why I spoke for myself and not for Jimbo. Believe me, I know where you're coming from and I have no beef with that. While I don't necessarily agree with parts of his argument which seemed to serve to inflame rather than convince, I will concede that he has a point about those appointed to a position by influence rather than merit. I'm not going to nit pick with the edit key either, maybe Jimbo will decide if his way of phrasing things adds credibility to his argument.

Bottom line, when you stand two Sheriffs side by side, one is a sign-holding donating political hack and one got his job via more honorable means, how do you tell the difference? Is there a special pin the hack can wear? Unfortunately this is the way the Department works, and if you strip away this aspect of "hackdom", you are left with...a police department. And we already have lots of police departments, and there are lots of cops out there who have been doing their jobs for years and have gone through hell and back for this position, only to be shown the door while political entities decide what kind of upholstery to get on their Urban Assault Winnebagos.

Posted by: jimbo

Pearl,
Please accept my apologies for wording my comments in the way i did.
i did not mean to generalize. the Troopers said it the way i should have-
you can't tell which Deputy got his job on merit and which got his job by holding a campaign sign. i worked in the DOC for 8 yrs and respect the work that c.o.'s do - my issue is that in the county i live in, 30 c.o.'s and
long time deputies were fired and replaced by sign holders. many got cushy deputy jobs like being assigned to fill details while c.o.s who should of been appointed to deputy positions on merit, instead got their walking papers - the sheriff in this county has given the dept a reputation of being a hackarama - firing decent people only to replace them with people who didn't earn the job is unfair - maybe the sheriffs depts should come under civil service...again sorry if i offended a man like you who earned your position by merit - i respect you and those like you- i don't respect the sign holding, grovelling hacks

Posted by: PearlOnyx

Jimbo,

That's very admirable for your apoligies and I agree with you, that Sheriff's have no place in policing. I just wanted to point out what you meant to say, and how it came out, and how it could be misinterpreted.

MT1,

I agree with you that there is no way to tell, which nearly makes my case for me. There is no way to tell, so this is why it is not right or prudent to generalize. You will never see me say that my job isn't a political blackhole, but I will defend myself when statement are made genearlizing myself and fellow officers as political hacks etc. I've done the right thing, and feel I've earned the right not to be stereotyped and lumped into that group.

MC1010,

If you read my post more carefully, you will find that I too do not believe that Sheriff's Departments should not be serving in many of the police type roles we are moving into. My complaint had nothing to do with training, experience, or any of the things you mentioned. My complaint was over political generalizations.

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