Worcester PD to assist Webster
Worcester police offer crisis aid to Webster force
Jean Laquidara Hill
T&G STAFF
WEBSTER- Worcester police officers will assist police in this town, at no expense to Webster, if the town experiences an extreme incident beyond its capabilities.
Selectmen approved the one-way aid agreement this week at the request of Sgt. William J. Keefe, who is the acting police chief. He told selectmen that the agreement provides for Worcester to pay its own officers when they assist in this town.
"It's just a resource in case we ever have a disaster and need extra personnel," Sgt. Keefe told selectmen at the board's meeting Monday.
He said yesterday that the Worcester police SWAT team, crisis intervention team or riot control officers would provide assistance in the event of a major incident where such resources would help quell the problem.
The assistance is also being made to other area towns, including Charlton, which also has accepted the offer; and Dudley, where the offer is awaiting selectmen's consideration.
Dudley police Chief Steven J. Wojnar said he is advising selectmen to accept Worcester's offer.
"It's free, it's extra protection and it's really a no-brainer as far as extra assistance goes," Chief Wojnar said yesterday. "They have a number of resources we could use in a small town. Their central location and the vast resources they have is nothing but a bonus for us."
While not part of the proposed agreement, Chief Wojnar said, he would send Dudley officers to Worcester if a situation arose there that required additional officers.
In other police matters, Sgt. Keefe told selectmen he is in the process of hiring a new secretary for the Police Department. The former secretary, Lee Olmstead, retired last summer after police Chief Richard E. Bergeron was placed on administrative leave in mid-July. He has since retired. Mrs. Olmstead was also executive secretary to Paul J. Minarik, who was the police chief before Chief Bergeron.
Because of accumulated compensatory time and other owed time, Mrs. Olmstead's employment just expired, leaving the position officially open and the budget item available to be paid to a new employee.
Sgt. Keefe told selectmen he has been doing the secretary's duties in the interim, and said most people do not realize how much there is to that job.
He said he has received a "vast number of resumes" as a result of advertising to fill the job, and he hopes to fill the position by the end of this month.
In addition to being without a secretary and a police chief, the Webster Police Department is missing two supervisors from active duty. The deputy chief and one sergeant are on paid administrative leave.