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City has full complement of police officers

Date: 7/3/2013

By G. Michael Dobbs

news@thereminder.com

CHICOPEE — With the addition of six new patrolmen and the promotion of Patrolman Hamilton Wray to sergeant, the Chicopee Police Department is now at its full strength, according to Mayor Michael Bissonnette.

Bissonnette made the announcement on July 1 when City Clerk Keith Rattell swore in the new officers at City Hall.

The mayor said that filling the ranks was the result of "true fiscal soundness" and thanked the City Council for its role in the budget process.

The new officers, who graduated from the police academy on June 28, are Christopher Malooly, Yamil Montanez, William Powell, Christopher Sawa, Murphy Serafino and Vincent Torres.

Police Chief Thomas Charette said the graduates had completed 21 weeks of "difficult training."

He added, "In reality their training is beginning today."

Bissonnette reminded the friends and families gathered for the ceremony how dangerous public safety jobs can be and said, "It's very important for a community as stable as we are to have a full complement of police officers."

Charette called Wray "one of our top guys."

Wray, who has been a member of the Chicopee Police Department for 10 years thanked Charette and Bissonnette "for giving me this opportunity."

He also thanked his family friends for their support, especially his wife.

Wray, who has been working on the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, said he would begin supervising patrolmen on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift.

His son, Hamilton II, pinned his sergeant's badge on his uniform as part of the ceremony and saluted him.