East Longmeadow's Mellis installed as 2015 president of chiefs association

Date: 12/11/2014

EAST LONGMEADOW – Police Chief Douglas Mellis was officially installed as 2015 president of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association (MCOPA) during a ceremony at the Ludlow Country Club on Dec. 4.

“When you commit to run for the position to be president, it’s a five-year process," Mellis said. “So, I started this back in 2009. It’s a non-paid position and you try to find the time and juggle schedules to make the meetings. We have an executive meeting probably eight or nine months out of the year.”

The MCOPA board of directors consists of 18 police chiefs throughout the Commonwealth, he added.

“If departments have issues or concerns they’ll reach out to contact the [MCOPA],” Mellis said. “A lot of what we do is legislative issues. We have a lobbyist firm, Baystate Strategies, and what they work on are legislative issues that police agencies and departments are facing in the Commonwealth.

“A big [issue] right now is medical marijuana,” he continued. “In the past and it continues to be [an issue]; domestic violence. Currently, with the events that unfolded both in Ferguson, [Missouri] and now in New York City there’s issues and concerns about the use of body cameras [on police officers].”

Mellis said in Massachusetts there would need to be a modification to the statute to allow officers to use body cameras.  Medical marijuana is a large issue because of the decimalization of marijuana in various states across the country.

“We’re an example of society itself,” he added. “We see what’s out there and we react and try to react the right way and help people. If it was a perfect utopian society, we wouldn’t need law enforcement.”

Another goal of Mellis’ administration is to advocate for impartial policing, he noted.

“The other issue that’s facing us too is trying to get the next generation 911 system,” Mellis added. “We have an enhanced 911 system for our telephones so that when you call, and God forbid, you fall, you pass out, something happens, if you call this department on 911 we’ll know where your call is coming from.”

Mellis said his hopes are that the next generation 911 program will be activated with the aid of the Gov. Charlie Baker administration.

 “Our current enhanced 911 system, the equipment is getting old so we have to replace the old equipment and you can’t replace the old equipment with new equipment because technology has changed,” he added.

The next generation 911 system would allow police departments to accept text messages, Mellis said.

The state police in Northampton currently receive and transfer cell phone 911 calls to various departments throughout the region, he added. With the next generation 911 equipment, cell phone calls would be sent directly to the local departments.

Mellis said another regional issue is the Northeastern heroin epidemic.

“We’ve seen a number of overdoses in our community,” he added. “I want to say in the last three years we’ve had a few that have been fatal and we realize as [Gov. Deval Patrick] has said ‘It’s an epidemic.’ He’s I think sanctioned $20 million [to increase treatment more recovery services to the public.]”

Mellis has been chief of police in East Longmeadow since 2005 and before that time he was chief of the Hampden Police Department from 2002 to 2005.

Before Hampden, Mellis was a member of the Longmeadow Police Department, and was a sergeant prior to leaving.