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Date: 8/18/2016
EAST LONGMEADOW – The Police Department expects to hire four new officers soon and is planning to send the recruits to the Western Massachusetts Police Academy in Springfield this November.
Police Chief Jeff Dalessio told Reminder Publications the police officers would train until the spring and would likely start in East Longmeadow in May 2017.
The class at the Western Massachusetts Police Academy is set to begin Nov. 7, he noted. The names of the officers attending the academy must be submitted a month prior.
“We’re on a fast track,” Dalessio said. “We’re hoping to get everything sealed and to the Western Mass. Academy obviously by Oct. 7. In the next month, we should be making some great strides to get that done.”
He added two officers retired and those positions need to be filled. The third position was funded in the fiscal year 2016 (FY16) budget, but the position was never filled and the fourth position was funded in FY17.
Acting Town Manager Robert Peirent told the Town Council at its Aug. 9 meeting the positions are all entry level and nine people off the civil service list are being considered to fill the positions.
He added Dalessio is currently conducting background checks and four candidates would likely be decided by the council’s next meeting.
Dalessio said the new hires would help reduce police overtime costs and with additional staff the department would be able to become “more proactive than reactive.”
The now defunct Board of Selectmen decided to open a search for a new police chief to replace former Chief Douglas Mellis in January. That decision was based on the department’s high overtime budget. Dalessio began working as police chief on April 11.
The new officer hirings is something the department has needed for a while now, and he’s looking forward to bringing new people onboard the department, Dalessio said.
“It’s always nice to get new people involved in the department – they bring in – new ideas and perspectives that sometimes us older officers lose track of,” he explained.