Wilbraham Police Department to present Citizen’s Police Academy classes for residents

Date: 11/7/2014

WILBRAHAM – The Police Department is reaching out to the community for a series of classes at the Public Library called Citizen’s Police Academy, intended to give a general overview of the common experiences and laws enforced in the town.

The first class was scheduled for Nov. 6 and consisted of an introduction about the department and its resources as well as a discussion about domestic laws, restraining orders, and juvenile presented by Police Capt. Timothy Kane and Sgt. Glen Clark.

Kane said the classes would also be geared toward familiarizing residents with Massachusetts state laws and the differences between similar laws from different states.

In Massachusetts a police officer is required to have a suspicion of a crime or a safety issue in order to remove an individual from a motor vehicle, he explained.

“Our arrests generally are shoplifters, OUI (operating under the influence), domestics, and warrants,” Kane added. “We get a little bit of drug activity, a few car breaks, that kind of stuff but we don’t have a lot of gang problems or shootings.”

K-9 Officer Joseph Brewer will be presenting on the K9 program with a drug information piece on Nov. 13, he added. Officer Daniel Menard will also share his experiences as school resource officer.

On Nov. 20, Detective Jeffery Rudinski will discuss social media issues in law enforcement as well as identify theft.

“[Rudinski] is one of our trained experts on social media with Internet crimes today and identity theft,” Kane said. “He [also] knows all the ins and outs of about when you need to get a warrant; pulling [information off of] phones and computers.”

Kane said Rudinski and Sgt. Shawn Baldwin will also speak about court procedure and detective work.

“Sometimes there’s a breaking and entering in a house and you don’t have too many leads but you’re still tied up with other things,” Kane explained. “These guys are following up, making phone calls, checking pawn shops, and checking websites.”

Kane said one of the most recent cases involves several motor vehicle break-ins, which now has a suspect due to the detective work of Rudinski and Baldwin.

Officer Sean Casella will address OUI arrests related to drugs and alcohol and his experience as a drug recognition expert on Dec. 4.

“We’re a very proactive department and I think because of that we can say that we have a safe community,” Officer David Diogo said. “A lot of people we’ve stopped, these repeat offenders, they comment and say they don’t want to come to Wilbraham because they know they’re going to get stopped.”

As of the beginning of September, the department has made 60 OUI arrests for alcohol and 14 drug arrests for this year. There were 30 OUI alcohol arrests and four drug related arrests reported by the department in 2013.

Kane said the increase in OUI arrests is due in part because of the expertise of Casella and Diogo, who specializes in recognizing the characteristics of drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol. Casella and Diogo have both shared their knowledge about OUIs with various officers in the department.

On Dec. 11, Officer Brent Noyes and Diogo will discuss traffic enforcement, accident investigation and the state marijuana bylaw as well as their experiences working the third shift.

“Marijuana decriminalization and prescription pills are such a problem today that a lot of people think they can drive with pills or have one or two beers and they’re not under the influence but they are,” Kane said.

Diogo said in November 2013 the department allowed dashboard cruiser cams, which have helped officers review cases and have been used in court proceedings.

“It’s more powerful than the officer testimony,” Diogo explained. “These people; they can see it now they can see how [a person arrested for an OUI] stumbled on his feet.”

The Citizen’s Police Academy is free and open to the public and will take place in the Brooks room of the Public Library from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday beginning Nov. 6 until Dec. 11, except for Nov. 27.

Any individuals with questions about the classes can contact Kane at 596-3837 or by email at tkane@wilbraham-ma.gov.