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Date: 7/28/2022
BELCHERTOWN – Following the retirement of Belchertown Police Chief Christopher Pronovost on June 30, the Belchertown Select Board interviewed three candidates for the position during a special meeting on July 26.
The board interviewed Longmeadow Police Capt. Carl Mazzaferro, Belchertown Police Lt. Kevin Pacunas and North Brookfield Police Chief Mark Smith for the vacancy, asking each candidate the same set of questions while providing time for an opening and closing statement.
Mazzaferro said he has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Curry College along with a master’s degree in public administration from American International College. He added that he has been a police officer for 22 years, starting in Brimfield before spending the last 14 years with the Longmeadow Police Department.
Pacunas holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Western New England University and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State University. Pacunas has served on the Belchertown Police Department since 1996, and as a lieutenant, he said he serves as the second in command for the department. Pacunas was flanked by his family and members of the police department as he entered the room for his interview.
Smith holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State University. Before serving as the chief in Hinsdale and North Brookfield, Smith said he spent 19 years as a member of the Granby Police Department as part of his 27-year career.
The first question asked by Vice Chair Jim Barry to each candidate was to discuss the importance of a school resource officer (SRO).
Smith said the SRO is an important position for any department.
“It’s such a bridge builder when you have law enforcement at that level talking with the kids, which also leads into talking to parents and guardians. I value that position very highly, I think it is important to the police department, to the town and – most importantly – to the kids, especially in this day and age,” he said.
Pacunas said he would be in favor of expanding the current SRO program.
“The SRO gets valuable information that we wouldn’t get any other way, we stopped a lot of problems ahead of time by getting that information – parties, fights – and Officer [Jay] Kroll has made all kinds of contacts and relationships and we’ve gone to houses where something bad was going to happen and the boy or girl knows him and we’re able to work through it and get to a good conclusion,” he said.
Mazzaferro said the SRO works between everybody in a school and said the role is important.
“It’s a conduit between the department, the school, the administration and the students. It’s a necessary position and it is something I would be keeping as a chief. Even as time moves on and the department expands, I would maybe look to expand that position to have an additional spot for other avenues into the schools,” he said.
Board member Ron Aponte then asked each candidate to detail how they would handle an active shooter situation at the high school.
Mazzaferro said the situation would require an immediate response but said his job would be “behind the scenes,” making sure the areas in the building are secure, officers are inside the building, then providing public information, setting up road closures and working with families. He said the priority would be to get the officers into the building and once the situation is settled, getting them the support they might need after this type of situation.
Smith said that every officer needs to be trained and prepared for the chance of an active shooter situation at the school. He added that communication with the school department is important with the safety of the students and responding officers in mind. He also said providing information to the public during such a situation would be critical.
“The response comes down to training your people, realizing it’s going to happen – we have to, as sad as it is to train for it – and be prepared,” Smith added.
Pacunas said the schools are already equipped with the COPsync program, which allows teachers to press a button on their computer or phone to alert the police of a potential threat in the school. He said he would respond like everybody else, “If I am the first one there and there is an active shooter in the building I am going to go in, I’m not going to wait to supervise or wait for more people.”
In a longer situation, Pacunas said he would set up a command point and coordinate with the Department of Public Works and Fire Department to block of roads. He added that he would set up another post in one of the other buildings on the school campus while setting up Jabish Brook Middle School as a location for families to meet their children.
Board Chair Jen Turner asked each candidate about their experience with crisis and emergency management.
Pacunas responded to the emergency management question and said he was involved in Belchertown’s response to the snowstorm in October 2011.
“Myself and the other officers were at the police station every day and we worked with National Grid, we worked with community members, we worked with town officials, we were knocking on doors checking on people, pulling trees out of driveways, we spent the whole week working together as a town and a department helping people in one of the worst situations I’ve been involved in,” he said.
Mazzaferro said he received training in emergency management through a class offered through Behavioral Health Network along with other in-service training.
“I am ICS [Incident Command System] command level 400, which is your highest level of certification. When Chief [Robert] Stocks is away, I am the acting police chief and the last two years he has taken a vacation and we’ve had a tropical depression come into Longmeadow at the end of August. For the last two years I have been the department’s liaison in the command center, so I have dealt with a lot of emergency preparedness situations,” he said.
Smith recalled a situation at the start of his tenure as the chief in North Brookfield.
“There was a Christmas event which ended up being unmarked boxes laying in the middle of the street with wires and liquid. We safely evacuated everybody, we called the Mass. State Police and the bomb squad came out and ended up being nothing, but until that point, we didn’t know that,” he said. “I was thrown right into that as the leader of the situation, and we got a positive outcome.”
Each candidate was also asked to detail their management style. Mazzaferro said he uses a “democratic, collaborative style.” He added that he encourages officers to speak up and he will listen.
Pacunas said he also used a democratic style to collect input from the department, so the other officers feel involved unless a situation requires a quick decision. “I don’t know everything, so I’d like to get input from everybody,” he said.
Smith said he would treat the department like family. “That’s always been my philosophy to say, ‘Hey we’re in this together and we are all equally important,’” he said.
The Select Board planned to discuss and name their choice during its Aug. 1 meeting, coverage of which meeting will appear in the Aug. 11 edition of The Reminder.