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Date: 11/14/2023
NORTHAMPTON — With current Northampton Police Chief Jody Kasper leaving the department to become the police chief in Nantucket, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra announced that senior Captain John Cartledge will be the Northampton’s interim chief.
Sciarra’s office announced that Kasper’s final day in Northampton will be Jan 1, which means Cartledge will begin his tenure as interim chief on Jan. 2.
With Kasper officially submitting her formal resignation, Sciarra’s staff has begun a formal search for a new police chief. Cartledge will serve as interim while the search is going on.
“I am sincerely grateful and excited to have this opportunity to serve our department and community as the interim chief of police,” Cartledge told Reminder Publishing. “I look forward to working with our community and agency in this capacity. We have a great city and department, together we will move forward in this time of transition and change.”
Cartledge is a Northampton native who has been with the city’s Police Department since 1995. He pursued his bachelor’s degree at Westfield State University before receiving a master’s degree in criminal justice from Capella University. He currently serves as the Police Department’s captain of administration.
In a statement, Sciarra expressed gratitude for Kasper’s “outstanding” contributions to Northampton’s Police Department over the past quarter century, saying that she has played a crucial role in guiding Northampton through complex discussions around 21st century policing.
“Chief Kasper has been a remarkable trailblazer in law enforcement,” Sciarra said. “She has tirelessly worked to innovate, diversify, professionalize, and enhance transparency at NPD … as a fellow public servant who deeply admires her dedication, I am profoundly grateful for the impact she has had on our community. I will miss Chief Kasper, and I know her presence will be missed in Northampton.”
Over the course of her 26 years in Northampton, Kasper was a patrol officer, field training officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant, detective lieutenant, captain of operations and then chief in 2015.
“I’m grateful to have worked with such committed people in the Northampton Police Department and throughout the city’s departments,” said Kasper, in a statement. “It has been an honor to serve the city alongside my colleagues. Together, we’ve made real progress for our community.”
As reported in a previous Reminder Publishing story from the summer, Kasper has experienced many changes around law and technology during her time as chief, and a few programs have formed under her jurisdiction.
In 2016, the Northampton Police Department collaborated with Hampshire HOPE to form the Drug Addiction and Recovery Team.
“Northampton started this program using a harm-reduction model and providing follow-up services to people facing addiction,” explained Kasper, back in the summer. “The DART program has spread across multiple counties and has been a contributing factor to a shift from seeing addiction as a crime to seeing it as a health issue.”
The department also formed a co-responder program in 2021 to allow for crisis responders to go out on calls that involve a behavioral health issue need. In that summer article, Kasper said that the department took 1,298 calls involving mental health last year, and crisis responders were able to join officers on 490 of those calls.
During her time with Northampton, Kasper was the recipient of the Woman Law Enforcement Executive of the Year by the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives in 2021.
Kasper is leaving following some controversy in the department over the summer, when dashcam footage from April 4 showed two police officers tackling and pepper spraying 60-year-old Holyoke resident Marisol Driouech after she was pulled over for a broken headlight.
Although an investigation from an outside firm found the officers’ use-of-force to be “reasonable and proportionate,” Kasper said the situation should have been handled better and that the two officers did not meet “high professional standards.”
Kasper was among three finalists for the Nantucket job, along with Arlington Police Captain Richard Flynn and Portsmouth, N.H. Police Chief Mark Newport.
“Chief Kasper brings an extraordinary wealth of law enforcement and community policing expertise and experience to the position, having served with the Northampton Police Department for more than 25 years,” read the announcement on Nantucket’s website.
According to the Nantucket website, the retirement of Nantucket’s current police chief, Bill Pittman, set in motion a hiring process over the last several months; one that included 40 applications for the position. Pittman is retiring this month after 19 years in the role.