Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 11/6/2023
NORTHAMPTON — After more than 25 years serving inside the Northampton Police Department, Chief Jody Kasper has been selected as the new police chief for the town of Nantucket.
“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 the town of Nantucket’s website.
Kasper was among three finalists for the job, along with Arlington Police Captain Richard Flynn and Portsmouth, New Hamshire, Police Chief Mark Newport.
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.
Kasper, born and raised in Western Massachusetts, told Reminder Publishing that she signed a conditional offer for employment with Nantucket, as of press time. There are still a few steps she has to take before the position is officially finalized, but she said she expected that process to be finished by the end of last week.
She added that she would provide more information about the potential transition plan for a new chief in Northampton within the next couple of weeks. Reminder Publishing will have more on that in the following edition.
Over the course of her 26 years with Northampton, Kasper was a patrol officer, field training officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant, detective lieutenant, captain of operations and then chief, beginning in 2015.
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.