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Date: 12/27/2022
CHICOPEE – Following a recent surge of roadside accidents, the City Council accepted a $64,955 fiscal year 2023 (FY23) Municipal Road Safety Program grant for the Chicopee Police Department during its Dec. 20 meeting.
The grant is awarded from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
Chicopee has endured a tumultuous year for roadway safety. Among the 1,595 crashes that occurred in the city, 10 have resulted in deaths, including five roadway deaths within the last two months.
A majority of the deceased were pedestrians.
Throughout neighborhood meetings and public interactions, Mayor John Vieau described road safety as one of the most discussed issues facing Chicopee. He and Police Chief Patrick Major highlighted their vision for curbing dangerous road activity, such as distracted driving, speeding and driving while under the influence, during a Dec. 9 press conference.
Some of the measures included adding speed trailers, supplementing additional overtime hours for police patrols, educating the public via public service announcements, and issuing more citations as the Police Department incorporates recent graduates from police training. City leaders will also work with the DPW to see if there are areas where more signage and crossing marks are needed.
In 2022, the Chicopee Police Department has issued around 6,000 traffic citations – which Major considers to be higher than most years.
Vieau discussed the FY23 grant as a part of his mayor’s orders alongside Lt. Eric Laflamme. The mayor sees a variety of uses for the grant funding, such as purchasing more equipment and fortifying training initiatives.
Laflamme spoke in detail about the usage of the grant funds.
“We’re going to be buying a bunch of different equipment … This will also give us some training for officers to help do some speed enforcement, we are going to be doing overtime for speed enforcement based off this grant and the equipment we will be able to use to do that,” said Laflamme.
To accept the grant, Chicopee is appropriating $12,925 to the Police Department upfront that will later be reimbursed.
Ward 4 George Balakier inquired about new speed trailer technology that can simultaneously identify speeding infractions and issue ticket citations. Laflamme shared that police officers in Massachusetts can not issue tickets via video evidence.
“In the state of Massachusetts, we can’t issue citations based on video, it is something the officer has to observe. The legislature right now does not allow that,” said Laflamme.
Ward 7 City Councilor William Courchesne suggested that the Police Department issue warnings for driving infractions when caught via video.
“Obviously we can’t issue tickets, but we can send a letter out saying, ‘We know what you did’ and put them on notice in a sense,” said Courchesne.
Ward 9 Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello advocated for increased education on motorist safety through the schools. Currently, Chicopee Public Schools operates a distracted driving simulator that was paused during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Hopefully we can expand it into the curriculum too if that’s possible,” said Pniak-Costello.
Vieau reiterated that the Chicopee Police Department is working to deter all driving infractions.
“We are strictly enforcing distracted driving, speeding and impaired driving … The message is to help people understand how dangerous a motor vehicle is when it’s not used properly,” said Vieau.
The City Council accepted the grant in a unanimous vote. They will meet again on Jan. 3.