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Date: 11/9/2022
CHICOPEE – The Chicopee Police Department and Hampden County Sheriff’s Office have entered into an agreement to have Hampden County’s deputy sheriffs participate in Peace Officer Standards Training (POST). The announcement was made by Mayor John Vieau, Police Chief Patrick Major and Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi during a Nov. 1 press conference at the Police Department’s training headquarters.
As a part of POST, deputy sheriffs will undergo the Chicopee Police Department Field Training Officer (FTO) program after graduating from academy. The 14-week program starts with a deputy officer reporting to an FTO program instructor for an administrative week of instruction. Afterwards, the FTO instructor and deputy will undergo on-the-job training across the city.
“This is post academy training and it gives [deputies] a more realistic idea of what its like to be a police officer on the street doing their job every day,” said Major.
Major shared that the trainees will shadow the instructor initially before eventually sharing 50/50 responsibilities. Toward the end of training, the trainee will then be shadowed by the instructor as they enact a variety of law enforcement tasks. Major said the program continues to be successful for the Chicopee Police Department’s officers.
“We’ve had fantastic results with this program, definitely upping our game as a Police Department putting the best qualified officers out on the street,” said Major.
The program will begin with one officer – Hampden County Deputy Sheriff John Muscaro.
Vieau highlighted the training program as a gold standard in police training.
“We have the best training program in Western Mass., if not the commonwealth,” said Vieau.
The mayor also expressed his support for the partnership between the city and the Hampden County’s Sheriff Department.
“When you work together, in my opinion, there’s nothing better … I am excited about the partnership. I think this is the beginning of something special,” said Vieau.
Cocchi stressed that his department continues to enjoy prosperous partnerships with Chicopee, including community engagement efforts like the Hampden County Regional Special Response Team, the Marine Patrol Unit, a truancy officer program and community events like National Night Out.
“We are proud of our relationship and collaboration with the city of Chicopee. This field training officer program is truly just another chapter in an outstanding partnership with the city and the Police Department,” said Cocchi.
Cocchi highlighted how the partnership furthers his department’s community engagement initiatives. He expressed the importance of acting proactively in implementing preventive measures across Hampden County.
“That’s what this community engagement is about. It’s about prevention before incarceration. It’s about saving the taxpayers money, so we don’t have to pay for [law breakers] to be incarcerated, but we can keep them law-abiding and conforming with the laws of the commonwealth,” said Cocchi.
Cocchi also applauded Major – who took over in his role as the Police Department’s chief in April. Cocchi served alongside Vieau and other city officials in selecting the Police Department’s new leader.
“What a selection. You’ve done a tremendous job so far … Your taking the department to another level,” said Cocchi.