8/3/2019 Williamstown Police New Station Letter To Board of Selectmen

1/4

Williamstown Board of Selectmen31 North Street

Williamstown, MA 01267

January 4, 2012

Dear Honorable Board,

On behalf of the Williamstown Police Association, Local 424 of the Massachusetts Coalition ofPolice AFL-CIO (WPA Local 424), I am pleased to communicate with you today to discuss the

construction of a new, modern and safe police facility for our town.

As each board member may be aware, the Williamstown Police Department (WPD) moved to itscurrent location in 1966 after the Town purchased the location from Williams College. Prior to

serving as the Williamstown Town Hall and Police Station, this building was a college fraternity,the former Phi Gamma Delta.

The WPD has now been operating in its current facility for 45 years, a building which was not

constructed for law enforcement use. WPA Local 424 is in unanimous agreement the currentPolice Station is long outdated, unsafe for employees and visitors, and negatively impacts

professional policing.

Over the years, and just recently, victims of serious felony crimes such as sexual assault andrape, have expressed their displeasure with the current police facility for a variety of reasons,

such as lack of privacy. We as a community owe it to the victims of serious crimes to supportthem at their worst times, not worsen their experience.

WPA Local 424 encourages the Town to recognize this dangerous and incompetent police

facility and to take immediate measures to begin the long overdue process of moving forward

8/3/2019 Williamstown Police New Station Letter To Board of Selectmen

2/4

2

with construction of a new facility for Williamstowns professional full-time public safetyagency.

WPA Local 424, for the purposes of complete transparency, encourages the Town of

Williamstown to hire an independent firm to study the present facility and submit its findings to

the Board of Selectmen. WPA Local 424 is confident whoever conducts the study will reportback to the Board the following:

y Significantly inadequate space for efficient and effective police operations.y Lack of space for administrative personnel to work efficiently. Most offices are used for

multiple purposes.

y No handicapped access to the main entrance of the Police Station. This is especiallytroubling during non-business hours at the Town Hall.

y Lack of space to properly secure medical, firearm and other police related equipment.y Outdated holding cells. No facilities to house juveniles. No separation of male & female

holding cells. To access the holding cells, officers must first escort a person in custody

down a short, narrow hallway which serves as the main entrance to the Police Station.This places visitors in danger when they walk into the station during a prisoner escort.

Officers then descend a set of narrow stairs to reach the basement where the holding cellsare located. This creates a tremendously dangerous environment for the officers and

subject who is in custody. This hazardous condition is significantly magnified whenattempting to control a disorderly and non-cooperative person.

y No locker rooms. Presently, a small second-floor room houses a few closets for officers;however, they are co-ed and therefore no privacy for male and female officers who sharethis tiny space. This room also serves as an alternate interview room and officer reportwriting space.

y The main interview room which includes the required video and sound recordingequipment per the Berkshire County District Attorneys Office to record suspects is

adjacent to the entrance area shared by victims, witnesses and civilians. During criminalinvestigations, suspects, witnesses and victims cannot remain sight and sound separated

creating a dangerous and unsafe environment.

y No room to correctly process evidence, where chemical fumes can put employees at riskdue to inadequate ventilation.y Inadequate air conditioning and heating system.y Lack of adequate parking for police cruisers, police specialized vehicles/equipment,

employees and visitors.

8/3/2019 Williamstown Police New Station Letter To Board of Selectmen

3/4

3

y Insufficient space for employee training and community programs. Department widetraining must be held off-site at a cost to the taxpayers to accommodate the staff numbers.

y Insufficient space at shift change which hampers communication and information sharingamongst employees.

y Deficient isolation for the communication center causes a distraction for 9-1-1dispatchers which places the entire community and all public safety agencies at risk.

y Inadequate number of interview rooms (presently, the WPD has only one). Duringincidents which require the interview/statements of more than one person, it can cause

inconveniences and disruptions to police functions as officers must relinquish theircomputers to assist. The use of police computers by non-law enforcement personnel is

not only unwise as it slows police operations, but the location of the computers placeswitnesses in law enforcement sensitive areas which should only be accessed by

authorized personnel.

y Expensive computer systems for the Towns enhanced 9-1-1 equipment are stored in asmall room making it exceptionally vulnerable to malfunctions and damage due to heatoverload. The 9-1-1 monitoring site has called the department many times reporting

dangerous temperatures which could have catastrophic consequences if not remediedimmediately. This places the entire Towns residents in danger if the system fails.

y Current facility security and protections are almost non-existent, exposing employees andvisitors to risk. Any breach of security could also expose records and operational systems

which could result in detrimental outcomes.

y No Public bathrooms. Presently, if a visitor or witness must use a restroom, they arebrought to a basement or second floor coed bathroom with no handicap access. Analternative is using the bathroom in Town Hall. All three options due to their locations

require a police officer escort.

WPA Local 424 is certain the above mentioned is just a sample of what an independent third

party will discover when a proper and professional examination of the current police facility isconducted.

It should be known that WPA Local 424 is not intending to be confrontational by bringing this to

your attention. On the contrary, we wish to better inform you of our working conditions and torequest an independent study because we believe the Board and Town are honestly unaware just

how unsafe, dangerous and unprofessional the current police station is.

As we begin a new year, Village Ambulance Service, an agency that handles approximately2,000 calls a year for service, deservedly operates from a fairly new and modern building. The

Williamstown Fire District, a call department which receives about 200 calls a year for service,

8/3/2019 Williamstown Police New Station Letter To Board of Selectmen

4/4

4

is rightly moving forward with plans to begin construction of a new fire house to replace their 61year old outdated building (a facility that was specifically constructed for the fire service.)

In 2012, The Williamstown Police Department will begin its 46th year of operation from an old

college fraternity. Your Police Department is a full-time agency providing service to our

residents and visitors, twenty-four hours a day, year round, and which processed more than15,000 calls for service in 2011. We believe the time is long overdue to begin a seriousconversation about replacing this unsafe environment with a new facility that can appropriately

represent the Town of Williamstown.

WPA Local 424 would like to thank each member of the Board of Selectmen for your timehearing our concerns. We wish all board members, residents and visitors a happy New Year. I

am,

Very Truly Yours,

Sgt. Scott E. McGowan, PresidentWilliamstown Police Association, Local 424 AFL-CIO