Wakefield Police Department Report

2011

POLICE REPORT

Year in review:

Our continuing efforts are to hold the line on crime and keep our Community a safe and enjoyable place to live, work, and encourage recreation.  We strive to police from a personal small town approach where we focus on problem solving, preventing crime and accidents. In order to do this the Police Department relies on the cooperation and trust of the citizens. I am and all the Officers are honored to work for Wakefield and Brookfield, and recognize that we could not be successful without your help. We made progress in keeping crime rates low – especially during these tough economic times. During the past year, we were able to conduct many preventative patrols, solve a significant percentage of crimes and bring several criminals to justice.     

  Policing Efforts in 2011:

• Grant funded patrols – Again we conducted several patrols through cooperative grants.  Speed patrols, DWI, & area wide DWI patrols, DWI Check point, Safe Commuter patrols and Youth Alcohol Prevention patrols.
• Burglaries and drug activity have increased and they also go hand and hand, We have seen an increase in the hard drugs, which have a direct correlation to increase in burglaries of thefts.
• Domestic violence related cases and arrests are up, this is concerning to us and these types of cases are a priority — everyone should be safe in their home, and help is available.
• Fortunately we have made several burglary and theft arrests, which helps, but does not eliminate the problem. We all need to stay vigilante to our neighborhoods and report anything suspicious. It was these reports by citizens that enabled us to solve many of these crimes.
• We continue to offer the SHIELD program at the Paul School and other local crime prevention seminars at the public safety building: including Fraud, Firearm Safety & Home Defense, and “Hard Targets” property crime protection.

Animal Control:

• Once again we were able to find homes for every stray dog or cat last year through our adoption program.
• Nine horses rescued and two others horses were relocated.
• The rabies clinic was successful and will be run again this year.
• The total number of Dogs licensed in 2011 was 1305.
• Reminder, take control of your dogs, they must be under your control or on a leash. If you lose your dog, call us he may be in the kennel.

Improvements:

• We did see a drop in motor vehicle accidents and incidents; I am pleased with this trend and feel the Highway Safety Program has a great deal to do with it.
• We will be looking to address concerns of personal safety.
• Our local firearms range was operational and used for our Police training needs, and our Citizen Gun Safety class.
• We have added an informational web site for the Police Department which is www.wakefieldpd.com

Thomas G. Mix:

            As many of you know, Tom has retired from the police department.  Tom came to us after a distinguished career in the US ARMY where he retired as a 1st Sergeant.  Tom served us for 20 years; he deeply cared about his work and did everything he could to help the other Officers he worked with.   Tom was a no nonsense type of Officer and had a significant impact on our community.  I am proud Tom started and finished his police career here, thank you Tom.

Tom’s replacement:

            Our new Officer is Mary Devine. She comes to us as a part time certified officer from East Kingston, and lives in Milton NH.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal Justice, and will be attending the Full Time Police Academy in April of 2012.  We are confident she will make a great officer, even though she looks nothing like Tom.

Officer of the year:

    The members of the Police Department have voted for Dennis Mercer as Officer of the Year. Dennis is known to us as a problem solver. Instead of only dealing with the symptoms, he gets to the root of the problem.  Dennis is well deserving of the honor and I congratulate him. 

Crime & Investigations:

 Charges of Interest: