HOLYOKE – Holyoke Community College has hired veteran police officer and Southwick resident Jose Rivera as its new director of Public Safety.
Rivera has worked in law enforcement for more than 20 years, getting his start as a patrolman with the Amherst Police Department, where for two years he was a member of the department’s mounted unit. Since then, he has worked for campus police departments at Massasoit Community College, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and, most recently, as the assistant director of Public Safety at Springfield Technical Community College.
For eight years, from 2006 to 2014, he served as the chief of police in the town of Granville, where he implemented a number of community policing initiatives, including bicycle patrols, a citizens police academy, junior police academy, children’s bicycle safety rodeo, and child identification program.
“He’s the perfect candidate for the job,” said Wiliam Fogarty, vice president of Administration and Finance, who oversees campus police. “We’re thrilled he’s with us and we expect great things.”
Rivera, 45, is a graduate of Salem High School, in Salem, Mass., and holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Curry College in Milton and numerous advanced certifications.
He replaces interim director Lou Barry, the retired police chief of Granby, Mass., and an adjunct professor of criminal justice at HCC.
Rivera was chosen from a field of 43 applicants and will supervise a campus police department with a staff of 12 officers.
He lives in Southwick with his wife Sarah, an attorney and native of Westhampton, and their two daughters.
