MELISSA BURNS
WESTFIELD – An existing shortage of officers in the ranks of the Westfield Police Department will become more acute Feb. 4 when the six newest officers on the force are removed from the duty roster so they can start formal training at the 22-week-long Municipal Police Training Committee academy.
However, the Westfield Police Commission acted at their meeting Monday to alleviate the shortage by appointing candidates to four categories of officers – full time, reserve, auxiliary and special.
The list of reserve officers, the pool of candidates eligible for appointment as full time officers, contained four officers, Melissa Burns of Belchertown, Timothy Fanion of Westfield, Brendan Irujo of Westfield and Jeffrey Vigneault of West Swanzey, N.H., vying for two open positions.
The commission had previously interviewed all four applicants and, after the candidates briefly recapped their resumes, the commissioners briefly discussed them privately before returning to public session to appoint the two highest-ranking candidates, Burns and Fanion, to full time positions.
Burns, who said that she will be moving to the city now that she has been appointed to a full-time position on the force, told the commission “I’ve always wanted to be a police officer to help people” but said when she graduated from Chicopee Comprehensive High School she was told she was too young so she enlisted in the army and served with the military police until she was discharged from active duty after more than ten years of service.
She said she is still a member of the Army reserve, currently works as a security officer at Westfield State University and is a member of the reserve and intermittent police academy class which graduates Feb. 10.
TIMOTHY FANION
Fanion, the second candidate on the reserve list, is a graduate of the Westfield High School class of 2007 and a 2011 graduate of the criminal justice program at Westfield State University. He said that, since his graduation, he has been working on his family’s farm.
Fanion also will graduate from the reserve and intermittent police academy on Feb. 10.
Police chief John Camerota took a minute to reassure the disappointed candidates and said “We have an officer retiring in April.” He also pointed out that there are two positions that may be opening up soon and said “It looks good for you.”
Commissioner Felix Otero echoed his sentiments saying “We’re going to be seeing you guys soon.”
With the reserve list depleted, the commission also interviewed – or in most cases re-interviewed – 13 applicants for positions as reserve officers and ultimately appointed all of them as reserve officers.
Appointed were: Jason Grunwald, Andrew Vega, Steven Clement, Zachary Demers, Kenneth Lafontaine, Kyle Racicot, Jamie Campbell, Joshua Lamb, Aaron Spiller, Steven Gibson, Keith Plante, Anthony Saltmarsh, and Jarrod Clark.
All the newly appointed reserve officers are city residents.
Gerald Crawford, director of the city’s auxiliary police unit, presented four candidates for appointment.
The auxiliary force, which provides unpaid officers for special events in the city and otherwise augments the full time force, is often the first step taken by young men and women seeking a career in law enforcement.
The applicants – Tyler Ragazzini of Huntington, Jay Torres of Westfield, Jessica Scheinnost of Granby and Christopher M. Barna of Southwick – all expressed a desire for a police career and all were appointed.
In addition, the commission appointed one special police officer, retired Sgt. Brian Boldini, most recently before his retirement the commander of the department’s Traffic and Safety Bureau.
Boldini, reportedly in Arizona, was represented by Camerotta who said that Boldini’s 32 years of experience with the force “really would be an asset to us.”
“He would be used in a limited capacity with us, he’s not interested in any road work. So I think he would be a good fit.”
Boldini was appointed by a unanimous vote of the commission.
As a footnote, the running gag at the meeting revolved around one question commission chairman Karl Hupfer asked of all the candidates, “Do you have a relative on the police department?”
The affirmative answers from five of the candidates allowed the opportunity for both heartfelt expressions of respect and friendly wisecracks, both from the commissioners and the peanut gallery.
The legacy officers include Jay Torres, son of the late veteran officer Jose Torres; Jessica Scheinnost and Timothy Fanion, relatives of retired officer George Fanion and current detective Brian Fanion; Kyle Racicot, son of veteran serving officer David Racicot and Tyler J. Ragazzini, son of Det. Lt. David Ragazzini, the current commander to the Detective Bureau.
