ROBERT SOREL
WESTFIELD – The Westfield Police Department’s auxiliary turned a page at the recent meeting of the city police commission when the commissioners both ritually made their required annual reappointment of all auxiliary officers and also appointed a new leader for the force.
The auxiliary force supplements the full-time officers as volunteers, taking patrol assignments (particularly on weekends) and work at special functions in the city, helping with duties such as traffic and crowd control.
The auxiliaries are also usually appointed as special officers so they will be available to work paid details such as ‘road jobs’. The auxiliary officers are also paid when called into work for local emergencies such as floods and other severe weather events.
The position of director of the auxiliary force has been open since the recent retirement of former director Jerry Crawford and the commission acted to replace him with the man he replaced, Robert Sorel.
Sorel was first appointed to the auxiliary force in 1987 and, while an auxiliary officer, was hired as a police officer in Northampton and completed the full-time police academy and underwent all the training necessary to be a full-time officer.
He was promoted to the rank of corporal – “I didn’t even know we had that rank” quipped Chief John Camerota – in 1988 and served for several years until the auxiliary unit was decommissioned by then chief Benjamin Surprise. Sorel returned to the auxiliary force when it was reactivated by Camerota in 2001.
In 2002 Sorel took over the reins of the force and was appointed lieutenant when Lt. Ed Wielgus retired and commanded the unit until 2004 when he moved to Arizona. Crawford then became the director of the auxiliary force.
When Sorel returned to the city in 2009 he was again appointed to the auxiliary and was promoted to be sergeant in 2011. He was promoted lieutenant in 2013.
However, Sorel jokes, “the ranks all pay the same” since the auxiliaries almost always work as volunteers. He pointed out that he is in a position to know the ranks first hand as he has held every available rank in the auxiliary force, even one which is no longer used.
“I do this because I enjoy it,” he said
When Camerota recommended Sorel to the commission for appointment he said “he probably would have been the director a long time ago” if he hadn’t left for his Arizona sojourn.
The commission took the chief’s advice and appointed Lt. Sorel, unanimously, to be the director.
DONALD HUMASON Sr.
With the lieutenant position vacant, Camerota recommended the current sergeant, Donald Humason Sr., to fill that position.
Humason joined the auxiliary force in 2007 while still working as a city firefighter and was promoted to be sergeant in 2009. Retiring from the fire department in 2010, Humason has helped lead the auxiliary force since then and was promoted to fill the vacant lieutenant position by unanimous vote of the commissioners at the recent meeting.
Humason said that his job is made easier by the officers he works with. “We’ve got a great bunch of guys. Anytime you call, they’re there,” he said.
Also at the meeting, the auxiliary officers were formally listed and the whole force was reappointed in an annual ritual.
In addition, the special police force, which includes almost all of the auxiliaries, as well many retired police officers, was also reappointed.
The special officers are empowered to work on details such as road construction sites which, unlike most of the events where the auxiliaries are employed, are paid details.
Auxiliary officers tend to fall into two categories, Humason said.
Many of the officers are young men working to gain experience on their road toward a full time career in law enforcement while others are older persons, often retired from law enforcement careers, who want to ‘give back’ to their community.
