An era comes to an end at the Westfield Police Department today with the retirement of veteran detective Susan Figy.
She was appointed to the reserve force in 1980 and was made a full-time police officer in 1983.
In 1986, Figy joined the detective bureau where she spent the rest of her career and specialized in sensitive cases, those involving sexual offenses, children and elderly or handicapped victims.
Police Chief John Camerota said that he was Figy’s direct supervisor when he was, as a lieutenant, in command of the detective bureau between 1990 and 1999 and said that she was well established as an investigator when he took over the bureau.
And she was a very effective investigator.
“She’s the kind of investigator you wouldn’t want looking into your background, that’s for sure,” he said. “She’s been outstanding. She’s recognized as one of the top investigators, I would say, anywhere in this state.”
“She’s highly respected by her peers” Camerota added.
“There was a saying ‘telephone, telegraph, tell Figy’” when he worked in the bureau, Camerota said.
Capt. Hipolito Nunez, the department’s administrative officer, points out another of Figy’s distinctions.
He said that, although there have been other women who have worked in the department, Figy is the first female officer to retire after a career spent at the Westfield Police Department.
Det. Sgt. Raymond Manos has high praise of Figy and said “over the years she was our go-to person for sexual assault cases.”
He said this while it is somewhat unusual for an officer to spend as much as 20 years as a detective it is less unusual when an officer specializes in certain types of cases.
“She got pigeonholed in that (sexual offenses) whether she liked it or not and she got very good at it and didn’t want to leave” he said. He said that was a reason she never sought promotion as it would have meant leaving the bureau.
As evidence of her skill in investigating sensitive cases, Camerota said, she has been hired by the Western Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association to teach on the subject of those sorts crimes at the reserve intermittent police academy operated by the association.
“She’s been teaching at the reserve intermittent academy for 20 years” he said, teaching aspiring officers about “sexual assault, child abuse” and similar topics.
He said she also serves as an instructor in the criminal justice department at Bay Path College in Longmeadow.
Camerota said that Figy has been the department’s liaison with the school department for 20 years.
Ray Broderick, the principal of Westfield High School, has worked with Figy for many years and called her “an outstanding resource for the schools.”
“She’s a super strong advocate for the schools” he said who “works to make a better life for the kids.”
Many organizations and groups have recognized Figy’s outstanding work and she has a box full of plaques and citations to demonstrate their appreciation.
In 1994, the YWCA of Western Massachusetts cited her “efforts above and beyond the call of duty” when Figy was named a “Woman of Achievement”. The citation for the award reads “Your exceptional dedication to duty, your innate ability to engender trust, your enthusiastic willingness to help the less fortunate, and the dignity of your professional conduct are but a few of the fine qualities that make you what you certainly are, a woman of achievement.”
In 1997, then Hampden County District Attorney Bill Bennett named Figy Hampden County’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year, Camerota said, in recognition of “her outstanding dedication and unselfish commitment to law enforcement and the people of our community.”
In 2000, Figy was recognized by the Westfield Fire Department for her dedicated service working with children of the community.
Camerota said “In March of ’02 she was recognized by the house, the senate and (acting) Gov. Jane Swift with the Partners in Public Service Award” in recognition of her work with the Department of Mental Retardation.
Figy has received much other recognition during her career and most recently was honored by the Western Massachusetts Women in Law Enforcement Association, an organization Figy had a hand in founding.
Camerota said that Figy was named the honorary chair of the organization’s recent ‘Women in Criminal Justice Day’ a the Sheraton Hotel in Springfield where she was honored with their ‘Trailblazer Award’ for making a path for other women to follow in law enforcement. Camerota said “My understanding is that, in the 19 years they’ve been in existence, they’ve only given out three of those.”
Figy is also well-known in the community because of a wide variety of volunteer efforts at organizations such as Amelia Park and the Boys and Girls Club.
Carole Appleton, the executive director of the Amelia Park Ice Arena and Garden, called Figy “our rock star” and said “She’s been involved in every event we’ve done” in the three years Appleton has been leading the park.
She said “She’s just amazing with the amount of energy she has” and said “The New England Invitational Sled Hockey Tournament would not be what it is without Sue Figy,” she said. “She brings in her own little army of volunteers” Appleton said and “makes sure it runs smoothly”, even when she isn’t there.
She said “She wasn’t there for this year’s tournament and it was so weird without her here.” Appleton explained that Figy had gone to Ohio to watch her daughter, Lauren, play in her final collegiate lacrosse game but had the entire tournament organized before she left.
Barbara Braem-Jensen, the secretary of the Amelia Park board of trustees called Figy, a fellow trustee, “a precious gift” and said “She is actually a jewel with all the things she helps us with at Amelia Park. She takes over and she knows who to go to and how to get things done.”
At the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Westfield, Lerryn Godden, the director of finances, said “She been a very strong volunteer at the club.”
Godden said that Figy, together with herself and the late Patti Andras, instituted the Fall Festival at the club that began in 1994 and continued until 2009 when the fall events at the club were subsumed by a fall celebration downtown organized by Westfield on Weekends.
Figy’s husband, Ralph, an adjustment counselor in the Agawam school system, is also retiring and Figy said that they are going to start their retirement with a European trip.
“We’re going to Europe for a month” she said. “We’ve been planning it for three years.”
She said that the trip will actually be for 35 days and will mostly be spent cruising in the Mediterranean Sea visiting southern European cities before sailing home.
When they get home, Figy said, “I’m going to do some more volunteer hours at the Boys and Girls Club” where she said she was going to help with a peer leadership program for girls and will also assist with the homework help program.
Godden said that Figy will be a big help with the mentoring project at the club and said “We are looking forward to her hopping on board with that.”
Although the Boys and Girls Club, Amelia Park and many other organizations may benefit from her extra time to devote to her good works, her absence will be felt at the police department.
“It’s kinda a sad day for me” Camerota said, looking around her vacant office in the detective bureau.
