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Earlier this month we shared a story with you about Charlene Smith, a 20 year old woman with Down syndrome, who wandered away from the home she lived in in North Brookfield and disappeared. Luckily there is a state police barracks in the nearby town of Brookfield, and the state police collaborated with the North Brookfield police to set up a search perimeter to find the girl before it became too dark to do so. It was 4 PM and there wasn’t a moment to lose. Charlene’s chances of making it through the night drastically decreased if they couldn’t find her before the sun went down.
Luckily a state police officer found her a quarter mile from the house, in a wooded area, crying by herself. A state police helicopter was flying overhead as well. It’s safe to say that the state police and their quick response time very well may have saved this woman’s life.
Naturally the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has responded by deciding to close the Brookfield State Police barracks. Because the fact of the matter is that no one in Boston gives a shit about anyone that lives west of 495. You literally don’t matter and neither does your safety. It’s the same reason it costs us money to travel into Boston on the Mass Pike while everyone streaming in from the North and South Shores gets in for free.
The Brookfield barracks is set to close on December 12. Here’s a map of the towns they currently cover in C-3:
As you can see, this is the boonies. When the big city in your coverage zone is Spencer, you’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The big problem here is that a lot of these towns don’t have overnight police, which is inconvenient when criminals decide to break the law at night. New Braintree has no police force and they rely completely on the State Police for coverage.
So what are people in these towns going to do when they need the police? Well whoever is in charge of this scam has redrawn the boundaries and put each town in another barrack’s zone:
As you can see New Braintree is now in the Belchertown zone. So if you have an emergency situation in New Braintree they’ll be there to help you out in about an hour or so.
Oakham and North Brookfield, two very small towns, are now in the Sturbridge barracks zone. Just a reminder that if Charlene Smith had gone missing with this reconfiguration, there’s a good chance they would not have found her that night because the response time would’ve been a lot longer.
Either way, it was the shady, backroom way in which this was done that’s got people pissed off. State Senator Ann Gobi pretty much represents every town being affected by this, and no one bothered telling her, or any of the police chief’s in the effected towns that this was going to happen.
SURPRISE!!!
The biggest problem here is that the Brookfield barracks has a jail where prisoners are processed before going to court in East Brookfield. Now they have to go to either the Holden SP barracks, which is a million miles away, or the town of Spencer police barracks, which costs money for local police departments.
But then again, none of you people actually matter because you live in the vast wilderness that lies beyond 495. Luckily Senator Gobi has filed legislation to put this on hold. If you live in this area and want your voice heard here’s the contact the people who represent you on Beacon Hill:
Leicester: Kate Campanale: Kate.Campanale@mahouse.gov 617-722-2488
Everything else: Donald Berthiaume: Donald.Berthiaume@mahouse.gov 617-722-2090
Ann Gobi: anne.gobi@masenate.gov 617-722-1540
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19 Comment(s)
Everyone keeps talking bout spencer this, spencer that. This concerns everywhere. This isnt about bashing a town lol
Fact Check TB……. Hardwick provides police for New Braintree through a mutual aid agreement, most departments book there own prisoners they just used state police if they did not have cell. and if you read the paper the State Police Col. met with the effected town chiefs last week…..old news was in the telegram a week ago…
I think everyone here is quite uniformed. Closing down SP Brookfield is a drastic mistake for the area. That barracks holds all the local departments together. They administer breath tests, they have cells. North Brookfield, and Brookfield both have new departments. Guess what, they don’t have cells. Even if they did, they usually only have one guy on. So, who watches the prisoner? The barracks is like a second home for a trooper. The place where they do reports, administrative stuff, have meetings, eat, or exercise. Not an issue if that barracks is close by. Now they are considering dividing up the area to Sturbridge and Holden. Isn’t that school in Barre a disaster? They going to send a patrol from 290/190 to the barre school? What about domestics? Yes, they happen. They sending one cop now? I spoke with a rep. It’s pennies on the dollar to keep that place open. That building and the officers are a major deterrent to crime in the area. It’s stunning in today’s day and age, they would eliminate instead of add. Those roads will no longer be covered anywhere near the efficient way they have been. Lives have been saved and lives have been lost through response time. Keep it open.
I live in New Braintree. Not much need for police officers but if you do the town of Hardwick are there quickly. State police are always around the training barracks in New Braintree as well. Brookfield State police barracks are a bit of a joke. I went there a few years back to drop off some xmas presents but it was past the date for toys for tots so they refused them. North Brookfield pd took them instead. You only need local pd in these rural areas. State police are better suited to run the mass pike at 90mph+.
Saying that they don’t care about this side of MA may be partially true, but I don’t believe for a second that’s why the department in Brookfield is closing down.
For one, Brookfield is practically crimeless. Having grown up there myself, the worst thing you see there is the occasional shoplifter at cumberland farms and A+B every now and then. The same can be said for most towns west of Worcester (Aside from like Southbridge, Athol, and arguably Ware)
The resources of the state police can be better used elsewhere, honestly. The local PDs of these towns can do just fine on their own.
The town police departments do a great job; however, the already strained local budgets would have to be expanded to include the cost of housing prisoners at Spencer PD. The charge was 150.00 per night several years ago. In addition, while crime rates are lower, primarily due to smaller population many calls require a two officer response and those calls are far more prevalent (domestic) than you realize. Many local departments augment their staffing with reserve part time officers, who are just that. Part time. They are dedicated but many are not certified to administer breath tests. The State Police in rural areas augment and complement your small departments helping to lessen the tax burdens we face in these daunting times as local aid funding continues to be cut. Often when the lone officer in a small town is tied up with an arrest the barracks provided coverage. If your family member has a heart attack late at night and the volunteer ambulance crew is delayed do you want an officer coming from the Holden area or your area when minutes count? As a tax payer I expect a certain level of services and I for one think the last place to scrimp is public safety, especially when the savings would be under 40,000 year. This is a shortsighted plan. This barracks is one of the leading ones in agency assists. Isn’t public safety about helping?
Why not just run patrols out of the academy in New Braintree?
Yeah, when I was picked up on my warrant a couple months back (I live in Warren), I had to be transported to the Spencer PD instead of just going to Brookfield. (Why I dont know) I can say that it was wierd being in a strange town the whole night, if I am going to spend a night in a jail cell Id rather it be near my own damn home. Not to mention the Warren cops had to drive all the way out there to get me just to bring me 2 minutes down the rd. Why a Spencer cop couldnt have just done it is beyond me. And they lost my ID. So yeah, keep the damn Brookfield Station please. I have had to deal with them before and they have always been nice, and they come quickly. If we are now going to be in this different zone, I am going to have to wait for them to come from Sturbridge? No thanks.
Stop breaking the law and you won’t have to worry about it.
People on the north shore get hit with tolls on the tunnels and Tobin Bridge. It’s the south shore folks that get in for free. But I’d rather pay a toll than live on the south shore.
Just an FYI, there is also a barracks in Charlton right on the MTP. Just for informational purposes!
The one in Charlton handles things on the Pike, though. Not in the actual town.
The towns should be responsible for them selves and not have to rely on the SP. I think it is funny that Spencer is complaining, maybe they should fix their own corrupt PD before they start to worry about what the State Police are doing.
These towns could combine depts and still have full local coverage.
i dont think the SP helicopter that helped find the missing girl was from the Brookfield barracks.
So what is the purpose of this barracks being shut down? In this day and age of civil unrest, stupid protests that are getting violent and all the other crazy shit happening we need more police coverage. NOT a reduction!
Thanks for the article on the State Police barracks closing in Brookfield, however it was noted that the town of New Braintree currently has no police force of its own. Actually we combined our police force with the town of Hardwick 2 years ago and it has been a huge success. Instead of having our own chief ( who did nothing) we were able to share the Hardwick Chief (James Ayotte) who does a fantastic job. He now handles coverage for both towns as well as handling the budget with the selectboard. Before this change, we had poor communication with the community , low morale in the force, and very little patrolling. Now we have been able to cut costs, increase patrols and reduce response time which is critical since they have to cover a lot of ground with limited resources. This type of shared community service has worked out well as long as you have dedicated, professional people involved. So far so good.
Have you got any idea how MSP functions? Every single trooper with very few exceptions is assigned a specific patrol area, meaning that this will not change how many troopers are available in a given area. These are not firefighters just hanging out washing their truck and cooking dinner waiting for a call to come in. While on the clock, MSP are always ready to go at a moment’s notice. Just because they “report” to Sturbridge doesn’t mean they spend their entire day there, or even a portion of their day. Not only that, their cruisers live with them, so they can report directly if absolutely necessary. Tolls on 93 are coming soon! Just you wait…Video tolling will replace toll collectors on the pike by the end of 2016. All we’ll need is another democrat governor to sign off on tolls on 93 and it’ll happen quickly!
Shut up sheryl
You assumed wrong….North Brookfield does indeed have full time police officers. Heck we even have a brand new police station! You need to fact check