Braintree Police Swear In 3 New Officers

BRAINTREE, MA — The Braintree Police Department welcomed three new officers to the force.

John Donahue, Arhtur Venier and Matthew Gillis were sworn in as patrol officers during a private ceremony at town hall Monday night. All three graduated last week from the MBTA Transit Police Training Academy.

The academy usually recognizes graduating classes at a formal graduation ceremony at Faneuil Hall in Boston, but the ceremony was canceled because of the new coronavirus pandemic.

Police Chief Mark Dubois said the officers will participate in the department's field training program. They will spend the next 12 weeks under the guidance of a field training officer before being assigned to a shift.

Donahue holds a bachelor's degree in criminology from Merrimack College. Prior to attending the police academy, he worked as a security officer at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a 2018 graduate of the Northeastern Regional Police Institute’s Reserve-Intermittent Police Officer Training course.

Venier holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Massachusetts. Prior to attending the police academy, he was a lieutenant at the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. Venier received the Officer Sean Collier Memorial Award for academic achievement at the police academy for having the highest academic average of his classmates.

Gillis has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Boston University. Before joining the department, he worked as a public safety officer at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. Gillis was also an intern at the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, the Boston University Police Department and the Braintree Police Department while attending college.