$8 MILLION Not Necessary to Improve Public Safety Building

The Wakefield Police Department earned prestigious Certification by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission. Local newspapers carried articles about it in October 2017.

The Certification process requires extensive self-examination and review, followed by rigorous on-site scrutiny by the Commission itself, during which 159 different standards of quality excellence are evaluated. From the Item article, "The program not only sets the standards for the law enforcement profession, but also for the delivery of police services to the citizens of the Commonwealth." Passing muster with the Commission and earning Certification is quite the feather in the WPD’s cap.

How in the world did the WPD pass such an exhaustive on-site examination and gain Certification of its services to the public if the Public Safety Building (PSB) requires $8 million worth of fixes and is as deficient as we’ve been told?

During May’s Town Meeting, Chief Smith was asked by more than one resident how the quality of policing is negatively impacted by the building’s deficiencies. Logic tells us there should have been a litany of the negative effects, yet no one could offer even one example of how street policing is affected.

Certification that recognizes excellence in police services could not have been awarded had the overall quality of the WPD been grossly impeded by the conditions of the Public Safety Building. In other words, if it is of the opinion of the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission that the WPD services are not negatively impacted by the building, why then do we need to spend $8 million to fix it?

There have been numerous references by Chief Smith to the grave dollar liability to the Town, with examples of possible severe monetary consequences to the town. This sounded quite alarming - until Town Counsel, Tom Mullen, responded by stating, “Frankly, I don’t think the fear of dollar liability ought to be one of” the reasons to support Article 8. “You can’t hold a municipality liable for the negligent failure to provide police service unless there is an expressed promise of said service…..and liability would be capped at $100,000. We have insurance for that kind of thing anyway…..I advise all my municipal clients, don’t act out of fear of dollar liability. I think that’s how we should regard this issue tonight.”

We now know there really aren’t huge liability risks. We know we are not at risk. This should make us wonder why this misinformation was relied upon so heavily during the Town Meeting and forum presentations . The threat simply isn’t there, so why scare people with something that isn’t going to happen?

The reality is that the Town neglected this building and failed to make repairs to it during a 14 year period. Every taxpayer should be outraged, especially because we are still paying for the 2004 renovation and expansion of the PSB, and will continue to pay for it until 2023, at nearly $600,000 a year.

A recent letter in the local papers laid out some interesting statistics; The Wakefield police department has far MORE space per officers than several other towns in the area, including towns with new police facilities.

Wakefield: space per officer 393sq.
Peabody: space per officer 250sq.
Danvers: space per officer 348sq.
Beverly: space per officer 130sq.

Malden: space per officer 240sq.

Any thinking person would ask 'why does Wakefield need more space when it already has more space than many other police stations'?

Now, having said all that, it is clear that certain issues do need to be addressed in the PSB. I fully support spending money to fix such things as the roof and the HVAC system, the police lobby and a poured cement driveway for the fire station. Finding modern storage solutions and nearby offsite office space to ease some of the cramped quarters for now is a reasonable approach to take. A further examination of the efficient use of space is an absolute necessity before spending $8 million, and may very well solve most of the space issues. For example, it would make more fiscal sense to buy a brand new prisoner transport van that fits in the existing sally port than make the garage bigger, don’t you think?

We know Chief Smith is retiring next year. A better approach would be to wait for our new Chief to come on board so that he or she has the opportunity to combine his or her input with that of Chief Smith's on any major renovations or on a new police station.

Because of these and other reasons, I am voting NO on June 26th so that the Town can come back with a more fiscally responsible plan.

Bronwyn Della-Volpe