Cop Talk: Chief Irving On Crime, Police Brutality and the Murders of Sarah Pryor and Lauren Dunne Astley

Wayland Patch asked Police Chief Robert Irving some questions we think our readers would like to ask him themselves. Here, he shares his thoughts on crime statistics, race relations, unsolved mysteries, where speeders get caught the most and more.

Wayland Patch: What is the biggest, or most pressing, crime or issue that concerns the police department in Wayland?

Chief Irving: The number one issue for the police department always revolves around complaints of speeding motor vehicles and cut-through traffic. The department spends a great deal of time on enforcing motor vehicle laws and works with the Department of Public Works to make sure the roads are as safe as possible for all motorists and pedestrians.

WP: Your most memorable case in your career, and also as Wayland chief:

CI: The most memorable case in my career occurred here while I was chief. I will never forget the loss of Wayland resident Lauren Dunne Astley, who was murdered, at the age of 18, on July 3, 2011. The officers did a great job working on a missing persons case, which, sadly, turned out to be a homicide. The community came together to help support Lauren’s family and friends and make sure that she is long remembered in Wayland.

WP: The subject of race relations, racial profiling and police brutality is obviously an extremely hot button topic these days. Have you had to address this issue with any of your officers/department? Are there changing concerns in this area?

CI: All Wayland officers understand that there is zero tolerance for policing based on racial or any other bias. The same is true for police brutality or excessive force. The Wayland Police Department is one of the few departments in the Boston area that uses dash cameras with audio in every marked police cruiser. This adds a level of accountability to the public, at the same time it protects our officers from frivolous or false claims of misconduct.

WP: Are there any unsolved mysteries in Wayland?

CI: Wayland’s biggest unsolved case is the disappearance and murder of nine year old Sarah Pryor. Sarah went missing on Oct. 9, 1985, when she went for a walk on Concord Road. More than 10 years later, a bone fragment was found in a construction area. The fragment was analyzed using DNA testing and was identified as being Sarah. Despite periodic leads, and a suspect who is imprisoned in Texas for committing a similar crime, no charges have ever been filed in the case.

WP: What was a national case that was most compelling to you?

CI: The murder of Jennifer Hawke-Pettit, Michaela Petit and Hayley Petit in Cheshire , Connecticut on July 23, 2007, during a home invasion impacted me greatly. I served on the Cheshire Police Department for 22 years and grew up in Cheshire. Most of the responding officers and investigators were men and women who I knew and had worked with for many years. The Petit family lived less than a mile from where our family lived. Jennifer Hawke-Petit was the nurse at the private school that my daughter had attended. Joshua Komisarjevsky, one of the two men convicted of the crime, had attended birthday parties for my son when he was a child. The crime gained national notoriety and was made into an HBO documentary. The two men that committed the crime, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Stephen Hayes, were sentenced to death and are incarcerated on death row in Somers, Connecticut.. The horror of what happened in that suburban home on that summer night in 2007 affects the community of Cheshire to this day.

WP: Where do drivers get nabbed the most for speeding in Wayland?

CI: Although we do directed speed enforcement on most major roads in Wayland, I would still say most speeding citations are issued to vehicles driving on Route 20.