Greetings from the Chief of Police
Since I last reached out to you using the eNewsletter, Officer Mark Sklut has graduated from the Police Academy and will complete his field training program in February. Applications for the two Patrol Officer vacancies are in, and the Police Officer Selection Panel will be meeting in February to begin the selection / interview process. I’m hopeful that the pool of applicants is robust and we find just the right two candidates for Truro.
Our Annual Town Meeting is only three months away and will come quickly. The Police Department will have a number of capital expenditure requests this year. I would like to discuss them here and give you an opportunity to see what the requests are, why they're needed and provide you the ability to discuss them with me before Town Meeting if you wish. This month we’ll talk about the Breathalyzer Machine and next month, police cruisers and a joint request for an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) capable of carrying a stretcher and police equipment.
The Truro Police Department currently has a Breathalyzer Machine (BT Machine) that is broken. It has been inoperative for over a year. It and all the BT Machines are purchased and maintained by the State’s Office of Alcohol and Testing (OAT). This year the state is changing the type of BT Machines the police departments use. They are being distributed to police departments based on a pre-determined formula for the number of tests given with the machine. Tests are done in two ways, one for Operating Under-the-Influence Arrests and the second is for people placed in Protective Custody. That’s when they have too much to drink and are not charged criminally.
If someone refuses the test, you have to use the BT Machine to enter their refusal, but it doesn’t count as a test. Additionally, since we don’t have a working machine, we take our arrests and people in protective custody to the Provincetown Police Station and they get the credit for testing our arrests with their BT Machine. Due to the fact that we have many single officer shifts, when we have to use the BT Machine, our officers go out of town for much longer than is prudent. Right now, we don’t have a choice. It is very difficult from a staffing point to have officers out of town during patrol shifts, leaving Truro shorthanded - especially during periods of short staffing.
Based upon the state's formula, Truro is not eligible for one of the new machines supplied by the Office of Alcohol and Testing. If we purchase our own machine, which costs less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), the state will maintain the machine and support it as needed. But as I said, we would have to purchase it. I would ask you to support this request. Please understand that I will continue to talk with the Office of Alcohol and Testing and attempt to convince them to re-consider Truro’s situation, especially in light of single-officer shifts. As a smaller town, I don’t believe it’s appropriate to lump us together with larger metropolitan communities, and I believe the state should take that into consideration.
Next month I’ll talk with you about the fleet of police cruisers and the ATV. Until then, my best wishes to you and your families. Please feel free to reach out to me at the below phone number or e-mail.
Kyle Takakjian
Chief of Police
Truro Police Department
344 Rte 6, PO Box 995, Truro MA 02666
508-487-8730 Fax 508-487-8736
See www.truropolice.org for weekly logs, press releases, and other useful information.
