3-27-08

Walpole Police Look Back on Busy, Successful Year

...And Arm Themselves for the Future

By Chuck Bingaman, Contributing Writer

            Walpole Police Chief David Hewes cites 178 criminal incidents, 130 arrests, and 859 traffic stops and 63 auto accidents 2007 as a busy year in the town even though only the number of incidents and accidents are slightly up compared to 148 incidents and 58 accidents in 2006.

            The year’s biggest, most successful policing success came in October when Walpole Police helped organize an “intel” sharing and strategy session at the Walpole headquarters in the wake of 30 burglaries and attempted burglaries in Bellows Falls, North Walpole, and surrounding towns.  In North Walpole alone, attempted break-ins had been detected in at Mr. G’s, Discount Foods, Bellows House Bakery, Agway and R.N. Johnson’s.

Officers from Walpole, Bellows Falls, the Vermont State Police, US Postal Servcie, Alstead, Charlestown, Claremont and Springfield VT pooled their information October 9 on the burglaries that had netted large amounts of cash and other items and agreed on an aggressive, coordinated approach.

            Four nights after the meeting, implementing the agreed surveillance plan, Bellows Falls Police, Officer Jenn Carroll in the lead, working with Walpole officers, saw and apprehended several suspects along with large amounts of cash from a break-in that evening at the NAPA Auto Parts store in Bellows Falls.  The cases are now moving through the judicial system and, Hewes estimated, around 30 reported burglaries have been solved.  “We’re not always that successful,” laughed Hewes on Thursday, “but that operation worked out picture perfectly, and it showed what can happen when you get everybody in the same room working together.”

            “Actually, our arrest record is one highest in the state, that is, the number of times we can solve crimes.” You can’t solve every crime, says Hewes, “But I’ve been here nearly 15 years now, Mike Paquette’s been on the force 10 years, and Officer Justin Sanctuary is a native of the town.  Over time, we’ve developed many friends, acquaintances, and contact, and that’s paid off in phone calls, tips and vital intelligence that gets crimes solved.”

            In other developments, Hewes reported the Walpole force recently took delivery of new Glock 22 semi-automatic 40 cal. handguns for each officer, the first time that the Walpole Police have provided interchangeable weapons for each officer.  “When I first came here in 1993,” Hewes explained, “we told our part-time officers that they’d need to provide their own weapons.  Later we bought guns for six officers, but those guns are now more than ten years old.  I decided that the firearms we had were getting old and that we should all carry the same guns for interchangeability—it was the time to do it.  And, incidentally, the Glock 22 is the handgun of choice with 70-80% of police forces around the country.”

            “Fortunately, none of our Walpole officers has ever had to use his gun against another person,” Hewes added, “only occasionally with a wild animal.  But we’ve never seen the stuff we’re seeing now.  There have been several New Hampshire police officers killed in the past few years…the job’s gotten crazy!”

            As to the immediate future, Hewes says he’s seeing an increase in domestic violence in town based, he thinks, on the tightening economy, higher gas and heating oil prices, and employment difficulties.  And, maybe even the amount of snow we’ve had this year.  “It’s getting tougher and tougher for a lot of people, and we see it in our daily work.”

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