Category: MPD

MERRIMAC — Police Chief Eric Shears is very proud to announce that the Merrimac Police Department will begin operating out of its brand new police station on Tuesday morning.

The building project has reached substantial completion. On Tuesday morning, dispatch and 911 equipment will be moved from the old public safety facility on East Main Street to the Merrimac Police Department’s new home at 2 Jana Way.

“I am extraordinarily proud of our new station, and I am grateful to our residents for their support as the Merrimac Police Department aims to deliver the best and most modern and professional public safety services possible,” said Chief Shears, who began working out of his new office on Jana Way late last month. “I look forward to welcoming our residents to the new Merrimac Police Department, and we are looking forward to seeing many of you at a formal open house event once it is safe to do so.”

There will be no interruption of emergency dispatch or 911 services, as the West Newbury Police Department will take landline 911 calls and the Essex County Regional Emergency Communications Center will take cellular 911 calls during much of the day on Tuesday. Information will be relayed to Merrimac Police and Fire for response. The equipment is expected to be moved and restarted by 4 p.m. Tuesday, at which time emergency call-taking operations will return to Merrimac Police.

As a reminder, the Merrimac Fire Department remains at the 16 East Main St. location. 

Merrimac residents voted to fund the design, engineering and construction of a $6.5 million police station in November 2018. Construction on the new facility began on May 13, 2019. Some finishing work, including tile work in the station lobby, remains to be completed in the coming weeks. The new station lobby is open for business, but residents should be ever-mindful of COVID-19 precautions, including masks and social distancing when visiting the police department.

Chief Shears and the members of the Merrimac Police Department also wish to thank the present and past members of the Public Safety Building Committee, the present and past members of the Board of Selectmen involved in this project, the Carell Group, NV5 and our contractor LD Russo.

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Merrimac is a very close knit community. We have been fortunate to protect and serve a community comprised of dedicated families, residents and business.  We, the members of the police department pride ourselves on our active involvement with our residents whether it be our schools, our family events, our senior center or the numerous birthday parades that have helped people smile though these very difficult times. Our staff is an amazing group of consummate professionals that have dedicated their lives to working for you. I am proud to be their leader.

Some of the officers that you see patrolling your streets are your neighbors, your children’s coaches and your friends. Our officers wear many hats while on duty; they are lifesavers, counselors, mediators, mentors and friends.

Although we are sandwiched between cities with traditionally higher crime rates, Merrimac has remained a safe town.  My job, as your Chief of Police, is not only to keep you safe but to protect the officers who have committed to serving you.  Our police department is small, so small that 30% of the time, our available staff only allows for one officer to be working on the road.  One person, responsible for protecting a town of 7,000 lives dispersed over 9 square miles, for an average of 10 days each month.

It is not safe for our officers to respond to certain calls without backup, and it isn’t safe for our community members who may dial 911 only to be told that the only officer on duty is on another call and will get there as soon as they can – or that our residents may have to wait for mutual aid to arrive from another city or town.

Of our similarly-sized neighboring towns, including Groveland, West Newbury, Newbury and Georgetown, we have the fewest number of officers on staff. To be honest, we are the smallest in the entire area, as most of these agencies staff two officers on duty at any given time.

For years, we have relied heavily on our reserve officers to fill shifts. They are a great resource, but often their availability is unpredictable. These are part-time, per-diem staff who are working full-time elsewhere, nearing retirement or who are just starting their careers and actively looking for full-time police employment—elsewhere, if there are no opportunities in Merrimac. The latter is particularly difficult for me as chief, because we may spend considerable time, energy and money training and developing a young part-time officer, only to see them leave because full-time positions open up in other departments.

This year at town meeting, I am asking the people of Merrimac to fund two additional full-time police officers. This will help ensure that there are always two members of the department on duty at any given time. The additional officers would cost the owner of the average home in Merrimac $88 per year in added property taxes. People are our most important resource as we work together in this community to keep all citizens of Merrimac safe.

I know what we are asking of you, during these uncertain and difficult times. Any request for funding from taxpayers must be made with the utmost care and caution. This is especially true in light of our recent police station building project.  In order to do that and to continue to modernize and evolve as an agency, we need to ensure consistent staffing levels. I promise that I would not be making this request if I did not believe it is important.

We seek to be the most responsive and modern police department possible.  Amid the national conversation surrounding police professionalism and standards, I would also like to take this opportunity today to announce that the Merrimac Police Department will begin the challenging process of seeking State Certification and then State Accreditation. This difficult and self-reflecting process will help ensure that our policies, procedures and trainings are in line with state and national best practices for modern policing. We have already assigned an officer to the role of accreditation manager.

Achieving adequate staffing in the department will not only make our community safer, but it will help make sure that we are able to grow and evolve to meet the needs of all our community members and guests.

Our department is fortunate to operate in a town that has shown such great support for its public safety agencies. We are deeply thankful to you, and we report to work each day knowing that we can only be effective in our role as police officers if you believe in us.

Thank you for your time, partnership, consideration and support every day.

Chief Shears

MERRIMAC — Police Chief Eric Shears reports that the Merrimac Police Department has documented occurrences of graffiti spray-painted on a wall outside the Helen R. Donaghue School and on a wall outside the Merrimac Highway Department building.

The letters “ACAB” were discovered spray-painted on the Highway Department building early Sunday morning. Later in the morning, the words “Black Lives Matter” and “ACAB” were discovered spray-painted in large letters on a concrete wall outside the school building. “ACAB” is known to stand for “All Cops are Bastards.”

The department has documented the occurrence, and the spray-paint will be professionally removed by a crew attached to the Essex County Sheriff’s Office later Sunday. Chief Shears notified the Merrimac Board of Selectmen and Pentucket Regional School District Superintendent Justin Bartholomew about the incidents.

Chief Shears urges members of the community not to spray-paint public buildings, regardless of the messaging or intentions.

“As a community leader, I am mindful of the very necessary and vital conversation taking place around our nation after the senseless and tragic death of George Floyd in Minnesota,” Chief Shears said. “I denounce the actions of the officers in Minneapolis that resulted in this man’s death. The men and women of the Merrimac Police Department report to work every day understanding that we can only do our jobs effectively if we have the support and partnership of our community members.”

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