Northborough, MAssachusetts
Police Department
December, 1996

     The Northborough Police Department is a nationally accredited, full service police agency with 25 full-time and one part-time employees. Nineteen of the full-time positions are sworn police offcers with the rest being civilian employees primarily filling the role of telecommunicators. The telecommunicators answer the emergency and business phone lines and dispatch emergency service personnel. Our dispatch center has state of the art equipment and uses computer aided dispatching technology. Early in 1995 the department went "online" with enhanced 911 equipment. This allows the telecommunicators to see the address and listing information visually for every 911 call that comes into the station. Often, during the kind of crisis that precipitates an emergency call, the caller is often distressed enough so that obtaining accurate information is a concern. With this new equipment, the location of the caller is evident to the telecommunicator even before the phone call is answered.
   The Police Department applied for and was awarded over $100,000 in state and federal grants in 1996. The major grant awarded will pay for 75% of the salary and fringe benefits costs of a new police officer hired in September for three years. The other grants were for approximately $15,000 each and will off-set the personnel and supplies cost for the D.A.R.E. program being taught at the 5th and 8th grade levels and also will fund training and other initiatives pertaining to Community Policing. 
     New employees hired during 1996 as a result of attrition and the grant mentioned above were Joseph Galvin, police officer and Colleen Campbell, police officer and Jeff Kasaras, part-time telecommunicator. Officer Richard McDevitt resigned to take a police offcer position with the City of Marlborough and Sgt. Michael Ellsworth resigned to become the Chief of Police in Bolton, MA.
     The department tracks the case clearance percentages for Part 1 and Part 2 criminal offenses. One of our goals is to equal or exceed the national clearance averages for departments of similar size. Part 1 crimes include most serious crimes against the person, housebreaks and other felonies. Part 2 crimes include all other misdemeanors and all white collar type crimes. The national clearance rates compared to the department clearance rates are as follows for all reporting agencies with a population of 10,000-24,999.

                                    Part 1 Of fense      Part 2 Of fense
National rates                 53.9%                   23.1%
Northborough rates      54.8%                   48.3%

Total incoming/outgoing phone calls at police station       = 68,383
Average per hour/24 hours day, 365 days                                      = 8
     The average duration of all phone calls during 1996 was 2.06. The number of incoming calls put on hold in 1996 was 13,796 and the average amount of time the calls were left on hold was 45 seconds.
     The department responded to a total of 5,143 incidents or calls for service of an emergency or non-emergency nature during 1996, an increase of 10% over 1996. During the year, there was a total of 8,074 activities that were generated through officer initiative.
     The average response time (the time it takes to get a police officer or EMS person to the scene of a 911 emergency) is under 4 minutes for 1996. The average response time (the time it takes to get a police officer to the scene or a non-emergency type call) is under 11 minutes for 1996.
     The following is a five year breakdown of all traffic citations and warnings issued as well as the five year totals for all motor vehicle accidents:

     A five year comparative breakdown on some of the event classifications follows. One of the continuing disturbing events that is a matter of concern is the rate of family related violence resulting ;in restraining orders and prosecutions.

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