Pittsfield Police Remembers Fallen Officers

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The flag outside of the Police Department was raised to half staff to honor the five law enforcement officers who were killed in the city of Pittsfield.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Every 53 hours, a law enforcement officer in America is killed.

Since 1791, more than 20,000 officers have been killed in the line of duty; five of them in the city of Pittsfield.

Local law enforcement agencies took an hour out of their day on Monday to remember those who have died protecting communities.

"These are the men and women who purposely turn toward the sounds of chaos, toward the sounds of violence and grab their equipment and head into the fight when most normal people turn and run away," said Police Chief Michael Wynn during Monday's Police Week ceremony.

In 1962, President Kennedy declared May 15 as National Police Officer Memorial Day. For the last several years, during that week, the Pittsfield Police have organized a memorial ceremony.

That ceremony not only remembers the 20,000 who have died but specifically the five who died while working in Pittsfield, including the first Secret Service agent to be killed on duty: Operative William Craig in 1902, when a trolley car rammed into a carriage carrying President Roosevelt. Also remembered: Capt. Michael Leonard, 1898; Jailer James Fuller, 1901; Officer Leo Sullivan, 1956, and Officer Timothy J. Shepard, 1988.

Wynn said the ceremony is a reminder of the "risks and chances" the officer take every day. Last year, 105 officers were killed in the United State while on the job and 40 have died so far this year.

"The fight we fight and the monsters we face continue to change. We've got better equipment. We've got better training. We've got better educated officers. And yet, we still go out," Wynn said. 

Lt. Katherine O'Brien, Dan Johnson of U.S. Rep Richard Neal's officer, Sheriff Thomas Bowler and Mayor Daniel Bianchi during the ceremony.

"Those 40 officers that were buried this year were struck by cars when rendering aid on the side of the road. Or had their vehicles struck while they were taking enforcement action. They've suffered heart-related maladies when they were trying to render aid. And they've been violently assaulted. They've been ambushed and no amount of equipment and no amount of training is going to allow us to keep the walls bare as long as we have to fight that fight."



Wynn continued, "ultimately, at the end of the day, it comes down to the individual police officer alone, often in the dark, fighting the fight that no one else wants to fight."

Mayor Daniel Bianchi said he remembers working in the city's finance department when the news of Shepard's death spread. Shepard, 25, had died of heat stroke at a state training center; his death, and the injuries sustained by his classmates, resulted in sweeping changes in the way the state trains its police forces.


"I think it is fitting that we always remember those who serve," Bianchi said.

The mayor also read a proclamation dedicating this week as "Police Week in the City of Pittsfield."

Monday's ceremony featured the Pittsfield Police Department Honor Guard raising a flag half-staff outside of the station; an invocation by the Rev. Diana Salnitis; poems from Lt. Katherine O'Brien and PPD Officers Wives Group member Tanya Condron Mullin; roll call and echo of the officers killed in the city; the playing of taps and the playing of "Amazing Grace."

Those in attendance included members of the City Council, officers from multiple agencies, Sheriff Thomas Bowler and Dan Johnson from U.S. Rep. Richard Neal's office.


Tags: memorial,   Pittsfield Police,   remembrance,   

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Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

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