Adams Police Foresees Full Staffing, Adds North Adams Officer
Police Chief Richard Tarsa informed the board that the police force should be fully staffed by next month. |
ADAMS, Mass. – The Police Department may have a full staff by next month.
Police Chief Richard Tarsa asked the Selectmen on Wednesday night to allow the transfer of North Adams Police Officer Gregory Onorato.
Tarsa said Onorato has been a full-time officer in North Adams for almost five years and took interest in an open position left by a resignation because he has moved to Adams with his wife.
Tarsa said Onorato is known for his involvement in the North Adams community and will be a good addition to the Adams Police Department.
"Officer Onorato is very community orientated, and he does a lot of activities with youth organizations currently in North Adams," Tarsa said.
Onorato was honored at a City Council meeting last year for his courage and poise in dealing with a fight outside a local bar and the mob that gathered.
Tarsa added he will also save the town nearly $20,000 since he has already gone through the academy.
In the past year, many officers had to work overtime to fill in the void left by a partially staffed department, he said.
"For the past year the department has been down, at one point or the other, four officers," Tarsa said. "Just the resignation alone created such a void that I had to shuffle manpower around to other shifts in order to accommodate part of it."
Tarsa said with the resignation, two officers are still in the academy and three were injured in the line of duty this year.
After picking up Onorato and the two officers who will graduate from the academy, the department will be at full staff by next month.
Tarsa said much of this staffing problem comes from Civil Service requirements from the state such as residency.
"It is very frustrating to have your hands tied by an organization that operates at the other end of the state that does not know what our needs are or abilities are far as staffing goes," he said.
Tarsa said he had to turn down 11 potential officers this year because of Civil Service and residency requirements.
The board ratified Onorato pending a physical and clearing all Civil Service requirements. He is scheduled to start Jan. 12.
In other business, the board also approved no-parking signs on the north and south side of Thompson Street.
Tarsa said there used to be signs there and asked that the town write it into the traffic regulations.
"It's a small little hill. It's not very big at all," Tarsa said. "It is at the right angle where cars coming in opposite directions have to come into the opposite lane and if you can't see what is coming over the crest of the hill you, are going to have ahead on."
Tarsa said the idea was brought to the Traffic Commission with a petition with signatures form 98 percent of the area's residents.
Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington also responded to the Adams Free Library's revoking of its service/animal policy because of public outcry.
He said town counsel is now working on a policy for all town-owned properties that is compliant with the American with Disabilities Act.
"We are on top of it now," Harrington said. "We did not know anything about that policy that was put in over there until it was in the news."
Tags: Adams Police,