A regional swat team is available to more than half the towns in Berkshire County in the event of a high-risk incident, such as a hostage situation, according to Chief Anthony Riello of the Pittsfield Police Department.
Riello was instrumental in bringing together many of the county's police departments to form the Berkshire County Regional Strategic Response Team in November 2000. A mutual aid agreement was established amongst the participating cities and towns. It specifies that the team will respond to incidents in those communities when needed, he said.
A $300,000 grant was secured for the growth of the team on December 18, 2000. U.S. Rep. John W. Olver (D-1st District) was instrumental in obtaining the grant for the team, Riello said. The grant money, which is administered through Riello's office and is good for three years, is to be spent on equipment and training and to support the team, including the cost of call-outs for incidents and paying team members, Riello said.
Two vehicles were purchased for the team with the grant money. One is a "very useful, versatile" armored swat truck called The Bear, which cost $175,000 and is garaged in Pittsfield, he said. The other, the team's first response vehicle, is a Ford Expedition with special equipment and a weapons locker.
The team has been called out "half a dozen to a dozen times," Riello said. It is used in high-risk drug raids, he said. The team is comprised of 22 members, 14 of whom are Pittsfield officers. Seven county police departments have officers on the team, including North Adams, Williamstown, Sheffield, Lee and Great Barrington, Riello said.
Pittsfield Police Capt. Cosmo Spezzaferro runs the team, Riello said. Second in command for the team is Lt. Bruce Hugabone. The team trains for four hours usually every other week, Riello said. Role play exercises are one part of their training. An example of a role play they practice is a situation where there is an active shooter or shooters in a school, he said.
The team was modeled after a regional team in eastern Massachusetts, he said.
Other situations that would involve the team include natural disasters, search-and-rescue operations, mob action, civil disturbances, unusual occurrences and any other situation threatening the peace of the jurisdiction, according to a press release from Olver's office.
Prior to regional team forming, the Pittsfield Police Department had its own 14-member swat team, which was absorbed into the regional team and is that team's "nucleus," Riello said. The vehicle that the city purchased was manufactured by Lenco Industries Inc., which has been manufacturing armored vehicles in Pittsfield since 1981. The vehicle is an armored swat truck, a bullet-resistant special response vehicle used in especially hazardous or dangerous police situations, said Len Light, vice president of Lenco.
Describing the truck as a "defensive piece of equipment," he said it has the dual purpose of transporting the police into the situation and rescuing those who need to be rescued, he said. In a hostage situation, the swat truck, which is resistant to high-powered assault rifles, would allow the police to get close to the scene, Light said. It is a user-friendly vehicle, which can fit 30 people in the back and has on board stretcher compartments, he said.
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McCann OKs FY27 Budget, Assistant Principal Post
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The McCann School Committee on Thursday approved a level-service "vanilla" budget for fiscal 2027.
The total spending plan for the Northern Berkshire Regional Vocational District is $13,218,090, up $564,753 or 3.69 percent over this year. The budget includes a second assistant principal, a special education teacher and interest on the building repair project.
"We frequently refer to our budget as a vanilla budget, and it sort of is this year, with some exceptions," said Finance Committee Chair Daniel Maloney. "The capital part of it is something different than the operating budget, but there will be an impact from that as well. But again, trying to be sensitive to what our communities can afford."
Maloney and Superintendent of Schools James Brosnan stressed the need for an assistant principal, noting how lean the administrative staff was but how much the work has increased.
"I've only got three people from my left that are responsible for this entire school," Brosnan told the School Committee. "There is no school in Massachusetts that only has a principal, assistant principal, director of students. Nothing, zero."
Maloney said it was a matter of "right-sizing" the organization that is running two schools. He pointed to the update from Prinicipal Justin Kratz that covered sports, enrollment, Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System testing, teacher retention and recruitment, student services, reporting to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the state's ongoing debate over graduation requirements.
"You just see by the presentation tonight, by Justin, how much work goes into these things," Maloney said. "And even with our teaching staff, I often wonder how they have time to do their jobs when they've got all this data and all these things put together to feed the state, keep them happy. ...
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