BPD and BFD will be hosting a Public Safety Day on August 8th from 5pm to 8pm. This will be in the “rear” parking lot of the Police Station. There will be Public Safety Equipment, Police Canine demonstrations, Food Truck(s), informational booths and entertainment for children.
Officer Ryan Koles and K-9 Cassius White.
BILLERICA — Chief Roy Frost is pleased to report that the Billerica Police department has added a second K-9 unit to the department.
Officer Ryan Koles was selected to be the Billerica Police Department’s newest K-9 handler after participating in a selection process that included a physical fitness test, a report review, and an interview panel that included members of the Connecticut state Police K-9 Training Unit and the Massachusetts Environmental Police K-9 Unit.
Koles will now be partnered with a black Labrador retriever that was donated to Billerica Police as a puppy by Foxbend Labs, of Hillsborough, New Hampshire.
The K-9 has been named Cassius White, in honor and recognition of the first known Billerica Police officer to give his life in the line of duty.
White was an 18-year veteran of Billerica Police who was killed in 1936 when he was struck by a drunken driver while assisting Massachusetts State Troopers with a motor vehicle stop on Boston Road near Billerica Center.
The K-9, Cassius White, was initially raised and trained by Sgt. Rocco Magliozzi, who is an experienced Billerica Police K-9 officer. Upon Koles being selected to be Cassius White’s new handler, both Koles and Cassius White attended the Connecticut State Police K-9 Training Academy, graduating on June 23.
Koles and Cassius White have received training in tracking, and intend to pursue additional training in search and rescue and human remains detection.
Officer Koles and Cassius White now join the department’s existing K-9 team, Sgt. Magliozzi and K-9 Skye, another Labrador.
“Our K-9 program is highly regarded in the region for its years of successful tracks, apprehensions and community engagement,” said Chief Frost. “I am confident that Officer Koles and his partner Cassius White will continue to build on that tradition as they begin working in the community along with Sgt. Magliozzi and K-9 Skye.”
BOSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested an unlawfully present Irish citizen June 13 in Billerica. He is identified as a member of a transnational criminal organization and is wanted for passport fraud, theft and multiple motor vehicle offenses by authorities in the Republic of Ireland.
The 31-year-old Irish citizen was temporarily allowed into the United States in August 2021 under a nonimmigrant visa waiver, but he remained beyond the visa’s terms, violating his terms of admission. Law enforcement officials in Ireland and the United States identified him as a member of a transnational criminal organization called the Traveling Conmen Fraud Group.
Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) within the Department of Justice. EOIR is a separate entity from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is removable or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal. Once a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or other lawful means, ERO officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges.
In fiscal year 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens with criminal histories. This group had 198,498 associated charges and convictions, including 21,531 assault offenses; 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses; 5,554 weapons offenses; 1,501 homicide-related offenses; and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.
As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.
L to R – ACO Casey Smith, Fleet Manager PTL Rich Avant and Deputy Chief Gerald Roche
Billerica Animal Control finally has a new vehicle after 10 years! The new Ford F150 Police Responder edition is equipped with a rear seat cage with air conditioning, a topper with storage, a sliding deck in the bed and mobile office technology. BPD would like to thank the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office for fabricating the secondary door on the rear cage. Amazing work!
Patrol Officer Rich Avant, BPD’s fleet manager, says the vehicle took 16 months from start to finish. The biggest challenge was locating the vehicle, the specialized equipment for it and associated supply delays. Animal Control Officer Casey Smith is excited to have a new vehicle after so long. Casey is looking forward to improved functionality after lessons were learned from the original 2014 F150 purchased in 2013. The old vehicle will be transferred to Billerica DPW where it will continue on in a new role. The upfit was completed by Municipal Headquarters (MHQ) in Marlborough, MA.
BILLERICA — Chief Roy Frost reports that Billerica Police are asking for the public’s assistance as they investigate a bank robbery that occurred on Friday afternoon.
On Friday, May 26, at approximately 2:45 p.m., Billerica Police were notified of a bank robbery at TD Bank, 449 Boston Road.
An investigation determined that an unknown male entered the bank and passed a note to a teller demanding cash, and then fled on a bicycle.
No weapons were shown. There were no reported injuries.
The suspect is described as an Asian male with an average build, approximately 5 feet, 6 inches tall, wearing a dark-colored Toyota baseball cap, a dark sweater with the word “Michael” on the right shoulder, and tan pants.
Anyone with information is asked to call Billerica Police at 978-671-0900.
Tewksbury Police Chief Ryan Columbus, Chelmsford Police Chief James Spinney, Tyngsborough Police Chief Richard Howe, Dracut Police Chief Peter Bartlett and Billerica Police Chief Roy Frost are pleased to report that the Front Line Initiative is now the Behavioral Health Unit Police Collaborative.
From 2016, the Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Tewksbury and Tyngsborough Police Departments have worked to create a regional mental health collaborative aimed at diverting individuals with mental health and substance misuse disorders from being unnecessarily processed through the criminal justice system or through already overcrowded emergency rooms.
The collaborative, funded by a grant from the Department of Mental Health, is changing its name to reflect a revamped and more focused mission of integrating law enforcement and behavioral health utilizing evidence-based best practices that reflect a co-response model.
The Behavioral Health Unit Police Collaborative will provide member departments with access to a co-response clinician who can respond to active calls for service, follow up with individuals post-crisis, and make referrals to community-based services.
Fully embedded into each department, the program provides a trauma-informed, highly trained co-response clinician for individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.
“Mental Health, Substance use and Crisis management are three consistent challenges that we regularly encounter in our profession,” said Chief Frost. “Having the staff and resources that this collaborative offers, coupled with the financial support provided through the Department of Mental Health, our mission of enhanced public safety and community engagement is best realized.”
“This program allows us to service those in crisis in real time,” Chief Bartlett said. “Having our clinicians responding to mental health calls with officers is a game changer and that added piece is allowing us to get services started from the onset of crisis.”
In addition to on-scene responses, the clinicians are:
• Accessible to police 24/7 for mental health consultation
• Available to community members for follow up with police
• Available for follow up with individuals post-crisis
• Able to make referrals for community-based services, such as for non-acute levels of care and case management
• Supporting community initiatives for better health, wellness, and mental health
“I am incredibly proud of this organization which continues to be ahead of the curve in offering our communities free, 24-hour access to mental health and substance use services, said Chief Howe. “This includes clinician co-response with police officers, which is an innovative and modern approach to law enforcement and promotes alternatives to arrest which is a benefit to all those affected.”
“This collaborative is more important than ever because all of our departments are dealing with increased numbers of calls for services regarding mental health and substance misuse,” said Chief Spinney. “This collaborative enables us to respond to those calls for service with professionalism, compassion, and resources that can help people overcome mental health and substance misuse issues, instead of just heading into the criminal justice system.”
“I am extremely proud of what has been built here and the work that is continuing, leading the way in the Law Enforcement profession,” said Chief Columbus. “Being able to help people in a mental health crisis and providing them with the appropriate resources has changed outcomes and lives for the better.”
