History: 1986 - Present

In 1986, Baker resigned to take a job in the private sector, and William Colleary, a long-time patrolman and Sergeant was appointed Chief of Police. Chief Colleary’s dad, William, was also a police officer for this Town. In 1968 Chief Colleary (who was a Sergeant at the time), was shot and wounded during a late night burglary at the Southboro Drug Store. Under Chief Colleary’s tenure, the Department has moved forward with innovative programs aimed toward community policing. Additionally, the Department revamped the dispatch and communications area with modern equipment. The Department now has three separate computer systems to help in the day -to -day operations as well as the enhanced 911 system for emergencies.

In September 2002, Off. Kevin Landry was appointed as School Resource Officer, which provides an immediate contact for the school system in dealing with all types of juvenile issues, staff/admin assistance, and education of the students on a myriad of topics.

In March 2003, Chief Bill Colleary announced that he would be retiring at the end of the year. July 2003 brought forth our 5th Junior Police Academy. This unique program started in 1999 with 9 kids and has grown to be a tremendous success.

In July 2003, Sgt. Frank Cain passed away from cancer. He was the 4p-12p shift supervisor. In November 2003, Sean James was promoted from detective to Sergeant.

A new leader was chosen and appointed for January 2, 2004 when Sgt. William H. Webber became Police Chief. The Town chose to conduct a nationwide search and assessment center in order to find who they considered to be the best candidate to lead the Department. It cost $11,000 from the Police budget for the advertisements and assessment center. The end result was that the top person chosen was Sgt. William Webber who had joined this PD in 1980 as a Reserve Officer.

During Chief Webber’s tenure, it was determined that we should begin the process of looking at costs for a new police or public safety facility. He took this very seriously and along with volunteers from the staff, began to study what the needs were, and visited several other police and public safety complexes.

Unfortunately, in The Summer of 2007, Chief Webber found out that he had pancreatic and liver cancer. He continued to lead this Department until his death in November 2008. It was a most difficult and trying time for the staff and the Chief’s family.

In December 2008, senior Sergeant Jane Moran was promoted to Interim Chief of Police. In November 2009, after an arduous search , assessment center and interview process, Jane Moran was appointed as the 8th Police Chief to lead and guide the Department. Chief Moran started her career as a part-time dispatcher in the early 1980’s.

Also in December 2008, Southborough experienced it’s first murder since 1974. A drug deal in another town resulted in a pursuit by the involved dealers and buyers. One car chased the other into Southborough and hit it from behind, sending it into a telephone pole, where a passenger was killed.

The in-depth investigation along with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police detectives and crime scene forensics division, uncovered the drug deal and all persons involved. The suspects were arrested and indicted in 2009 and await trial for this murder.

A very scary event happened in early July 2009, when a severe thunderstorm blasted through Southborough. Lightening struck the building, injuring one officer. It also destroyed our radio and telephone communications systems. We immediately assisted the officer with medical help from our Fire Department, and initiated our emergency back- up systems and procedures.

In 2009, the Southborough Police Department Website was evaluated resulting in several areas of the site being identified for improvement and updating. Officer Nelson was tasked with this responsibility. Some improvements include updating the department roster and making pertinent changes to the staff due to hiring of new employees and promotions within the department. Other improvements to the website included changing available on-line forms, adding information pertaining to sex offenders, maintaining the News and Information section more frequently, posting an announcement regarding the departments new confidential tip line, adding and updating new links, as well as other informational and aesthetic changes. The overall look and function of the site was maintained, however multiple changes have been made, and will continue to be made to make the website more convenient for the public.

In January 2010, The PD took ownership of it’s first SUV, a 2010 Ford Explorer, fully outfitted as an incident command vehicle as well as a daily patrol unit.

Interesting statistics to show the growth of the area:
1950....The State Police investigated 33 motor vehicle accidents.
1983....The Southborough Police investigated 383 accidents.
1996....The Department investigated 490 accidents
1996, the officers issued aprox. 2,400 motor vehicle citations. In 2001, this was doubled- 4,900 citations were issued.

Department Patches

It is unknown who developed the first SPD Patch, which was styled in similar fashion like the State Police patch. It had only two colors, black and gold, and was shaped as a triangle with the point at the bottom.

In the 1960’s, Off. Henry Pietrasiak designed a patch while working under the direction of Chief Mattioli. This patch showed the seal of the Commonwealth of Mass and had two shades of blue the state seal in gold.

Then in 1993, Off. Robert Durran working with his own ideas and those from the other officers, designed the current shoulder patch. This patch has more colors, the Town seal, and ‘Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ on the perimeter of the seal. Also, the Department chose to go with the old English spelling: SOUTHBOROUGH.

In 1999, motorcycle officers added the motor patrol patch to their uniform.

On February 1996, the Department truly entered the computer age when a dispatching and records management computer system was turned on. Six years later, in Febray 2002, the Department had built an extensive data base which includes 38,000 master names of people that have come in contact with the Department or who reside/work in Southborough. In 1998, laptop computers were installed in some of the cruisers. They were repalced and upgraded in Fall 2002.

In 1999 the first motorcyle was leased, and then in early 2000 it was purchased ouright through grant funding received from the Exec. Office of Public Safety- a 1999 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Police Special with Fuel Injection.

THIS OLD BUILDING:

Several meetings, impromptu discussions and visits were held in regards to our existing police building during 2007, 2008 and 2009. The ad hoc facilities committee and the Historical Commission had been charged by the Board of Selectmen to come to an agreement over the plans for a new police facility to discuss the future of this building. The issues were: Do we refurbish and add on to it, do we build a state of the art facility, or do we find another building that is currently vacant. No agreements were made, so we continue to exist and operate in the current environment. As such, we were able to refurbish and reconstruct our booking/arrest area as well as create a new office space and an interview room. The old crowded booking room presented a dangerous environment for both the prisoners and the police officers. Also, for many years there was no true privacy for anyone wishing to speak to our staff.

The Town’s Facilities Department spent several months rebuilding and refurbishing this area as well as the locker room. A new, modern and functional fire alarm system was installed in this old building. The prior system was sending false signals and was unreliable. Towards year end 2009, new lights and motions sensors were installed to help cut our energy consumption.

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