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The new fleet of police cruisers

Calling all cars - Police receive brand new cruisers

Sgt. John Walcek of the Wareham Police Department stood in front of the police station Friday afternoon, his back to traffic on Route 28. A tall man, Walcek seemed to stand even taller as he surveyed a fleet of eight new police cars filling the station’s arched driveway. He tossed a rhetorical question into the air and then added the answer.

“Is this impressive? Absolutely. State of the art. It brings us up finally to where we need to be,” he said.

The fleet has been leased to Wareham for three years through a grant obtained by Police Chief Rick Stanley. The grant covers the cost for the first year. Stanley said after that the cost of the leases will be included in the police department’s budget for two years. If Town Meeting voters don’t approved the necessary funding, Stanley said he’ll find the money within whatever budget amount he is granted.

“I had to sign that one in blood,” Stanley said with a grin.

A lot of smiles flashed back and forth on Friday between Stanley and Bruce Sauvageau, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. Pride glistened in Stanley’s eyes when he glanced toward the gleaming fleet. He said Wareham’s police officers chose the cars. The choice was Crown Victorias or Chargers. The officers chose Chargers, adorned in black and white.

Sauvageau told Stanley that in the seven years he’s been selectmen he’s never seen as many good things happen as he’s seen recently seen; not only in the police department, but in the town as well. Sauvageau noted the arrivals of new town accountant Elizabeth Zaleski, COA director and acting library director Marsha Griswold, CEDA director Christopher Reilly, and new town administrator Mark Andrews.

“We’re seeing positive movements, a direction we can be proud of,” Sauvageau said.

“Since arriving in August I’ve met with nothing but cooperation from the department, the town and the community,” Stanley said. “I’ve had discussions about my vision. (Selectmen) have had some questions. They’ve held my feet to the fire.”

Stanley glanced at the late afternoon sun casting gold across the roofline of the police station as his officers gathered together, their eyes set upon the cruisers.

“It’s been good to be able to take something that was in this turmoil and do this,” Stanley said.

“The change has been miraculous,” Sauvageau said.

For a few minutes Sauvageau and Stanley joined other selectmen and police officers as they walked among the cars. Officers opened doors , turned on flashing blue lights, and then pointed to new equipment, which include 911 terminals that allow officers to file reports directly from their cars, radar equipment front and back (older vehicles only have front radar), state-of-the-art scanners, and a flash warning system that connects to the traffic lights in the mall area, resetting them so that cruisers in the process of emergency response can pass through the area without being impeded by traffic.

Then one by one Stanley, Sauvageau and Andrews stepped up to a microphone to speak about the new fleet, a cooperative effort and a promise fulfilled.

“I want to express to the community my appreciation for all of the support. Change does not come easily. I promised people when they came back in the spring they would see a new police force. This fleet is symbolic of the new police force,” Stanley said.

Stanley looked from the selectmen to his officers, the gleaming cars, and beyond.

“You deserve the best. I promise you will have the best,” Stanley said.

Stanley closed his remarks with one final burst of appreciation.

“I can’t thank enough the efforts of the board of selectmen, and especially chairman Sauvageau. I have worked closely with them. None of this would have been possible without them,” Stanley said.

Stanley relinquished the microphone. Sauvageau and Andrews stepped forward, each echoing the town’s appreciation. Then the fleet (with selectmen, town administrator, and reporters as passengers) rolled onto Route 28 and across individually chosen routes for an official first tour of the town.

Officer Michael Phinney, this reporter as his companion, guided a new cruiser through the center of town. There was a gasp from Phinney as a driver coming from the opposite direction, apparently distracted, started to swerve into Phinney’s lane.

“Don’t be wiping out the new cruiser, lady,” Phinney said with a grin.

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Andrea Smith - 2 opinions posted

Sports

Wareham takes the Garden by storm

STATE OF PURE JOY: Wareham beats Bedford! State championship game awaits on Saturday!

    BOSTON - The Wareham High Vikings dreamed a very big dream at the start of the season, and now that dream is just a single game away.
    The boys varsity basketball team took to the parquet floor of the TD Banknorth Garden Monday afternoon in the Division 3 semifinals and soundly defeated Bedford, 63-49, to earn a shot at the state championship Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester. Game-time is 12:30 p.m.
    The Vikings will face New Leadership, a charter school from Spingfield that defeated Whitinsville-Christian on Tuesday.
    Jordan Rezendes and Jules Tavares put on a show in the biggest game of their lives. Rezendes took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points to ice the victory. Tavares brought the crowd to its feet with an alley-oop dunk that would have impressed Kevin Garnett, who has thrown down a few of his own on the very same floor for the Boston Celtics.
   Perhaps lost in the highlight reel but no less important to Wareham's victory was the monsterous effort of senior center Ryan Pina, who completely disrupted the Bedford offense with his tremendous interior defense while pulling down 22 rebounds in his spare time.

   Wareham, which improved to 24-1 with the victory, struggled at times on offense, especially early on when big-game jitters gripped both teams. But the Vikings slowly took control with their relentless man-to-man pressure, which led to a blizzard of Bedford turnovers that turned into transition baskets on the other end.
    Rezendes, who battled early foul trouble after being whistled for two first-quarter charges, responded as he usually does: With ice-water in his veins when the stakes are at their highest. He finished with a team-high 20 points. Tavares tallied 16 and Pina chipped in with 12.
     Michael Ingram-Rubin paced Bedford with 21 points.
     Wareham got off to a slow start, missing a string of 3-pointers in the early minutes of the first quarter. With Bedford shifting from a 2-2-1 zone to a 1-2-2 zone, the Vikings had trouble getting their motion offense in high gear. Razendes took care of that after taking a smooth pass from Tavares, driving to the basket and getting the hoop and the harm. His three-point play gave Wareham its first lead, 3-2.
    The Vikings extended the lead to 5-2 after Pina spun inside for the deuce. But Bedford went on a 10-3 run to take a 12-8 advantage. Wareham Coach Kevin Brogioli had seen enough and called a quick time out.
    After Bedford led 14-10, Wareham ended the quarter in style, with Darren Gray draining a foul-line jumper, the Vikings forcing a turnover, and Tavares calmly drilling a shake-and-bake 3-pointer from the top of the key with a second left of the clock.
    "That's the thing about this team, if somebody's not hitting on all cylinders somebody is there to pick them up," Wareham coach Kevin Brogioli said of his team's shaky start.
    Wareham slowly pulled further ahead in the second quarter. After a Bedford 3-pointer cut the Vikings lead to 20-17, the Tavares show continued. The senior guard slithered inside for another hoop. A few minutes later he banked home a trey, looking like he intended to do just that, to give Wareham a 29-19 advantage.
     On the other end Pina was just warming up. After disrupting shot after shot in the paint, he finally sent one back with fury, prompting a roar from the Wareham bench. It looked every bit as imposing when the replay was shown on the Jumbotron.
    The Vikings took a 36-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
    Tavares gave the Vikings a 13-point advantage a few minutes into the third quarter when he took off down the weakside, took a pass over the rim and slammed it home with both hands.
    "That's just sick," said one fan.
    "It's not fair," said another.
    Things turned a bit physical after that as every loose ball sent players scrambling in a scrum to the floor. Senior forward Pat Murphy picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter, forcing Brogioli to go to the bench once again. Bedford couldn't take much advantage of that, trimming only two points from the lead, 47-39, heading into the fourth quarter.

"We were able to maintain that 10-point cushion even with three starters on the bench," Brogioli said.

The final eight minutes belonged to Rezendes, who scored the 1,000th point of his career earlier in the season (Tavares did the same against Cardinal Spellmen in the Div. 3 South title game at UMass-Boston on Saturday). Rezendes found himself on a 2-on-1 in open court, which Tavares looking ready for liftoff on the other side. With a Bedford defender choosing to lean toward Tavares, Rezendes took in all the way home. A few plays later he powered down the lane for another basket and followed that with a short jumper, giving Wareham a 55-44 lead.
Pina then powered inside for another hoop. After hitting four straight from the line, Rezendes offered a hint of a smile as the Vikings extended the lead to 17, 61-44. The 14-5 run to open the quarter put the game away.

   "We'll take tomorrow off. They deserve it," Brogioli said. "They got banged around and banged up tonight."
    Brogioli said his team will be ready for Saturday.
    "They know what's at stake. They've had pressure on them all year long and they've come through all year long," he said.

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Robert Slager - 6 opinions posted