Barnstable Community Service Officers with Police Officers in 2018. Photo Courtesy of the Town of Barnstable.
BARNSTABLE – Community Service Officers will return to patrols for the fourth summer season next week along Main Street in Hyannis.
The ten officers walk around Main Street in rotating pairs and act as liaisons between sworn police personnel and Main Street businesses, tourists and residents.
“They are out there really to function as the eyes and ears of the police department to identify potential problems that are coming up before they blossom into a real problem,” said Police Chief Matthew Sonnabend.
Sonnabend said the presence of the officers can also deter criminal activity.
“If you start getting people into areas and walking around who are plainly uniformed in a manner and they obviously have equipment, people view that as a deterrent and move along and do other things,” he said.
The Community Service Officers, who wear bright yellow-green shirts, are also there to service visitors by answering questions and helping to get them to destinations.
“They are a good positive influence on the area,” Sonnabend said.
Sonnabend said because they are not uniformed in black like regular police officers the public feels more comfortable interacting with the officers.
“In the offseason we get questions about when they are coming back, how many of them there are going to be, when are they going to be here,” Sonnabend said. “They have been positively received by the population down there on Main Street.”
The officers will receive 40 hours of training this week before official patrols begin Monday, June 10. They will be on the street every day through Labor Day.
Training covers CPR, First Aid, administering Narcan, community policing, mental health aid, and defensive tactics. They also participate in physical training.
This year, seven men and three women participating as officers.
Sonnabend said the positions draw interest from people who have a wide range of interest.
“We have had people who are interested in law enforcement. We have also had people who are interested in doing things like social services and working with the homeless community and others,” Sonnabend said.
Barnstable Police have hired two officers for the police department and there is another who is about to be hired.
Other communities have also hired some as police officers.
“It gives them a little bit of an inside look at what police officers do on a daily basis working with the community,” Sonnabend said. “They are not sworn or possess any police powers so they don’t have the full extent of training that police officers do, but it gives them a good idea of what they are doing.”
Sonnabend said there are a lot of college students who are interested in those career fields who take advantage of it.
The department usually puts out a notice for applications through Facebook and other social media outlets.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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