Swearing-in ceremony at Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. City Council Chambers. (Courtesy photograph.)
While Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini is hailing the swearing in of five new police officers today, the department actually faces a net loss of two because of anticipated retirements during the next few months.
The mayor announced he swore in five new police officers—Albert Betances, Kevin De Carvalho, David Rodriguez, Kevin Tracy and Katelyn Tully. “When these police officers hit the streets after attending the academy for several months, Haverhill will have the greatest number of officers on the street in decades,” Fiorentini said. However, the department currently has 96 officers, including the chief and deputy chief.
“Our budgeted complement is 98 sworn, so we are down two officers. We are continuing the hiring process in anticipation of filling the six openings in early 2017,” Chief Alan R. DeNaro told WHAV when asked this morning.
Fiorentini congratulated the officers.
“You are joining an excellent department. While the final numbers are not in yet, it appears that crime will be down this year for the third year in a row, thanks to the hard work of our department.”
Speaking of new officers, when are we gonna get a new chief? Its been way too long with the same Chief, this is why most cities have abolished civil service.
Crime is down…vote for me says Mayor full of Bull. If we go back and look at the statements he has made every time he hires a new cop, you would think we had hundreds of officers on the street. Lawrence has about 150 cops, Lowell has over 200 cops and Lynn has over 160 cops. Now you know where we stand in comparison. 96 is a bit low don’t you think ?
Jack, wait until pot officially becomes legal. The number of people dealing drugs is going to go through the roof. Tripling the number of cops in the city won’t be able to keep up with the drug dealers in the city.
Watching the lies coming from this mayor has become a daily occurrence!
The mayor is promoting unspoken sanctuary city policies which has lead to numerous outrageous crimes this year, and he wants us to believe “crime is down”? The city has experienced a gang shooting during a Little League game and many high profile drug busts of criminal trespassers in this country illegally who flock to the City of Haverhill for the welcome mat the mayor has laid out for them. There was the house in Bradford that was shot up in a drive by shooting. Don’t forget just a couple of months ago the City of Haverhill made NATIONAL NEWS when a teenage girl was dragged into a city park by two criminal trespassers in this country illegally and raped.
If you talk to any cop in the city they will tell you crime is up as a result of the increased number of young people addicted to the drugs flowing into this country over the open southern border who need a way to pay for their next fix.
The mayor embracing liberal sanctuary city policies has made the City of Haverhill a VERY dangerous place. The only way “crime will be down this year” is by incidents going unreported so that mayor can lie to the uneducated and those people who aren’t paying attention to what is really happening in this city.