School Committee Member Wood Becomes Haverhill Police Officer, Follows in Grandfather’s Footsteps

Scott W. Wood Jr. is sworn in during 2020 as a Haverhill police officer before then-Mayor James J. Fiorentini and City Clerk Linda L. Koutoulas. (Courtesy photograph.)

Scott W. Wood Jr. at age 5, wearing his grandfather’s Haverhill police uniform. (Courtesy photograph.)

Haverhill School Committee member Scott W. Wood Jr., a Wenham police officer for nearly eight years, is following in his grandfather’s footsteps.

Like his grandfather Merton Howard in 1967, Wood was sworn in as a Haverhill police officer Thursday in a ceremony in Mayor James J. Fiorentini’s office. After his swearing in by City Clerk Linda L. Koutoulas, Wood showed a photograph of himself at age 5 wearing his grandfather’s police uniform.

“It’s a true honor to be appointed to the Haverhill Police Department. This has been my goal since I was a little boy. Dreams do come true. I look forward to working with Chief Alan DeNaro and the men and women of the Haverhill Police Department. I’m excited to work with such an outstanding police department,” he said.

Wood’s mother and father, Cheryl and Scott Sr., pinned his Haverhill police badge on him. He was also accompanied by his sister Christy. His father is also retired as a sergeant in the Hampstead, N.H., Police Department.

Wood was listed as eligible on the state’s Civil Service list, but he required an act of the legislature to overcome the city’s maximum age limit of 34. Wood recently turned 37.

Noting his 17 years on the Haverhill School Committee and now his service as a police officer, Fiorentini called Wood “a great public servant.”

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