Northfield police chief proposes more police in neighborhoods, new police web site

By Rachel Nutting
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

With plans to have more police on the streets talking with residents, and efforts to create a new website to make the department more accessible to the Northfield community, the new police chief took over the responsibility for the police.

Northfield’s new police chief, Jeff Shaw, has been busy implementing new policies and new departmental changes as he takes over the reins of the police force. He brings with him experience as a new graduate of the FBI Academy as well.

The community will also see foot patrolmen out in the community, talking with the people, checking businesses. Shaw said “there is a barrier when you drive around in a car; break down the barrier by getting out and talking to people.”

He also plans to hold meetings in neighborhoods, which are “having problems.” Holding the neighborhood meetings will allow the people to come out and share their concerns, Shaw said.

Shaw also plans to launch a Northfield police website where people can send information to the police or file a complaint.

He said plans are underway to have the police spending more time helping the students and elderly of the area.

“I think you’ll find us a more community-oriented police department than what they have been before, with the things I plan on doing here,” he said.

Officer Kurt Snider, a full time police officer who has worked for the Northfield Police Station for six years, said Shaw “is much more regimented and stricter in house” than the previous chiefs.

“Some things appear good, and some don’t, but each person has a different way of doing things,” Snider said.

Northfield Town Manager Charlie Morris, who hired Shaw, said Shaw’s “personal experience, references, interview technique, and his background positioned him for the job.” Morris added that Shaw “did his homework” about Northfield and knows the town well, mainly because of a family trip.

Shaw was passing through Northfield on his way to visit family in Maine and “in that short amount of time,” Morris said, “he found out a great deal about Northfield, so much so that he knew more about Northfield than the people who have lived here for over a year.”

Shaw is originally from Caribou, Maine, and wanted to move closer to his mother, who is suffering with cancer. He had been police chief in Elizabeth, Colo., before coming to Northfield.

Morris said Shaw’s FBI Academy experience could have worked against his getting the job, because such advanced training could “actually be a liability, because that is training above and beyond what Northfield needs; we didn’t know if he was going to look at Northfield and ask big dollars because of his qualifications.”

The last two Northfield police chiefs “stayed two years or less,” Morris explained.

The police station had experienced a difficult period in 1994, when two policemen were charged with police brutality and another was charged with shooting a resident’s window.

The chief of police was charged with obstructing justice by advising to conceal information.

“Since then, [we] went through a number of police chiefs; everybody could see that afterwards [the] community [was] embarrassed by that type of incident,” Morris said. “It would be hard for anybody to come into that job, because you’re following a scandal.”

Snider sees the current police force as a clean slate, however, because “everybody that was here in 1994 is gone,” he explained. “It is an all new department, nothing left or nothing associated with it.”

Shaw has also been cleaning out the police station, painting, putting carpet in and laying linoleum.

He is also selecting new police uniform pants that will have “a nice stripe down the side,” Shaw said. “I think we need to look professional.”

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