Saugus officials, DA share ‘Understanding’ of kids

SAUGUS – The School Department, Police Department and the Essex District Attorney’s Office came together Wednesday to form a new partnership of understanding all aimed at helping kids.District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, along with Superintendent Richard Langlois and Police Chief Domenic DiMella, sat down together to sign a memorandum of understanding between the three offices.”It’s significant in that it memorializes the understanding between the community, which the schools are a part of, the police and the DA in terms of identifying to the extent that we can help youth at risk,” Blodgett said.DiMella said his department has a long and healthy relationship with the schools; signing the memorandum simply made it official.”We’ve been doing this for a lot of years,” he said.While the School Department does not have resource officers, DiMella said there are detectives in both the Belmonte Middle School and the high school daily.Det. James Donovan heads to the high school each morning where DiMella said he mixes with students and staffers to chat about the day and sometimes address headier issues. DiMella said Donovan will also talk to students about things like drug use, making good choices and stepping up and taking responsibility for their actions.Likewise Det. Kevin Murphy heads to the middle school in the morning to make the same connections.”And the detectives do this because they want to,” DiMella added.Blodgett said that is the kind of relationship he wants to see built upon.Ideally, Blodgett said the police and schools could work together to track trends and identify areas where kids might be getting into trouble.While the School Department has always been quick to bring the Police Department in if it has a problem, DiMella noted that it goes both ways.”My detectives and myself have the principals on speed dial,” he said. “If we get one of their students we call them, even in the summer.”Langlois said Blodgett has always been quick to keep his office apprised of issues as well, which he appreciates.The latest fad among teens, he said, involves choking.”They do it for the pleasure, the high of it,” Langlois explained.Through Blodgett’s office, Langlois said he has access to information on dealing with cyber bullies, crisis management, school violence as well as coming up with strategies to simply make things better for kids.”Jon is really good on collaborations,” Langlois said. “He puts a lot of muscle behind it and I like that about him.”