Revere board questions police chief on crime issues

REVERE – Revere Police Chief Terrence R. Reardon and his captains met with the Revere public safety committee Monday night to discuss the ongoing issue of public safety in the city.Councilor at Large Daniel Rizzo passed a motion two weeks ago to have this meeting take place. “I feel this is my obligation to bring this to light,” Rizzo said. “This is an election year and I am out there every single day talking to people and there is a sense of frustration.”Rizzo believes there is a breakdown happening in the department. “What concerns me is the disconnect of the amount of funding we receive and the results we see week in and week out,” Rizzo said.The chief agreed that change needs to take place. “Police officers are given a good amount of autonomy,” Reardon said. “That methodology is a failed one. We need to change how we do our business.”The Revere Police Department will be enforcing stricter motor vehicle rules other cities like Revere use with positive results. “We are ready to go for it,” Reardon said. “Hopefully, we copy the results of other communities.”Rizzo is concerned that the police department is so severely lacking in manpower that most of the department is considered superior officers. “Almost 50 percent of the department is considered a superior,” Rizzo said.?Just because they are considered superior doesn?t mean they are not on patrol,” Reardon responded.There has been much talk and controversy that certain police officers on the staff are not conducting themselves accordingly. “We are constantly training them up. If they are not performing those duties it is not out of ignorance or lack of supervision,” Reardon said. “I would believe it is because of sloth and some people are just not capable of being police officers. By and large, most of the police officers are doing the right thing.”The chief said in every organization there are bad apples and that his department deals with its own accordingly.Many were concerned about lack of staffing the police department is facing. There is a budget for 86 police officers but there are only 76 working.?If you don?t have the manpower you can?t do drug surveillance and other things like that,” Councilor at Large John R. Correggio said. “What is the future of increasing manpower?”The chief said it would be six months until Revere sees more police on the streets, given the lengthy process it takes to hire them. “The process is extremely cumbersome,” he said. Before hiring any new police officers, they have to ask the officers who have been laid off if they would come back to their job and after that they can see a new list of police officers. If they hire someone, that officer has to go to the training academy for six months. The next academy class opens in January.While there is a perception that Revere is rampant with crime, it is down in the city. “There is a misconception that crime is running wild out there,” Councilor Anthony T. Zambuto said. “Maybe we are not doing a good enough job of sending a message that Revere is safe.”The chief stated that felony crimes are down 7 percent and nuisance crimes (mostly shoplifting related) are up.?We are smack dab in the middle of having the most violent crimes in the commonwealth,” Reardon said.Council President and Ward 5 councilor John Powers would like to see more of a stronger police presence when it comes to traffic enforcement and potentially catching illegal contraband while stopping people. “Traffic police presence would do an awful lot to send a message not to come to Revere if you are a bad guy,” Powers said.The chief agreed. “I agree that if people know you don?t want to come to Revere because you will get stopped there will be a residual effect,” he said.The chief ensured that the department is protecting Revere to the best of their abilities. “Revere is 3.8 miles,” Reardon said. “We know where the bad guys are.”