Nineteen Years Later, Wait’s Over As Town Breaks Ground On Belmont Police HQ’s Renovation

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Photo: At the groundbreaking of the (from left); Anne Marie Mahoney, Anthony Ferrante, Stephen Rosales, Michael Smith, Roy Epstein, Police Chief Richard McLaughlin, architect Ted Galante.

According to Anne Marie Mahoney, it was early in 2000 when town officials and committee heads created a “wish list” of capital and infrastructure projects around Belmont that “needed to get done” which included a new high school, a revisioned skating rink and a revamped DPW yard.

And near the top of the list was replacing the then 69-year-old police headquarters, a structure at the end of its useful life, with outdated facilities that housed an overcrowded department.

“We knew then we needed to do something with this building,” she said.

Fast forward to a sunny and warm July morning in 2019 as a large group of elected and town officials, architects, police officers came to celebrate the groundbreaking of the renovation and new construction at the now 88-year-old police headquarters.

Anne Marie Mahoney

“Here we are 19 years later and this is the last of the projects on that list,” said Mahoney, the chair of the building committee overseeing the work at both the Police headquarters and the Department of Public Works.

The renovation and new construction of the police station will top just north of $11 million which was approved at the Spring Town Meeting. The interior of the existing building will be renovated with the construction of additional square footage that will include space for an elevator, locker rooms, new holding cells, a secure sally port for the transportation of suspects and a new booking room.

Belmont Police Chief McLaughlin, who is retiring at the end of the year, thanked “a very fun and energetic and innovative committee” for addressing all the issues related to the building.

“I’m just very grateful because it’s something that is very needed in the community. And I truly believe once it’s all done and completed, it’s going to be a project that we all can be very proud of,” said McLaughlin.

  • Belmont Police Chief Richard McLaughlin speaking at the ceremony.

Select Board Chair Tom Caputo also noted the committee had to contend with “a very challenging project” with its historical, time and budget constraints.

“And yet everybody came together to figure out a way to deliver a great design be a great building,” he said.

Ted Galante, the principal of the Galante Architecture Studio in Cambridge. said he came to the project with an initial goal of adding 10 years to the building’s life so the town could plan for a new station with a projected cost of $30 million.

Ted Galante, the principal of the Galante Architecture Studio.

“But we started to think a little creativity and the committee started to push and we started to push back,” said Galante. “Here we’re building a new building while preserving the existing historic structure.”

“The best years are not behind us; the best years are ahead of us. It’s a historic building and we respent the past but you build looking forward. And that’s really our intention, to build looking forward, save the town money and give the police what they need for the next 50 years,” said Galante.

After the ceremonial groundbreaking, Mahoney said everyone was welcomed back in the fall of 2020 for the ribbon cutting “showing that we have preserved the historic exteriors of the 1931 building, created some additions and renovated the entire interior, which is pretty exciting,” said Mahoney.

Woman Stabbed On Partridge​ Lane; Suspect Caught After Chase Into Cambridge

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Photo: The location of the assault in Belmont.

A woman was assaulted and stabbed at a home on Partridge Lane this morning, Wednesday, July 17 and a male suspect arrested in Cambridge after a high-speed chase through three communities, according to a press release from the Belmont Police Department.

Belmont Assistant Police Chief James MacIsaac said at 9:38 a.m. officers responding to a reported altercation between a man and a woman on Partridge Lane – a sleepy neighborhood of 1950s-era ranch houses on the back side of Belmont Hill – found the woman suffering from apparent stab wounds due to an assault. The victim was given medical aid by the officers and transported to a local hospital where she continues to be treated.

The man, who the woman knows, attempted to flee by car but was located by Belmont Police. The suspect then led Belmont officers on a high-speed chase from Belmont into Arlington before crashing his vehicle in Cambridge where he was placed into custody. He was also taken to a local hospital for injuries related to the impact.

“This an open and ongoing investigation, additional information will be released as it becomes available,” said MacIsaac.

Police To Enforce Parking Bylaws Along Lower Belmont Street Starting June 3

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Photo: Map of the enforcement area (Belmont Police)

The law is coming to the Wild, Wild West of parking known as the lower section of Belmont Street.

Due to long-standing complaints of vehicles and commuters habitually ignoring the town’s parking bylaws along the eastern end of the main traffic artery, Belmont Police will begin vigorously enforcing the parking code beginning Monday, June 3.

The enforcement area will run from School to Ericsson streets and will include both sides of Belmont Street which the town has jurisdiction.

The town’s Parking Control Officers will enforce:

• all posted parking signs such as “1 or 2 hour parking limits” and “no parking to the corner”,

• MBTA bus stops, and

• unposted parking bylaws including no parking within 20 feet of an intersection, blocking bike lanes, driveways or fire hydrants.

Selectmen OKs Fire Chief’s New Contract

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Photo: “Your Fire Chief” David Frizzell. 

It took some give and take and several executive sessions over the past five months, but on Friday, Feb. 8, the Belmont Board of Selectmen approved a new contract with the town’s longtime Fire Chief, David Frizzell. 

The town now has agreements with both of Belmont public safety heads, having signed off on a contract with Belmont Police Chief Richard McLaughlin in September. 

According to Jessica Porter, Belmont’s human resources director, the town agrees to pay Frizzell a base annual salary of $170,000 retroactive to July 1, 2018.

Over the next two years, on July 1 2019 and 2020, Frizzell will receive either a two percent cost of living adjustment or the general COLA pay increase for fire department heads, whichever is greater. There is also a performance raise as outlined in the contract. The new total amount will be the new “base pay” to calculate further adjustments.

Porter also noted that Frizzell will continue to have:

  • a take home vehicle, a taxable benefit, consistent with the police chief and others who have assigned take home vehicles,
  • various leaves as is compatible with other contracts/department heads,
  • a first responder stipend of $2,000 in year one, with a $1,000 increase each year after, and
  • the ability to sell back 56 hours (seven days) of unused vacation time to the town at the end of the year.

While McLaughlin’s contract was structured to end on Dec. 31, 2019 to conincide with his retirement date, there is nothing regarding retirement in Frizzell’s contact.

“[Frizzell] is required per the contract to give 30 days’ notice if he wishes to leave before the term of the agreement ends,” said Porter.

With HQ Under Renovation, Belmont Police Is Seeking A Temporary Home

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Photo: The current Belmont Police Headquarters

Got an extra room you can spare? How about a spacious backyard that’s available to rent?

Than call the Belmont Police because the force will need a place to crash beginning this summer as its nearly 90-year-old headquarters undergoes a comprehensive renovation.

That’s the latest from the police brass and the building committee overseeing the expansion and modernization of both the police headquarters on Concord Avenue and the Department of Public Works facilities off C Street as they came before the Belmont Board of Selectmen for an update on the projects on Monday, Feb. 4.

And while the groups have been in talks with several groups in town to find an acceptable interim site, Anne Marie Mahoney, chair of the DPW/BPD Building Committee, said “we are not ready to articulate our list” of possible stopgap locations, although later in the presentation, Town Hall was mentioned as a “possible” replacement site.

According to Mahoney, bids for both projects will go out in March with construction beginning in June. She also noted while estimates call for a 10 month construction schedule, “if you ever [renovated] a kitchen … you know what takes 10 months can quickly become a year to 15 months.”

Mahoney told the board the original plan to keep the 55 member department – of which 48 are sworn officers – in the structure at the corner of Concord and Pleasant Street was deemed “not a good idea” by all parties due to safety concerns of police personnel working in a construction area and the acknowledgement that renovating an empty building would allow a quicker and more extensive restoration.

The question now facing the police and town is where the force will be relocated. Police Chief Richard McLaughlin said operational and organizational analysis performed by assistant Chief James MacIsaac placed safety, parking, accessibility and public access high on the list of requirements for a temporary site, all the while doing so with the minimum of disruption while not taking up space.

One unit already knows where its going and it’s not far. Communications, which includes the 9-1-1 operations, will be housed in a trailer in the front of headquarters since all its equipment will remain in the building. 

McLaughlin told the board the biggest potential headache is how to deal with 25 “marked” police vehicles that will need to be parked close to the temporary headquarters.

“Where do they go?” he said. There are also issues with security for officers and civilian employees, those arrested, processed and detained (“our visitors”) and storage of evidence and paperwork.

“Every issue around town revolves around parking,” quipped Mahoney.

The committee and police will be back before the board in two weeks with more definitive plans.

Two Arrested In Drug Bust On Burnham Street; Fentanyl Seized

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Photo: An example of Fentanyl.

A significant amount of opioids was seized and two people arrested in a Belmont drug bust Thursday night, Jan. 24.

According to Asst. Belmont Police Chief James MacIsaac, Belmont Police detectives along with members of the Suburban Middlesex County Drug Task Force arrested Albert Altfeder, 29, of Burnham Street and charged him with trafficking 10 or more grams of Fentanyl.

After receiving several complaints that individuals were involved in street-level drug transactions in Belmont, detectives and the Suburban Middlesex County Drug Task Force began to conduct surveillance in Belmont. After a lengthy investigation, a search warrant for Altfeder’s home was obtained.

At 9: 21 p.m. on Jan. 24, members of the Task Force along with Belmont Police Patrol Division and Belmont Police Detectives entered Altfeder’s residence where they discovered 13 grams of Fentanyl along with other drug paraphernalia.

Officers also found Jennifer Francis, 24, Of Danvers, in Altfeder’s home, who was subsequently arrested on two outstanding warrants for drug possession of a Class A drug out of Salisbury and an OUI/drugs out of Watertown.

Belmont Police Joins Restorative Justice Movement [VIDEO]

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Photo: Restorative Justice project in Concord.

Your car has been vandalized. Someone broke into your house at night. Shoplifters attacked the business you own. You were assaulted by “a friend.”

You are a victim of a crime and you want justice.

In the past forty years, the expected action from law enforcement and the courts were to take the perpetrator, convict them with the harshest sentence and lock them up.

And while that might be satisfactory, it, for the most part, doesn’t restore a sense of safety to or provide a lasting resolution to the victim.

According to Erin Freeborn and Belmont Police’s Asst. Chief James MacIsaac, there is a better way. Rather than throwing away the keys, bring the victim and culprit together. “Hold the offender accountable so healing can begin and everything is put right,” said Freeborn, executive director of C4RJ, a non-profit community-police partnership that offers restorative justice to those affected by crime.

And Belmont PD announced at the Belmont Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, Dec. 17, it has joined 24 other Massachusetts police departments (including Arlington, Cambridge, and Lexington) and the Middlesex and Suffolk country district of attorneys partnering with C4RJ.

The Concord-based organization in operation since 2000 is driven by a group of trained volunteers recognizes crimes is a violation of people and relationships, not just a violation of the law. The focus of the organization is to assist victims and offenders of a crime through a healing approach outside the court system.

C4RJ builds strong, respectful communities by responding to a crime in ways other than tough sentencing. C4RJ listens to victims, holds offenders accountable, and restores trust in communities.

Through C4RJ’s process, victims of a crime respond to an incident by directly addressing the person who committed the crime. In turn, offenders are given the chance to rectify their actions and avoid a potential criminal conviction on their record.

“Where once a fistfight after school was seen past part of growing up, now that could be considered a felony assault with real harsh consequences,” said Freeborn. “We want to reduce the number of people being incarcerated and [restorative justice programs] are one way to do that.”

Partner police departments recommend cases to C4RJ. If the victim and the offender agree to the process, the matter is given to C4RJ, which sets up a meeting between both parties, putting the decision making into the hands of those directly affected.

Together, under the guidance of the board of directors and law enforcement officials, the victim, the offender, and their loved ones and supporters, along with community members discuss the crime and find a way to move forward. The process is as follows:

  • Victims of crime address the person or people who have harmed them, to ask questions in a safe environment, and to share ideas on ways that the offender can repair the harm.
  • Offenders better understand the impact of their actions, are held accountable and encouraged to make amends to those they have harmed.
  • The community offers support for the process, addressing matters of public safety and strengthening connections with the police department.

At the end of the meeting, the offender pledges to change his or her actions, which are often accompanied by completing a number of service hours for an appropriate organization. In 60 to 90 days, all parties meet again to check in and reassess the situation.

This approach appears to work: the recidivism rate using the C4RJ approach is 16 percent as compared to 31 percent reincarceration rate (within three years) in Massachusetts, according to a 2018 National Reentry Resource Center study.

“By giving victims and offenders of a crime the opportunity to express themselves in a safe environment, we can have a dialogue that yields positive results for both sides,” said Freeborn.

C4RJ will be holding its next volunteer training on Feb. 8 (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and Feb. 9 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.). The first step is a volunteer application found at https://bit.ly/2ya8z5K.

[VIDEO] Smoky Fire In Belmont Center Damages Stores, Studio, Residence

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Photo: Firefighters battling a two-alarm fire in Belmont Center.

A two-alarm fire damaged a number of businesses, a yoga studio and a residence in the heart of Belmont Center just after 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24.

According to Belmont Fire Chief David Frizzell the smoky blaze started in a nail salon in the basement of the building occupied by Leon and Co. hair salon on Leonard Street. The fire quickly moved up the walls of the building which was renovated a number of times over the years. The fire reached the top floor of the bodytrio studio at the corner of Alexander Avenue. Fire crews from Belmont and Cambridge fought the stubborn smoke and fire inside the walls.

Most of the damage to the structure was limited to water and smoke, said Frizzell.

Driver Charged in Fatal Pedestrian/Vehicle Crash In Belmont

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Photo: Sachi Thanawala.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Belmont Police Chief Richard McLaughlin announced today, Friday, Sept. 21, that Raymond O’Brien, 45, of Medford has been charged with unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in connection with an August 28, fatal collision in Belmont that took the life of Belmont resident Sachi Thanawala.

Based on the preliminary investigation it was determined that the defendant was not in possession of a valid driver’s license and subsequently not permitted to operate a motor vehicle. The defendant had previously been licensed to operate in Massachusetts; however, that license had expired in 2004.

This charge is an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty, according to the DA’s office.

On Aug. 28, at approximately 8:25 a.m., Belmont Police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash involving a pedestrian at the intersection of Lexington and Sycamore streets. Upon arrival, authorities located Thanawala, 39, of Sycamore Street, who had sustained serious injuries. Thanawala was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she died on Aug. 30. O’Brien, who was operating the vehicle, a 2015 Ford Transit Van, remained on scene.

Through their investigation authorities learned that the decedent was crossing the street at the intersection when the defendant allegedly turned left striking her.

This is an ongoing investigation being conducted by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, the Belmont Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section. The prosecutor assigned to this case is Assistant District Attorney Taylor Makson. 

DA IDs Belmont Resident Killed In Watertown Square Pedestrian/Tow Truck Accident

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Photo: Location in Watertown of the accident that took the life of a Sycamore Street resident.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office has identified a Belmont resident as the person killed when a tow truck ran her down just outside Watertown Square on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

Benita Horner, 68, of Sycamore Street was pronounced dead at the intersection of Galen and Nonantum streets after Watertown Police responded to a reported road rage incident around 11:20 a.m, said the office of Middlesex DA Marian Ryan.

Horner, who moved to Belmont from Quincy in 2010, listed her occupation as a cashier in the town’s 2018 census. 

She is the second Sycamore Street resident to have died in a vehicle-pedestrian accident. Less than a month ago, Sachi Thanawala, 39, was killed after being hit by a commercial van at the intersection of Lexington and Sycamore streets in Belmont.

Horner’s son, Philip Horner, 38, was arrested at the scene after attacking the tow truck driver, Thomas P. Fogerty, 60, of Quincy, stabbing him five times. The driver is hospitalized in critical condition.

Horner, which press reports said lived in Belmont with his mother, was charged today, Thursday, Sept. 20 in Waltham District Court with armed assault with intent to murder, according to the county DA. He is undergoing a 20-day psychological evaluation at a secure facility.