Tewksbury selectmen cop out on town Police Department support
All talk and no action! That’s how the Tewksbury Board of Selectmen dealt with a request to support the town’s police. It was a memorably sad performance that board members would probably like you to forget, especially if you back the blue.
Selectmen treated citizens to a real song and dance, tiptoeing around a request to pass a pro-police resolution in support of the Tewksbury Police Department. Board members did a lot of talking, but took absolutely zero action. Instead, they offered excuses, distractions and kudos to other town departments.
Chairman Jay Kelly said he got the request to pass a resolution supporting the police from “a number of folks.” He failed to say the “folks” are the members of the Tewksbury Republican Town Committee. Ruth Chou, the group’s chairman, sent Kelly an email asking him to put the matter on the agenda.
“As you know, police officers around the country are being subjected to verbal and physical assault, political actions to defund police departments and take away their qualified immunity, putting them and the community at greater risk,” Chou wrote.
Kelly brought up the resolution under new business. If Kelly had put it on the agenda, “folks” in town with opinions – Republicans, Black Lives Matter, taxpayers – could have spoken about it at the meeting.
Of course, Kelly and all members of the board had their say. And wait until you hear it for yourself…
Kelly said he “unequivocally” supports the police, but that he feels the same way about firefighters and first responders.
“For me, it’s very simple. With family members in law enforcement, it kind of goes without saying that it’s that simple that I don’t need to sign a doc or put a document forward in support of our police or, for that matter, the fire department or any of our departments, if you would, in Tewksbury,” Kelly said.
No one knows whether Kelly made his laughable statements with a straight face: he was the only member of the board who didn’t have his camera on for the remote meeting. Never let them see you squirm!
“Thank you for bringing this up,” Selectman Mark Kratman said to Kelly. “I agree with you. For us to make a resolution would be almost to the point of, like, at some point, we didn’t.”
Do you really think Kratman, who was arrested last year on charges of operating under the influence (third offense), was thankful someone brought up the police?
Kratman said he and his fellow board members have gotten “glowing praise” from the Police Department for their support.
“If there’s something our Police Department needs, our Fire Department needs, our DPW needs, we always get it there for them, especially if it’s something for public safety,” Kratman said. “I think we continue to do what we’ve always done: support them, praise them and thank them for their duty.”
But not with a resolution. Selectman Jayne Wellman called Kratman’s comments “erudite.”
“If we say something now, it’s like we haven’t said something in the past,” Wellman said. Precisely.
Selectman Brian Dick said the police chief is “doing a fantastic job right now,” gave our armed forces a “shout out” and called the police, firefighters and DPW “number one” in his heart.
“I don’t have to put my name on anything like that,” Dick said about the pro-police resolution.
Selectman Anne Marie Stronach said little about the police, instead talking about the library and other town departments.
“I have to give a big shout out to the teachers right now, who are crushing it out there,” she said.
After she praised the teachers, Stronach said she didn’t want to call out the police because all town workers work hard and she appreciates them all.
But not enough to pass a resolution – for any of them.
Now, more than ever, supporting the police matters. Actions speak louder than words and separate those who actually support the police from those who just say they do. It’s time for the citizens of Tewksbury to send a loud and clear message that they back the blue and expect town politicians to, too.