The Latest From Chief Of Police Len Campanello

Hey Joe, Just thought I’d share a few notes with your readers about what we are up to here at the Police Station: As you know, Mayor Kirk declared a snow emergency and parking ban for 8am this morning through the Code Red system. Our cruisers were out during the morning using the P.A. to announce that the parking ban would be enforced to ensure that the DPW could safely and efficiently clear the roads. At about 1pm, we began tagging and towing vehicles that had failed to comply with the snow emergency and cleared some trouble spots for the DPW as the afternoon went on. The Governor has declared a State of Emergency and a driving ban (a first since the Blizzard of 1978) effective at4pm. Mayor Kirk has also issued a State of Emergency for the City, allowing Police and Fire to more effectively handle the storm. We are using this declaration to clear the rest of the roadways of persons and vehicles for their own safety, and so that Police, Fire,EMS and DPW can address the emergencies related to the storm and any calls for service that come in. The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated at the Addison Gilbert Hospital. It is being manned by a skeleton crew of volunteers to properly record the use of personnel, equipment, and to record the number and nature of storm related calls for future possible reimbursement from the State Declaration of Emergency. The EOC also has a representative from Fire and Police in the event that communications are interrrupted and we require a back-up system. The EOC will be active for the duration of the storm. Through MEMA updates and Weather reports, we are expecting the storm to intensify in terms of snowfall between 7pm tonight and7am tomorrow morning with snow falling at a possible rate of 1-3 inchesper hour, coupled with strong winds. In that event, obviously the preparations we have made all day will pay off and the DPW will have opportunity to try to keep up with the storm. Your readers should know and understand that Police, Fire and DPW will be working on this storm well after the anticipated ending time of the snowfall sometime tomorrow evening and that it will be an ongoing effort to clear all roadways. We are urging people to help us out by staying indoors and safe and calling us with any emergencies. Residents are also urged to secure outside items, especially water related items, to minimize unnecessary search efforts and to visit www.ready.gov/winter-weather for more information on how to best get through the storm. The Police Department is employing the use of 4 wheel drive vehicles, but as the storm intensifies and roads become less passable, people should understand response times may be a little slower. Should power outages occur, please understand that National Grid vehicles experience the same delays other vehicles would and the outages may last a little longer than expected. Please call National Grid with any outage questions. If there should be an emergency with a downed wire or a tree limb hanging on wires, please call the Police Department directly. On behalf of Mayor Carolyn Kirk, I’d like to thank your readers and the citizens of Gloucester for their cooperation and understanding during this storm. City Management, Police, Fire, EMS, and DPW will be working diligently throughout the night and for the duration of this storm to make sure we safely and efficiently manage this event and return to business as usual as soon as possible. Thanks to you as well for letting us provide this info to your readers. Leonard CampanelloChief of PoliceCity of Gloucester, MA(978-281-9775lcampanello@gloucester-ma.gov