Shutesbury Chief of Police Dan Fernandes Resignation Announcement

Read the letter from the Selectboard here or below. 

 

Shutesbury Police Chief Dan Fernandes Seeks New Opportunity

January 13, 2021

 

Shutesbury Police Chief Dan Fernandes met with the Selectboard members last week, on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, to share his intentions of resigning. The Shutesbury Selectboard reluctantly accepted Chief Fernandes’s official resignation at their Selectboard meeting. The Chief’s resignation is effective March 6, 2021.

Chief Fernandes has led the Shutesbury Police Department for two and a half years. His goals for the department have focused on serving the town under the principles of community policing. This goal guided his leadership of the department. Engaging with the public is a key aspect of this policy.

Early on in his tenure, Chief Fernandes established a body camera policy and utilized a grant to fund the purchase of body cameras for his department. He established a ride-along policy. He revitalized the Shutesbury police boat presence at Lake Wyola. He has advocated for an adequately staffed, equipped, and quality police department with a keen eye on the bottom line.

This summer Chief Fernandes held a virtual Policing Forum event with the Selectboard moderated by Paul Lyons. This question and answer session was productive. Chief Fernandes has continued to welcome questions from the public. He hopes to hold a topical zoom event on the use of force or traffic stop practices before his departure date.

Chief Fernandes is not only, a successful police professional, but also a successful farmer. Our town benefited from this as well. In 2019 he donated a truckload of pumpkins to the library for the Halloween Celebration in the center of town. This generosity helped create over a hundred jack-o-lanterns lined the Town Common.

Chief Fernandes’ decision to resign is driven by a need to achieve a life and work balance that is family-centered and to concentrate his focus there. He wants townspeople to know how much he greatly values his experience here in Shutesbury both as an officer and as our police chief. He has had a very good experience and has found Shutesbury to be a good-hearted community.

We are grateful for the years of service, wonderful work and contributions that Chief Fernandes has given Shutesbury. We wish him the best.