For more than a week this summer, the New Ipswich Police Department was a one-man show.
Former Chief Tim Carpenter had hired Marc Frederick, 24, as a patrolman in March, but he was at the academy and not certified until end of August. Master Patrolman Wes Vollheim, who had been hired in July 2013, had briefly left the department.
That left Chief Michael Abel alone.
To keep that from happening again, Abel, who became acting chief in June this year and was permanently appointed in September, has been rebuilding the department. Abel hired Tyler Swenson in August, and he was sent to the police academy, and he hired Kelly St. Pierre as a new administrative assistant in October. Like Abel, St. Pierre previously worked at the Wilton Police Department.
Frederick came from Townsend, Mass., where he was working in the construction field before he decided on a career change.
“I was applying to a few different police departments, and what attracted me here, was the personnel. Chief Abel, our old chief, Chief Carpenter, and Wes, Officer Vollheim – they’re just really relaxed, good people that you’d want to work for and work with,” he said.
Frederick said growing up in a small town made it an easy transition to come to New Ipswich and to understand small-town politics, have discretion, be respectful and appropriate. He said the pay and benefits are similar to surrounding towns and the biggest draw was working with experienced officers like Abel and Vollheim.
Frederick, as well as the other full-time officers, works more than 40 hours a week, picking up details and overtime if possible. He patrols the schools during the week, as well as high-traffic centers such as the NeWest Mall, enforces speed limits and laws, and responds to calls.
“It’s been awesome. I love it,” he said. “It’s different every day; in a small town you can stay busy if you want to stay busy.”
The department also has two part-time officers. Patrolman Jesse Hyam was hired May 1, 2018, and was full-time before moving to part-time in November 2020 to pursue another career, said Abel. Patrolman Michael Walker has been with the department since 1993, and is retiring in January.
Swenson is the newest full-time hire at the department after completing his training in Concord.
“It’s a 16-week-long residential paramilitary academy,” said Swenson. “The way it works is you get hired by a police department first and then they sponsor you and send you to the academy.”
Abel, with Carpenter’s help, streamlined the hiring process this year.
“We started out sitting right here with interviews at this table,” said Abel, referring to the kitchen in the former dentist’s office the department leases, which is also the interview room.
Abel posted job openings on the town website but has seen the most responses and hires from Indeed, the online job-search site.
“Our process here in New Ipswich is a little bit less than traditional,” he said. “We had to expedite the process because there was so much competition. Myself and Chief Carpenter, we decided on a series of changes in our hiring process to try to expedite the process and it’s working. We’re having the ability to make offers to candidate that we like on a much quicker basis.”
Traditionally, he said a hiring agency puts out a notice and if 25 people apply, they invite all 25 to a written test. Typically, if they get through the written test, they would be invited to the attempt the physical test.
“The issue with that is they have to get a waiver signed by a doctor and that can take up to a month, especially right now,” said Abel. He said a potential candidate waited three weeks to get a doctor’s appointment and signed up for a new primary care physician in order to get a physical.
To speed up the hiring process, Abel is waiving the written test when the candidate is a college graduate, as Frederick and Swenson are.
Frederick has a degree in construction management with a minor in business management. He was an estimator for a year and an assistant project manager for a year before joining the police force. Swenson has a degree in political science from University of New Hampshire.
“My opinion is that if someone comes with a college degree, they can pass the general aptitude test,” said Abel.
It may only save a few days but it does save time, he said.
“We do interviews right up front rather than setting up an oral board,” he said. “It’s more personal this way.”
Swenson looked at a few other departments and said the way New Ipswich integrates with the community was a big draw for him.
“Echoing what Marc says, the biggest thing that drew me here was straight off from the interview seeing the intimacy and how community-oriented this specific department is,” he said.
To foster a local presence, the patrolmen have been hanging out at businesses as they are about to close and engaging with the workers.
“I think it does a lot in terms of their opinions of us and knowing that we are available for them,” said Swenson.
After more than 10 years of police service in Wilton, Abel knew building relationships in the community would take time.
“Knowing that I had to start over again was a tough hurdle and I made that choice and came over,” he said. “After five years, I have some pretty decent relationships built here and I still have a long way to go to build some more, but we’re working on it.”
Abel said the police force is highly competitive right now.
“Three years from now, I hate to tell these guys this, but if they applied to Nashua [Police Department], they would probably start out (making $20,000) more than they are making now,” he said. “Do they want to work at Nashua? I don’t know, but the money is there.”
Due to salaries and raises as he continues to rebuild the department, Abel is predicting a 2% to 3% increase in his overall budget this year. After many discussions in the past few years about the lack of a professional police station, he is hoping to start a campaign to raise the funds next year.
“The budget is 100 percent necessary here to be effective as a police station,” said Abel. “We want to offer the best quality of services we can and we need this budget to do that. I don’t want to see officer Frederick or Swenson leave the building because they aren’t getting paid enough.”
Abel said his goal is to not only pay his employees a competitive rate but set an example of what it looks like to appreciate the people who chose to work in public service in New Ipswich.