New chief will assimilate into Ashby community
By Karen Mann

Howard Lundin places the stars representing the rank of chief on the uniform of his son, Paul Lundin, on Oct. 11.

As the new Police Chief Paul Lundin starts to become familiar with the town and he is focused on reaching out to the community.

Lundin, who was sworn in as chief on Oct. 11, would like to improve communication between his department and the community, and believes a good way to implement that is by using technology.

"We need to utilize technology without taking away from the daily face-to-face," he said.

He says one of the first steps is to upgrade the police department's Web site as a way to keep information flowing between the department and members of the community.

As a 21-year veteran of the White Plains Police Department in New York, Lundin said he specialized in community policing.

Lundin said his broad range of training and experience will help him in his new role, because being in a small department there are no specialists, so everyone has to be a generalist.

His first priority is learning how to run his department. He wants to get to know his officers, town officials and the community to learn what their concerns and priorities are.

Paul Lundin

Lundin said a general list of long-term goals include: maintaining and improving training for his officers, improving communication tools available to officers, and eventually building a new facility.

Lundin hopes to also reach out to the youth in Ashby. When he was a detective on the White Plains force specialized in youth operations.

"The youth in a community are impressionable," he said. "Many of them look up to police officers. It is important to enforce

standards of conduct, but be fair."

He wants children to know that when they need help, anyone of them can come to his department and feel safe sharing information and concerns they may have.

The goal is to change the stereotype about the relationship between police officers and teenagers, he said. He plans on reinforcing with his officers how to speak with younger people.

Lundin says the most important thing is for the two groups to get to know each other, which can be done by using the mechanisms already in place in town such as school or youth organizations.

A father of two children - ages four and nine - with his wife, Diane, he said he looks forward to going home everyday to spend time with his family. Family time, along with running, are two of Lundin's outlets after a stressful day at work.

Lundin's family played a large role in his decision to take the job in Ashby.

"I wanted a smaller community for my family," he said. "Ashby is that stereotypical New England town. It has a real nice atmosphere."

Ludin took advantage of the White Plains Police Department's policy that allows officers to retire after 20 years.

The Lundins are in the process of buying a home in town because although it is not required he live in the town, he wants to.

During his interview process, Lundin was impressed when he met the officers.

"Everyone here is very professional and knowledgeable about the job," said Lundin, adding they made him feel very welcome despite being an outsider.

Lundin is excited to have the change in rank and responsibility. It will be a different type of policing, since the sizes of the two departments vary significantly, he said. According to its Web site, White Plains is home to 54,000 residents, while Ashby has 2,800 residents.

Lundin is already encouraging people to contact him with any ideas or concerns and said residents should always feel free to do so.

-  -

Karen Mann is a 2006 graduate of Emerson College, in Boston, where she studied journalism. She resides in Townsend.