Lakes Coalition donates boat to police to get local patrols

Ashburnham Police Chief Loring Barrett Jr., and Officer Nicholas Dalton are ready to get their newest piece of equipment off the roads and into the town's seven lakes. The pair has worked with representatives of the Ashburnham Lakes Coalition over the last two years to secure the donation of a police boat and related supplies.

Ashburnham Police Chief Loring Barrett Jr. and Officer Nicholas Dalton stand in front of the donated police boat with members of the Ashburnham Lakes Coalition. The used 17-foot motor boat will be used by the police officers to patrol the recreation lakes in town during the summer when there are high levels of use. Police and representatives of the Lake Coalition want the presence of the police on the water to help encourage people to use water crafts safely and legally, to ensure boats and person watercraft are registered, and to help perform rescues if the need arises.

"We saw the need for a police boat for safety," said Dave Arnold, a member of the coalition and an Ashburnham resident.

Barrett said the budget and the lack of state community policing funds will hinder the ability to staff the boat often. For safety reasons he said he wants two officers on the boat at a time.

The process of donating a boat started about two years ago and the new public safety facility has space to store and work on the boat, Barrett said. The boat cost about $6,000 and has had about $1,000 worth of repairs and new equipment put into it.

In the past the state environmental police might patrol a lake or two in town once a year but the local department will hopefully be able to provide more coverage, officials said. About three-quarters of the Ashburnham police officers have taken a boating safety and enforcement courses and will work with the environmental police this year to learn the process of patrolling lakes.

Each of the town's seven large recreation lakes has a different primary use, said coalition members, and they and the police agree the that police presence will conform to each lake.

This is not the first donations made by the Lakes Coalition. It has also donated ice rescue equipment to the Ashburnham and Winchendon fire departments, a hovercraft for the Ashburnham Fire Department and a lake ecology curriculum program for Oakmont Regional High School.