InFocus featuring Lawrence Akers (Springfield Police Superintendent)

From the 22 News Plus studio, this is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. Hello everyone and welcome to this edition of In Focus. I am your host Patrick Berry. You know, one of the things I love about this job is meeting interesting and fun people who have really kind of cool jobs. And one of those people is sitting across the desk from me today. He is the superintendent of Springfield Police Department, Mr. Lawrence Akers. Mr. Akers, thank you so very much for joining me today. I appreciate it. I do say you've got a, uh, I mean, all police and firemen have interesting jobs, but you're the top dog in the Springfield Police Department. And I want to make sure I understand, you actually started as a rookie cop in Springfield, right? I did. And then worked your way up through the ranks, and now you're leading probably the largest police force west of Worcester, right? Yes, we're the second largest municipal police department, second only to Boston. Really? Yes, and I did. I worked my way up. We have about 500 officers, and I worked my way up. I came on in 1986. I'm in my 41st year, and it's been a long road. So, I mean, it's a silly question, but you enjoy what you do. I do. I do. I enjoy it. You know, all things aren't easy. You know, I mean, it's a tough job. It's a tough job internally, externally, but there's a purpose. There's a reason for me to be here. And that's why I'm here as long as I have. so going back in time when you were a rookie cop to today has this Springfield changed or is it has it been you know kind of the same thing just you know technologies change cars have changed whatever but it is are you still facing the same issues in Springfield that you did when you were a rookie cop well i in some ways yes i mean you know think things have changed a little bit uh you know people you know they react a little bit differently to cops now uh should I say police officers they're not you know when i was a rookie you had that small group of people that you know no matter what you did they you know they just didn't like the police they were going to disrespect the police but for the most part people respected um what we do uh you don't see as much of that anymore you know you have a lot of people there are a lot of people out there that absolutely are still the same, but there's just so much going on in the world now that policing has changed. So knowing that, do you and your officers and your leadership staff take the opportunity to get out and about more, you know, into schools, into neighborhoods to show that it's not always, the interaction doesn't always have to be a negative one? Well, that's what I try to do all the time. I mean, I try to get out into the community as the leader of the police department to let people know I'm here for them, you know, And I would like to give people a voice that maybe didn't think they had a voice before. But we have, as you mentioned, we have officers in the schools. We have officers everywhere you go. There's officers. And we try to fit those officers to exactly what venue they're in. And we want people to know us as human beings, you know, not just a uniform. Whenever I get a chance, I take this uniform off and I go out into the community because I want them to know me for me. I want them to know me by my face. not just every time they see the badge, oh, here he is again. Is the staff of the Springfield Police Department, is it the same numbers as it was? Because every industry across the board is struggling trying to find people, whether it's a restaurant, 22 News, you pick it. We're all struggling to find people. Is the Springfield Police Department in the same boat like that? Actually, we're better off than a lot of other police departments, to tell you the truth. Really? That's good to know. Now, the numbers certainly aren't the way they were when I came on the job because we had nearly 600 officers when I came on the job, maybe even a little more than that. But now it's a little more difficult. I mean, people see policing different. People look at, you know, the social media out there and it shows police in a different light. You know, and there are some concerns for a lot of people becoming a police officer, some warranted, some not. uh but it's our numbers are right where we'd like them to be i'd like to get them a little bit higher but uh we we put in a our academy every year and we're having success in getting people here is it one academy a year you you do recruiting or multiple, so if somebody misses it, do they need to wait a year? Do they need to wait six months? Well yes, I mean we have been putting in every year um, it's pretty difficult because the academies are six months long. Oh wow. So yeah, so you know we want the officers well trained so once we get done with an academy to turn right around and start another one it can be done but it's very taxing and it's very difficult to do and you don't get the number of people signing up like we used to um, because of the issues you mentioned because of issues, right? I mean we used to get maybe 2,000 people on a list, now we may get two 300, you know, so it's difficult and we have to pick from those people. Do Springfield police officers do they have a residency requirement in Springfield? do they need to live within the city's boundaries? I know some departments in Springfield do, some don't. You know, some cities do, some cities don't. Yes, we do. Uh, we have a residency requirement that new officers live in the city, I believe it's the first 10 years, okay, that uh they come on the job and then they're able to venture out. Uh, myself I was grandfathered from many years ago, but once I took this position, I had to move back into the city. Oh, interesting. Okay. But you've been a lifelong resident of this area. Yes, I've moved in and out, but yes, I was born and raised in Springfield, and I lived the majority of my life in Springfield. Very good. We are up on our first commercial break We've got plenty more to talk about when it comes to the Springfield Police Department with Superintendent Akers. We're back in just a moment. This is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back everyone to this edition of In Focus. I'm your host, Patrick Berry. Sitting across the desk from me is the Springfield Police Department Superintendent, Larry Akers. Mr. Akers, thank you so very much for joining me today. I'm going to talk a little bit about you, about the Springfield Police Department, and so forth. One of the things that I have heard over the course of the last several years is that the crime rates in Springfield are down, which has to be a good feather in your cap. And kudos to you and your staff for being able to minimize crime in Springfield. Well, yes, crime trends are down. You know, we still have our ills in certain areas, but overall- Every town does. Yeah, every town does. And, you know, overall, yes, we're doing a good job. And I would never take credit for that. I mean, yes, I am out there And I'm trying to show my officers the way to do it, you know, and still get the job done. But, you know, if you take credit when they go down, you got to take credit when they go up. So, you know, I just I give that to, you know, the women and men in the police department. They're out there. They're making themselves visible. They're working hard. They're working with the community. And, you know, they deserve a lot of credit, too, because we can't do our job without the community's help. Coming back to a question I asked you earlier about how the department has changed, you know, from when you first came on to today, crime, has it changed or is crime still crime? You know, are there different and more crimes being committed now than there were back then? Like, and I'm just, I'm using this just as an example. There are more car thefts now than there were back in the 80s and 90s. Well, I have to tell you, I think that there probably are more car thefts, things like that, because, you know, you have so many things like TikTok challenges to where they actually, social media, they go out there and they actually challenge our youth and, you know, some of our adults to go out to see how they can, you know, break into the cars. Like for a while, there was a certain model of cars that if you had, you know, if you had a Hyundai or whatever or something or Kia, and I hate to mention names, but everyone knows you weren't safe to park your car on the street because they were going to get it. So, yes, I believe that our car thefts, things like that are up, but our murder rates are down. Right. The violent crimes are down. Violent crimes are down. I mean, which one murder is too many. But, you know, we're down quite a bit and I hope we can continue on that trend. You know, one of the things that just comes to mind, you know, as we look at time, I mean, let alone 30 years ago, 10 years ago, we didn't have these e-bikes that that are everywhere. So that has to be a different approach to managing bad activity in the city. Yeah, e-bikes are becoming a concern, not only because of crime, but just because of the safety. Exactly, yeah. You know, the people on the bikes, you know, those bikes, they go 50, 60 miles an hour, and they're considered bicycles. I mean, and we're starting to see the impact of, you know, the accidents involving these e-bikes. And not only that, scooters, motorcycles, our dirt bikes, you know, you're starting to see it now. and we have a lot more people in fatalities involving these things and you know something needs to be done we need to regulate that a little bit better one of the things that you know we talked about earlier and i gave i gave you um praise and kudos where it's due is crime rates are down but you know we just talked about that but for a period of time the state oversaw the Springfield Police Department and it was something and i got to look at my notes here federal is it the federal or the state? Federal consent decree. So was it the state that oversaw the police department or the? No, that's the Fed. That's federal. Yes. Why did the police department get to that point and where are we today? Well, you can argue on both sides. Okay. Back maybe sometime around 2018, the Department of Justice came in because of complaints, mainly stemming from our narcotics division where complaints were made. They said that we were using an excessive force and, you know, just we were doing things that we shouldn't be. They came in, they did their investigation. And by 2022, they decided that we should go under a consent decree. And at the time they called it an agreement, but what it was, it was a federal consent decree. We had about 293 paragraphs of things that we would have to do to come to meet their standards okay and uh you know anywhere from as i said it started from our use of force uh policies with our narcotics division it went into our internal investigations it went into our records keeping you know so different things they wanted us to so basically an audit uh it's an audit but at the same time you know the consequences are somewhat severe if you don't do this uh you know because they stay in your city And they continuously, you know, tell you the things that you have to do. And a lot of people were against it. I got to tell you, I welcomed it only because I know how good our department is. We have a very good police department. And I'd say I'll start with the best in the state. But I got to tell you, I think even far beyond, we have a great police department. we work hard and uh i have to say you know we had our uh decree terminated in record time you know i used to praise it was a place in connecticut that did it in five years we got it done in four years because i think once they came in here they realized wow this isn't what we thought you know and uh we really did a really good job getting out and i praise all the officers and the community for helping us get through that. So how much of a burden was it to you, your leadership team, and the officers on the street to have this oversight? Well, the average officer on the street, it wasn't really a hands-on burden to them, but there were a lot of changes coming in, and they were coming in fast and furious, you know, different policies. We had to implement different ways to document our use of force. And, you know, so it became burdensome on everyone when you have to change, you know, you just change just like that from one day to the next, from one day to the next. And it did weigh on a lot of people, but the average officer on the street, they just went out and did their job. And the only time they really saw a change is if they were making arrests or when use of force was used. I mean, you know, when when the DOJ was in here, I mean, use of force was just touching someone. you know i mean it's it's it was very very minimal uh force so you know that was difficult to deal with and to get everybody to understand that you know because it you know when you're a police officer we know sometimes it's a hand it's a hands-on sport right you know and we have to do things and you know to protect ourselves and you know and to protect the public and like we said earlier it's different today than it was 5 10 20 30 40 years ago you know the the public reaction to a police officer's i and i'm an outsider looking in i would say the public's reaction to an interaction with a police officer is now more combative than ever so you and you and the men and women on the street have to deal with that right it's uh most of the time it's a confrontation no matter what i mean people question you know back in the day when i came on you still had that right you know you had it but there was a respect of the uniform exactly They would respect that now because of everything that you see, you know, out in social media, things that are true, things that are not true. I mean, you know, people just have that different perception, you know. So you have to win the respect of the community that you work in. You know, you have to let them know that you're not out to hurt them. You're out to help them. And it's a difficult sometime. And, you know, with a consent decree, it actually made officers pull back, you know. So, you know, they didn't want to get involved anymore because they were afraid that they were going to be under a microscope. And, you know, but at the same time, they had to understand we still have that duty and that obligation to go out there and, you know, protect our citizens that need protection. Fantastic. We are up on our second commercial break. We've got plenty more to talk about with Superintendent Larry Akers. We're back in just a minute. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry Welcome back everyone to this edition of In Focus I'm your host Patrick Berry sitting across the desk from me today from the Springfield Police Department is their Superintendent Larry Acres Superintendent, thank you so very much for joining me, I appreciate you giving me some of your time. We're learning a lot about the Springfield Police Department and you as a person. Um, one of the things I know, I live in Westfield, so one of the things that I know some of the Westfield police officers and they're out and their police chief community policing seems to be like the big thing and has been for a while. Uh, is it just a buzzword community policing or do you feel in your in your time that community policing really works well Community policing does work, okay, if you're able to implement it fully. Uh, that's the problem a lot police departments have especially when you have larger cities. Uh, it's not a buy-in from just a couple people, your whole department has to buy into it and back in the 90s when it first came to City of Springfield we had a lot of police officers and I believe we had just gotten a hundred police officers came in at that time under a grant and um you know we were able to get that going and but we still do it today in a smaller scale uh we have what we have our C3 units okay and it's actually our neighborhood stabilization bureau where we have a certain amount of officers in all of the neighborhoods and we those officers they deal with the specific needs of that community okay and uh we get out we have our walking post uh we have our uh what they call it their meetings beat management meetings or C3 meetings and uh and that's what it is it's community policing but on a smaller scale and um but we still do the exact same things that we did back in the 90s and that's again showing the community the human behind the badge exactly but kind of nipping the crime before it starts yes and and you know and we work with the community uh we don't just go in and make a lot of noise when it's time to make a rest and then roll back out never to be seen again until it's time to go make a lot of noise again what we do is we go in we have the meetings with the community we find out what their concerns are we find out where their problem areas are and see what we can do as a team to make this work for all of the community including the people that may be causing some of the issues uh if we can go in we could rehabilitate some of the people some of the bad actors that's exactly what we're going to do um because everything doesn't have to be an arrest in the end you know so uh we work very closely we just expanded into another area that in our Indian Orchard area uh didn't have community policing out there we didn't have a C3 unit out there we just expanded out there so now we're in five different communities within the city so is the C3, the community policing, is that overseen by you or is it, you know, a captain, a lieutenant in the department that's, that's there, well Everything obviously falls under my umbrella, but no, I have people that actually head those units. You know, it would be good for me to say I know everything and do everything, but that's not true. I have to have people I can depend on that will go out and, you know, take control of their little area of the city. And they run things. They do run things by me naturally, and anything that, you know, they feel that I need to know. But other than that, you know, they're the captain of their ship. I want them to sail it. You know, one of the things I had heard leading up to this conversation was the risk of people in Springfield, residents of Springfield, visitors of Springfield. And scams are everywhere. But there's a Bitcoin scam, which has kind of caught me off guard. I didn't realize Bitcoin was a big scam element here in Springfield. But it is. Explain to me more about that. Well, the Bitcoin machines are really where the scams are used. There's a machine? Yes, you have machines, the cryptocurrency machines. And they're in a lot of different convenience stores, some bars, some, you know, and they have them in there. And what happens is the scammers, you know, they'll call people and they may say, and the story is they actually called me and used my name one time. and they'll say, well, this is Commissioner Lawrence Akers from the Springfield Police Department, or this is Nick Kochi from the Sheriff's Department. And they use actual names of people. And, you know, they'll say that you haven't paid a bill or you didn't show up for a court case. And, you know, and they tell these people in order to stave off arrest that you have to go and you have to pay this fine and they'll actually send you to one of these bitcoin machines and you you'd be like ATMs, they are, they're like ATMs that's exactly like what they are yeah and you know i'm quite sure that they may be used for some positive reasons i guess i'm not really sure what they are but all i hear about is the illegal use of it right and um so you know people will go and they're law-abiding people because obviously they still fear the law and they you know they want to abide by the law um so they go and they actually go and start putting money into these machines and once they do it's gone so i have to imagine your your uh communication to citizens is if anyone ever tells you to pay in bitcoin that's the red flag absolutely and actually i believe way it is you're actually paying in cash they don't even tell you to pay in bitcoin you put cash into the machine and it just you know and then it turns into cryptocurrency and it's gone because it's just distributed all over the world. Yeah, it's untraceable. It's untraceable. And my thing is there's no reputable organization, police, sheriff's department, the courts, that are ever going to call you, first of all, and say, you have a warrant for your arrest. Go and pay money so we'll remove the warrant. So if you get any of those things, you just hang up. It's interesting you say that because I've heard the same thing about utility companies. your city or town back due taxes or whatever it is any that you said any reputable you know give them a call find out exactly take the step to make the effort and if that happens that's just what you should do hang up call the organization that they're claiming to be from and uh you know you know you have a legitimate number now and you can ask them either what their procedure is or did they call you and uh you'd be amazed that just i mean how much this happens i mean last year we had just in massachusetts alone 6.8 million dollars in losses from this and uh it's amazing yeah and in springfield the immediate area of springfield we had over a million and uh 56 to 59 victims uh and these are good these aren't just elderly people these are people in their 20s 30s 40s and they're just law-abiding citizens that want to do the right thing and they're being scammed and uh so if you ever get that you're in the if you're in the sound of my voice just hang up the phone you know no one's going to contact you in that way uh superintendent acres i cannot thank you enough for giving me some of your time today it was wonderful meeting you hearing about your story and what's going on currently in the police department the invitation is always welcome to you to come back and join me on in focus on a future date nice seeing you thank you i appreciate the time here this is 22 news in focus with patrick berry