Bernardston Police Department

We are a small rural police force consisting of three full time officers; Chief, Sergeant, Patrolman, six part-time officers, two auxiliary officers. We cover the town 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are located in the northern section of Franklin County, Massachusetts and border the State of Vermont. We are the primary law enforcement agency for the Town. We investigate all crimes, enforce motor vehicle violations and have the ability to respond to all types of calls. We work in coordination with the Northwestern District Attorny's Office and the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit for larger, major crimes.

We oversee our Animal Control Department with assistance from the Franklin County Sheriff's Department providing a shelter for unknown or loose dogs.

Our major equipment includes the police cruiser fleet. We have four police cruisers; 2012 Dodge Charger, 2009 Dodge Charger, 2007 Ford Crown Victoria, and a 2006 Ford Explorer 4x4. The full-time personnel have assigned cruisers, which makes for faster responses and extends the service life of the cruiser to 6-7 years. Other emergency equipment includes but not limited to; a Polaris 4-wheeler ATV (4x4), a Snowmobile, and a Rescue Sled. In the event we need to transport our rescue equipment throughout town or for a mutual aid response, we have a fully enclosed trailer which has the ability to house all of our equipment. Other misc specialty equipment pieces are night vision and thermal imaging.

In 2007, the Town built a new public safety complex, which is where we are stationed. The safety complex also houses an office for the Emergency Management Director and the Bernardston Highway Superintendent. We are extremely grateful for such an investment from the Town residents and to all the Town Hall staff that made this happen.

We recently conducted training with surrounding law enforcement agencies, including fire department personnel to incorporate a county law enforcement ATV rescue team. We also completed training to be certified ground pounders and seeking certification for land navigation. We feel this training would be invaluable due to our location and terrain.