Confidence in Chief Bickmore
On April 4, the BDN published an article discussing a vote of no confidence by the Pittsfield Police Union. These four officers make up less than half of the department, and the five of us are jointly writing to unequivocally state that the actions of the union are not representative of the agency.
Together we have over 60 years of law enforcement experience in a variety of roles. Uniformly, we feel it is our moral imperative to state that we feel that under Chief Harold “Pete” Bickmore’s leadership, the quality of policing in Pittsfield has improved significantly. As a retired federal investigator, Chief Bickmore brings an immense amount of experience to Pittsfield which, frankly, can be difficult to find in rural law enforcement. But, more importantly, the Chief brings a professional and competent leadership style, as well as a true concern for the citizens and visitors of Pittsfield.
As one of us recalls, after assisting on a call with a gentleman who had previously had serious legal issues, the officer overheard the chief speaking to a local business owner, trying to help the citizen find a job. An officer spoke of observing the chief deliver food to local community members in need. Further, all of us have experienced the chief’s initiatives on domestic violence, sexual assault investigations, and outreach to vulnerable members of the community.
Again, we wish to reiterate our unwavering support for Chief Bickmore and the quality of his leadership. The chief expects Pittsfield officers to operate with a high level of professionalism and accountability, and the results are palpable. We overwhelmingly maintain the utmost confidence in the chief’s leadership.
Ryan Warner
Mike Pike
Hunter Quinlan
Mike Cray
Steve Locke
Current and former members
Pittsfield Police Department
Pittsfield
Sen. Collins’ concerns
Sen. Susan Collins has been running a series of statewide ads on television and online. She expresses gratitude for the real heroes all around us and notes that we have to watch very closely the trajectory of this pandemic and our first concern has to be the health of all of our people. A vital key to surviving and flattening the curve of this pandemic is social distancing.
Her support of the Supreme Court nominee and now sitting Justice Brett Kavanaugh makes mockery of that health concern in the state of Wisconsin. Justice Kavanaugh wrote the majority decision, which effectively blocked attempts of Gov. Tony Evers to delay the election in order to save lives. Milwaukee resident Megan Nakkula was forced to vote in person after requesting an absentee ballot but never receiving it.
“It’s been a very emotional day thinking about what the outcome of this could be,” she said, holding back tears. “It just doesn’t feel like it was the safest decision to do. I saw a lot of elderly voters, people who were high risk and everyone is taking as many precautions as they could. We were 6 feet apart, but you know, we don’t know what we don’t know about this virus at this point in time, and it’s really scary.”
Sen. Collins has indicated that she is concerned about the virus. She says that we pull together in times like this. But her crucial vote helped give Brett Kavanaugh the power to essentially block citizens from their right to freely and safely vote.
I am grateful for Sen. Collins’ concern. I just wish Justice Kavanaugh shared her concerns as well.
Linda Kristan
Alna
Coronavirus and education
I am concerned, and I think that the rest of us should be, too. Our in-person educational system has shut down and it seems likely that this state of affairs will continue for some time. The survival of democracy depends, I believe, on an educated public. A modicum of knowledge about history, literature, science, math, and geography is the key to citizenship, and citizenship is the key to democracy. As Mark Twain once said, “out of the public school grows the greatness of a nation.” Shut down those schools, then, and the nation is in danger of diminishing, of becoming less great.
I’m sure that there are many people, especially perhaps students, who are happy about the current situation. But happiness is not our primary social concern: our primary concern should be the maintenance of our democracy, and for that education is requisite. Education helps us distinguish truth from lies, the decent from the indecent, the just from the unjust; it gives us daily practice in recognizing the beautiful, in evaluating the worthiness of our own performance and that of others.
An educated citizenry is the key to our democracy. The fact that our in-person educational system has shut down should give us pause. This is one of the more serious effects of the coronavirus. It is something that we must all think about.
William J. Murphy
Belfast