The Sturbridge Police Department is an accreditated agency, having achieved accreditation status from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission. That status puts it as being one of only a handful of accreditated police agencies in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Accreditation means your police department is more accountable, efficient, operates on nationally standardized policies and as a result is more professional. A side benefit is in the event of legal challenges against the department, it's policies will hold up as being nationally uniform and standardized, potentially saving the Town money in legal/court fees.


The department is an award winning agency, having been selected twice by the New England Community Police Partnership, for community policing; being the recipient of the 2000 and 2002 Robert Trojanowicz Award (http://www.necp2.org/index.htm) Sturbridge Police have been highlighted by the Department of Justice at the 2003 COPS Office Community Policing Conference in Washington DC for Community Policing practices.

The Sturbridge Police Department has 18 fulltime sworn police officers comprised of; 1 Chief of Police, 1 Lieutenant, 4 Sergeants, 11 Police Officers. Sturbridge Police have 4 full time civilian dispatchers, and 1 full time secretary for the Police Department. In addition to it's permanent staffing, the department has 1 sworn reserve police officer, and 4 part-time non sworn civilian employees.

The Sturbridge Police department provides a 24 hr, 7 day a week service to the town. The police department is located in the Sturbridge Public Safety Complex at 346 Main Street in Sturbridge. The police department has the responsibility for maintaining a 24 hr 7 day a week 911 / police and fire dispatch center with continuous NCIC / CHSB interface with criminal justice agencies across the state and nation.

Sturbridge Police are very active in the community and a philosophy of community policing exists throughout the agency. Officers are involved in various programs, park and walks, business seminars, elder safety programs, bicycle patrols, boat patrols, Home safety programs and many more. Most recently the police department has spearheaded forming a Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) CERT is a part of the Presidents Freedom Corps you may find information on them at the CERTHome Page http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/CERT/

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program helps train people to be better prepared to respond to emergency situations in their communities. When emergencies happen, CERT members can give critical support to first responders, provide immediate assistance to victims, and organize spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site. CERT members can also help with non-emergency projects that help improve the safety of the community.
The CERT course is taught in the community by a trained team of first responders who have completed a CERT Train-the-Trainer course conducted by their state training office for emergency management, or FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI), located in Emmitsburg, Maryland. CERT training includes disaster preparedness, disaster fire suppression, basic disaster medical operations, and light search and rescue operations.

In addition to the daily activities the department sponsors Citizen Police Academies annually, Cops and Kids Nights throughout the summer, DARE, RAD and RADkids