Town of Georgetown, MA - Detective James Rodden

Georgetown - Georgetown Police Officer James Rodden has broken ground in policing in Georgetown, first as the town’s original school resource officer, and next filling a newly created detective position starting Jan. 1, 2008.

While the town has had Detective Supervisor Tom DeJoy on the job for some time, Rodden’s promotion to detective marks the first time Georgetown has had both a detective supervisor and detective in the department.

“What happened is with the rash of crime the town’s experienced over the last year, it requires extended investigations. We’ve had the detective supervisor for a long time. We needed another officer who would be dedicated to follow-up investigations,” said Georgetown Police Chief James Mulligan.

Mulligan explained that the position — which he described as a lateral transfer with a raise for Rodden — was approved by the Board of Selectmen during the last budget season.

“The actual authorization [for the new position] was before the spring annual Town Meeting,” said Mulligan, explaining that crime had been on the rise even before last month’s rash of robberies in town.

“Last year there was a robbery at the CVS. Detective Supervisor DeJoy was working 15 to 16 hours straight with no break. He had to go up to Maine,” said Mulligan. “There’s an unbelievable amount of work when a major crime happens.”

Though the two officers will work separate shifts — DeJoy 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Rodden 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. — Mulligan said the two will come together and work as partners in the event of a major crime.

Asked what made him want to go for this new position, Rodden said, “I think it’s an advancement in my career. It’s something I’m interested in — taking more control of cases, seeing them through all the way from the beginning to the end.”

He said he expects the most challenging thing about the new role will be adjusting to the differences in jobs.

“The challenge of the new position will be just establishing myself in a new aspect of law enforcement and learning. It’s a completely new trade in the field,” he said.

In the meantime, Rodden’s school resource officer position needs to be filled. According to Mulligan, he told members of the police department who were interested to submit a letter of interest by Dec. 1.

“Once I know who’s interested I will do an evaluation, will select the person and we’ll have some time for Officer Rodden to work with the person,” said Mulligan.

Mulligan said the ideal candidate will be someone who is a good role model, who interacts well with the school administration and teachers, staff and kids in grades kindergarten through 12, and someone who is at all times aware of what’s going on in the schools.

Officer Rodden has filled the role since its inception in 2004, and did a great job, according to Mulligan.

“He had good communication skills with the both the schools and the police department. He solved a lot of problems,” said Mulligan.

Asked what he’ll miss about his school resource officer position, Rodden said, “The relationships with the administrators and the people that work in the school systems. And working with the kids in the system.”

For the new detective position, Rodden was selected from a group of three candidates, each of whom was interviewed by a board of police officers not including Mulligan.

“They quiz you about investigations. It’s a high stress oral examination. When you come in they give you a scenario — you’re at the crime scene; walk the board through what you’d do if you’re the lead investigator on this crime. Then you answer questions.

“We had three candidates. Each had one hour. They said it was very tough when they came out,” said Mulligan.

“We all have all the confidence in the world based on Jim’s previous work and his follow-up on crimes in town that he’ll do an outstanding job,” said Mulligan.

This article originally appeared in the Georgetown Record on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 By M. Renee Seymour/rseymour@cnc.com.