Monday, June 11, 2012

Last talk with the Chief

Council to officially accept Police Chief Jack Shippee’s retirement at Monday night meeting
The Chief HATES having his
picture taken
By Will Collette

When I sat down with Police Chief Jack Shippee a few days ago, he had 23 hours left (but hey, who’s counting?) before the start of his retirement. Just about every passer-by asked the same question, “how much longer, Chief?”

Now that he had more than 30 years of service, including his four years in the Air Force, simple arithmetic drove his decision to retire.

The Chief told me that, in the best interests of his family, it made sense to do it now. Chief Shippee cited changes in the pension system that kick in on July 1, including a five-year look-back that would cut his pension rate, as well as higher premiums for health insurance.

He dismissed any political basis for his decision: “It’s economics, not politics…In the years I’ve been here, I’ve worked under every Town Administrator Charlestown has ever had.”


With one son at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (studying computer program and game development) and another college-bound, the economic choices were all the more compelling. “I might have left earlier when the first round of pension cuts were made, but now it’s really necessary.”

I looked into Chief Shippee’s history and was impressed. Even though he has been Chief only since 2009, he has been a fixture on the Charlestown Police since 1982, when he started out as a part-time patrolman. 

Jack Shippee is a Rhode Island native who was raised in North Providence. At age 17, without a high school diploma, he joined the Air Force and served for four years. That’s where he says he “grew up.” Before they could accept him, the Air Force set young Jack Shippee up with a GED program

He was decorated for valor by the Charlestown Police in 1990 and was cited again in 1998 with the U.S. Attorney’s Office Law Enforcement Award.

A life-long learner, he took night courses and earned a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University and graduated from the FBI National Academy in 2002. He currently teaches on-line college courses in criminal justice. 

Chief Shippee said that he believed a good leader “must lead by example” and said that this is how he always strived to lead.

I asked the Chief about the process for replacing him as Chief. He said that this will, of course, be up to the search and selection committee and the Town Council, and expressed confidence that they would make the right decision.

The two lead contenders from inside the Department, current Acting Chief Lt. Michael Paliotta and Lt. Patrick McMahon, each have strong supporters within the CPD and within Town Government.

I asked when was the last time Charlestown hired a Police Chief from outside the CPD ranks. Chief Shippee said the last time was 1987 when the town hired Mike Brady from Narragansett.

We talked at length about Charlestown and how he has seen it change over the years. Chief Shippee said he has always been a firm believer in community policing where officers feel and act as part of the community. But over the years, as the town has grown, that has become harder.

Only five of the eighteen CPD officers are able to live in Charlestown. Chief Shippee himself lives in Westerly.

The Chief plans to spend the summer with his sons Ben and Jason and wife Patty. After the summer, he may start working on another project. But at age 52 and a distinguished career, he has a lot of options, including simply enjoying an early retirement (something I can certainly appreciate)

Also on Monday night’s Town Council agenda is a “consent agenda” approval for a town contract with SenSys, one of the two vendors who submitted proposals to install red light cameras.

Chief Shippee, a supporter of the red light camera concept, said he was concerned about the associated costs. Even with the “cost neutrality” pledge by the vendors that Charlestown will pay nothing for the system even if they fail to generate enough income to break-even, Chief Shippee said “it sounds too good to be true.”

He said the town needed to make absolutely sure that it is well-protected from liability if the system doesn’t generate enough tickets to break even. The town also needs to make sure that the liability for the system, even if that liability is going to be forgiven, doesn’t hurt the town’s bond rating.

He said that the number of red-light running tickets the system would generate to break even is pretty high. Further, he said that since the whole point of the system was to deter red-light running, he would expect the number of tickets to go down during the course of the three-year contract. “Then we’ll (the town) have to evaluate the money to see if the town, or the company, will continue it.”

"The Tank"
My first story on Chief Shippee covered the “Charlestown Tank,” which I think in all fairness should be named after the Chief (Chief Shippee said, no, no, don’t do that, because he had actually been trying to give the Tank away).

Through the Charlestown Tank story, I learned that Chief Shippee used his remarkable talent for hustling stuff to save town taxpayers many thousands of dollars.

In addition to getting the Charlestown Tank (actually an armored personnel carrier) for free, the Chief also hustled up a couple of military surplus Humvees, ATV bikes, the harbormaster’s boat and even office furniture. He even worked a deal with Cox that ended up getting the town police station its radio tower and all the works for free. I really wish he had put a wind turbine up there or an “Eat at the Nordic Lodge” banner.

I asked the Chief if, as part of the transition process, he planned to leave behind a file or notebook with his free stuff secrets. “You mean my contacts?” he asked, “let’s just say that if somebody has a need, they should call me.”

I hope that whoever the next Charlestown Chief of Police will be, that this person will have Jack Shippee’s mix of serious dedication to police work and a wicked sense of humor.

For example, if you get an e-mail from him via his smart phone, near the top of the text, it reads, “Sent from my Verizon Wireless CrackBerry.”

I almost fell out of my chair when he told me the story about how he got those military surplus Humvees serviced recently – a story that, unfortunately, I can’t repeat.

You should read the wry answers Chief Shippee gave the Westerly Sun recently when they subjected him to that usually corny Sunday feature, “In the Easy Chair.” When he was asked to name the most recent book he read, Chief Shippee said Ship for Brains; Cruise Confidential,” by Brian David Bruns.”

I had to check to see if he made this book title up. He didn’t. There’s even a sequel

After my interview, Chief Shippee e-mailed me with this last thought I will use to close this article:  he wrote “One question not asked; "what will I miss most about the job?" I was given some wonderful opportunities over the years. I have met some really decent people and did things I never thought were possible. I worked with some of the best people and developed life long friendships with people in this town. I will miss daily interaction with many of the residents as well as Town Hall Staff and members of the police department.

Chief, I hope you get to golf in Scotland, eat NY System wieners all the way and enjoy being at home with your family listening to crickets.