Full Notification

CHIEF WILLIAM F. QUINN
The Newton Police Department in 1968, had 219 sworn officers, 70 crossing guards, cadets, interns and civilian clerks totaling 318 employees, a far cry from City Marshal Hinds and his six original officers.
On July 2, 1968, Mayor Monte G. Basbas appointed William F. Quinn as Chief of Police, at that time the youngest police chief of any major New England police department. The Newton Police Department was about to make a quantum leap into the world of modern day policing. Chief Quinn, who was born in Allston, entered police service in Newton on November 23, 1952.
Upon assuming command of the department, Chief Quinn instituted a number of innovations, including: the installation of the original 911 emergency telephone system, the hiring of women police officers for regular patrol duty, computerizing the records system. He also implemented the current ambulance system, which provided the first 24-hour paramedic service in the Commonwealth.
Chief William F. Quinn
Newton Chief of Police
(1968 – 1989)
Social issues during the late '60s and early '70s had a profound effect upon the Newton Police Department, with student protests on college campuses and demonstrations against the war in Vietnam; the sixties were to bring a new type of policing into focus. Officers had to be trained and ready for riot duty and crowd control. Chief Quinn directed Captain Richard Dully to form and train a Tactical Patrol Force to be available in case of civil disorders in Newton. A force of 60 officers including a canine unit, was trained and equipped. The Tactical Patrol Force was used not only in Newton, but was dispatched to Cambridge over 25 times during the Harvard riots. It was during these incidents, which involved trying to coordinate officers from several different police departments, that it became apparent that a major communication problem existed. Each police department from a separate jurisdiction had radios that were not compatible with each other.Chief Quinn, through the sponsorship of the Greater Boston Police Council, which he helped create, and was Chairman of, instituted the Boston Area Police Emergency Radio Network (BAPERN). This radio network was the first in the nation that enabled different law enforcement units to communicate with each other on a compatible frequency.

.On March 23, 1975, the department appointed twelve female police officers raising its total complement to a lofty 237 sworn police officers. This was the first large group of female officers ever to be hired for regular street duty. This group of law enforcement pioneers has performed their duties in a manner that they can be proud of.
Almost ninety years after the "Great Blizzard" of 1888, the "Blizzard of 1978' slammed into New England on February 4th and brought the city to a standstill. Hundreds of vehicles and their occupants were stranded on Route 128. People were marooned in their homes without food or fuel. The Newton Police would have to respond to all of these emergencies. All types of rescue vehicles were to be put to use. Newton police officers could be seen operating 4-wheel drive vehicles and snowmobiles to answer calls for service. They
were even using toboggans to take sick and injured citizens to the hospital. For two weeks, the police worked long and hard to bring the city back to normal.
In 1980, Chief Quinn would follow in Chief Purcell's footsteps and become President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).On July 29, 1989, by complying with over 900 standards of compliance set by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc.
The Newton Police Department became the first nationally accredited city police department in New England.
Under Chief Quinn's twenty five year stewardship, the Newton Police Department underwent so many changes and accomplishments, that lack of space allows for only some of the major innovations to be mentioned.



It should be noted that four Massachusetts Chiefs have served as
President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP):
Benjamin P. Eldridge, Boston 1895-1897
Cyrille Leblanc, Gardner 1952-1953
Philip Purcell, Newton 1965-1966
William F. Quinn, Newton 1980-1981

Greater Boston Police Council -

In 1970, the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, experienced a number of large civil disturbances in its Harvard Square area. Assistance was requested and received from more than twenty-five neighboring communities such that by the end of the first disturbance, more than 1,200 police officers were assembled in an attempt to quell the riots that had begun in protest to the Vietnam War. A major problem experienced by the Cambridge Police was that there was no way to command and control all the police officers who were dispatched to Cambridge’s aid. In one well-remembered incident, as told by Captain Richard E. Duffy, then a lieutenant and commander of the Newton Police Tactical Patrol Force, Captain Duffy remembers calmly waiting on a corner at Harvard Square with his officers. He thought that the day would prove to be uneventful, when in fact at that very moment, a contingent of 30 men of the Cambridge

Police were being backed into a corner on the opposite side of Harvard Square by a large, angry, brick throwing mob. Unfortunately, the Newton Officers had no way of knowing of the Cambridge Officers’ plight because the communications equipment of both these departments was incompatible. The Cambridge Unit Commander could only talk to other far removed Cambridge contingents while the same situation prevailed with the Newton Police Unit.
On October 14, 1973, at 3:58 p.m., a small fire in a Redevelopment Authority Building on 122 Summer Street, Chelsea, quickly spread in a matter of a few hours to become one of the largest fires experienced in Massachusetts. Again, as in Cambridge, the local police were unable to control all of the police resources that were immediately sent to Chelsea’s assistance because there was no way that Chelsea’s Police Chief, Abraham Burgin, could communicate with the commanders of the 26 police units that were sent to his aid.
The above events illustrate a major deficiency that existed in the communications systems of the Metropolitan Boston area police departments.

Shortly following the second Harvard Square riot in 1970, former Commissioner Edmund McNamara of the Boston Police Department convened all the chiefs of police who had sent contingents of officers to Cambridge to consider what action they might jointly take to rectify the problems experienced during the riots. As a result of this meeting, the decision was made to form a new organization that would be dedicated to improving a totally new radio system should be designed and built. Upon agreeing to the general system objectives, the Greater Boston Police Council, acting through Chief William Quinn of Newton, began the development of the system which has come to be known as the Boston Area Police Radio Network (BAPERN)
Quinn retired in 1992 after completing forty years of service to his adopted city.