HANLON, Oct. 2, 2025 — Candidates for Hanlon police chief told the Select Board Thursday that body-worn cameras and co-responder mental-health programs should be priorities for the department, and several expressed reservations about joining a very large regional dispatch center that could reduce local influence.

On body cameras, Sergeant Tom said, “I think we need to do them,” and urged that the town pursue grants to offset the purchase and the recurring cloud-storage costs he noted would be the larger long-term expense. Marshal Carl Mazafaro and Detective Sergeant Daniel Bruno also endorsed body cameras; Bruno described recent grant-funded camera purchases made in his current department and said state and federal grants can help smaller communities procure equipment without a full local capital outlay.

Storage and ongoing costs were discussed. Tom said in-house server options exist but that cloud storage may be more practical, and all candidates said they would pursue grant funding before asking the town to absorb the full cost.

Candidates praised co-responder models for mental-health calls. Bruno described a shared clinician program that his department runs with a neighboring town, saying the clinician “responds right out with us” for mental-health-related calls and that the arrangement had been “a breath of fresh air.” Mazafaro and Tom also spoke favorably about co-responder programs and cited them as tools to reduce repeated calls for service at the same addresses and to provide more effective, non-criminal interventions.

On dispatch consolidation, candidates echoed a concern raised by the board: smaller towns risk losing influence if a single large dispatch center grows to serve many communities. Tom said he feared becoming “the very small fish in that pond” and urged attention to staffing and capacity at any regional dispatch center the town considers.

The Select Board did not act on equipment or dispatch policy at Thursday’s meeting; the candidates’ responses will be part of the board’s evaluation before it selects a chief at the next meeting.

— Reporting by the Hanlon Select Board meeting transcript review team