Westfield council hears police department's five-year strategic plan; chief outlines staffing, patrol and technology goals

Chief Sean King, Westfield police chief, presented the department's five-year strategic plan to the Westfield Common Council, outlining priorities including district-based patrols, expanded traffic enforcement, additional school resource officers and stepped-up special-event planning. King told the council the plan grows the department's investigative capacity, adds an intelligence analyst and a wellness coordinator, and invests in technology such as body-worn cameras, drone and automated license-plate scanning systems. The plan, King said, was developed from a four-month interview process with officers, crime and census data, conversations with other area chiefs and 77 community survey responses. "We assume population growth of about 8% based on 2020 to 2023 data," King said, and added that Westfield's violent- and property-crime rates are lower than state and national averages. He said the department currently records about 45,377 calls for service and 1,746 offense reports in 2024. Why it matters: King said the city's continuing growth,…