Nantucket police outline summer plan for 40 community service officers, new high‑visibility uniforms

Sergeant John Rocket, a sergeant with the police department, told the Visitor Services Advisory Committee on Zoom that the department will hire 40 community service officers this summer, including 20 returners, and will change the CSO uniform to a high‑visibility yellow shirt to improve safety and visibility.

The change matters because CSOs are often the first town representatives visitors meet and play roles in foot, bike and ATV patrols, parking enforcement and bylaw checks across downtown, the airport and Mid‑Island. Rocket told committee members those duties, plus expanded training and outreach, are central to the department’s summer planning.

Rocket said staffing is improving overall but not without gaps: the department projects 43 sworn officers after two budgeted hires take effect July 1, but “we have 3 vacancies and then 4 officers in the police academy,” he said. He told the committee the CSO program is “definitely going strong” and that recruitment drew “a hundred and 6, new applications,” with candidates coming from across New England and as far away as Colorado and Florida. “We are hiring 40 community…