Mayor Domenic J. Sarno joined today with Springfield Police Superintendent Cheryl C. Clapprood, Massachusetts State Police Major Brendan Shugrue, Frank Ott - Chief of Public Safety Operations for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, members of the Springfield Police Department Command Staff, Firearms Investigation Unit and C-3 Units on Friday to announce the ongoing results of a multi-agency and multi-faceted operation in the areas of Union, School, High and Temple Streets. In the past eight days, 14 illegal firearms have been seized, more than 1000 grams of fentanyl has been recovered and 44 suspects were arrested in investigations spurred by the Superintendent’s strategic plan to address issues in that corridor of the city.
Springfield Police Superintendent Clapprood stated, “Between the Fentanyl seized and the guns recovered there is no question our officers saved several lives during this operation. I’d like to thank our partners at the Massachusetts State Police, Hampden District Attorney’s Office and Hampden County Sheriff’s Office for their efforts and cooperation during the last week. We understand this is not a panacea but our proactive and reactive responses have been extremely effective. Nearly two years ago I created our Firearms Investigation Unit and they have seized more than 350 illegal firearms in that time. I can unequivocally say that the gun violence in this city is lower due to this unit’s efforts.”
Mayor Sarno states, “Thanks to the work of our brave and dedicated men and women in blue, lives will be saved by removing poison and guns from our streets and apprehending violent criminals without injury or incident. I am extremely proud of the work our SPD does each day under Superintendent Clapprood’ s leadership. But I must ask, what the hell does it take to hold and keep these repeat violent offenders off our streets and out of our neighborhoods!?
Our brave and dedicated men and women in blue work diligently with all our community partners to apprehend violent criminals – this is at times demoralizing – we’re doing our job – I ask the courts to do theirs. I cannot fathom how we get the point where an individual can be arrested three times with history of gun charges, let out on a GPS ankle monitor and offends once again now with a machine gun. The lack of consequences following arrest continues to embolden the repeat violent criminal offenders who wreak havoc on our neighborhoods. I wonder at times, if some judges are more prone to protecting and coddling violent repeat offenders than protecting our law abiding citizens. To the state legislature – pass my bail review legislation and question judges before someone else gets killed by a violent repeat offender.”
On June 7th, officers responded to a double-homicide in an apartment on the 200 block of Union Street. Officers who were holding the scene outside heard gunfire on School Street and responded appropriately before taking on gunfire by an unknown subject.
Police Superintendent Clapprood contacted partner agencies including, but not limited to the Massachusetts State Police, District Attorney’s Office and Hampden County Sheriff’s Department to conduct a multi-faceted operation.
“We are proud of our public safety collaborations in the city of Springfield and we will continue to conduct proactive community outreach and work to get bad actors off the streets. This is about taking care of the victims in that neighborhood because those families don’t deserve to live in fear with the constant presence of the criminal element,” said Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi. “Law enforcement is doing our part but the courts need to apply some pressure to keep violent repeat offenders off the streets. With 44 arrests made and three quarters of them being released at arraignment, it’s disheartening to say the least.”
Since then the Springfield Police Firearms Investigation Unit under the direction of Captain Brian Keenan working with the Massachusetts State Police and Hampden County Sheriff’s Department along with other local, state and regional partners arrested 31 suspects on various charges. During these arrests the FIU seized more than 1000 grams of the deadly drug Fentanyl and 11 illegally possessed firearms. One of the firearms arrests aided the Springfield Police Homicide Investigation into the double-homicide on Union Street.
The Springfield Police Homicide Unit under the direction of Captain Trent Duda arrested 19-year-old Adrian Perez of Springfield on murder charges in connection with the double-homicide. The Homicide Unit investigation remains ongoing in conjunction with the Hampden District Attorney’s Office.
On June 7th, the Springfield Police C-3 Units began clearing and trespassing individuals who were not living at 41 School Street where the unknown gunman fired at officers. Over the past week this led to the C-3 Units arresting seven individuals on trespassing, drug and warrant charges.
Springfield Police Officers in the uniform division made five arrests in the High/School/Union Street area in the past week including a firearms arrest at ROCA on School Street June 15th. Officers responded to a gun call and the suspect, Jaequan Smith, pointed a large capacity firearm at an officer before he was subsequently placed under arrest. Smith also had four active warrants with a combined 11 charges.
On Thursday June 14 members of the C-3 Metro Unit, Firearms Investigation Unit and Massachusetts State Police arrested 11 “John’s” in a prostitution sting. This operation was funded by the Hampden District Attorney’s Office.
