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Staff Services Division

The Staff Services Division of the Fall River Police Department consists of the Communications Center, the Records Room, and the Jail, Property & Detention areas for both adult and juvenile, males and females, who are arrested and detained at our facility. Deputy Chief of Administration Cathleen Moniz leads this division, which has a subordinate command staff of a lieutenant as the commanding officer, and six sergeants who supervise the day and nighttime shifts. Staff Services also has the responsibility for building maintenance and security.

The centralized Communications Center located at the Fall River Police Department handles all incoming routine and E–911 calls–for–service including those that require the dispatching of police, fire and emergency medical personnel. Communications personnel are civilian employees, trained as E–911 telecommunicators, as well as police, fire, and EMS dispatchers, who operate the center 24 hours per day, everyday of the year, under the supervision of a Fall River police sergeant. The Communications Center operates several computer systems that integrate the call-taking section with the police, fire, and EMS dispatch section, enhancing the Police, Fire and EMS Departments’ abilities to respond to citizens’ calls–for–service in a timely manner.

The Police Department’s lock–up and detention areas consist of twenty adult male cells, six adult female cells, five juvenile holding cells, and a youth attendant room for juveniles under the age of fourteen. The jail and booking section is responsible for the recording of personal data, photographing, fingerprinting, care, and custody of all persons arrested, taken into custody, and detained at the Fall River Police Department prior to making bail, being transferred to another facility, or transported to court for arraignment. The booking room, which is the receiving and processing area for all persons who are arrested and being held at our lock-up, along with the adult male lock-up area, is manned by Fall River police officers. The adult female, juvenile and youth attendant areas of the detention section are monitored by a Fall River Police detention attendant. All personnel assigned to the lock-up section are under the direct supervision of a Fall River police sergeant.

The Records Room is that area of the Department in which all recorded, hardcopy reports are filed, stored and maintained as well as all information pertaining to persons arrested and/or charged with criminal offenses, and also the archives section of records.

The Records Room is the office that supplies records, reports, other official paperwork, and audio and visual records to the public, lawyers (both prosecutors and defense attorneys), courts, other law enforcement agencies, social service agencies, and other interested levels of local, state and federal governments who either meet the criteria to receive such documents or are granted records as the result of a court order. Most police reports are readily available to the general public during normal business hours, at a minimal fee, under the Public Information Act as well as under M.G.L. Chapter 66, section 10.

Lieutenant Joseph T. Donnelly Jr.

Commanding Officer
Staff Services Division

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