Longtime police chief steps down in Amherst
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AMHERST - He provided police escorts for Princess Grace when she visited her son, Prince Albert, at Amherst College, former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and the Dalai Lama.
In fact, the Dalai Lama requested that he be part of his security detail after noting that his surname suggested he might be a descendant of the Sherpas of Nepal.
But it was day after day of looking after the people of Amherst that made a rewarding and worthwhile career for Amherst Police Chief Charles Scherpa.
Today, after 40 years with the department, including nine as its chief, Scherpa marks his last day on the job.
Scherpa said he leaves the department knowing the force is in the hands of well-trained officers with the best technology available to them.
He is proud of a legacy that includes getting Amherst to be the second department in the state fully accredited and protecting against racial profiling. But his most important objective over the years has been to maintain order for residents and visitors - and on that score, too, he says, it's been a success.
"The responsibility of a police chief is always keeping in mind the need to keep the public safe," Scherpa said.
In doing this, Scherpa said he has tried to honor the late Francis Hart, the former police chief whose photograph remains on the wall of Scherpa's office where it was left by his predecessor, Don Maia.
The start of a long career
In 1969, Scherpa's successful interview with Hart took place while riding in Hart's silage truck along North East Street.
Scherpa had grown up in Springfield, the son of Italian immigrants, and logged his first experience in law enforcement in Barnstable. In 1967, he said, he was assigned to the Kennedy compound, escorting Ted Kennedy and family matriarch Rose Kennedy to Sunday Masses.
While on Cape Cod, he met his wife, Kathleen, a teacher at Yarmouth-Dennis High School; they married in 1968. On Oct. 1, 1969, he came to Amherst after a short stint in Longmeadow. During the first several months, Scherpa worked the midnight to 8 a.m. walking beat, and then moved on to a cruiser patrol. For a time he worked the 4 p.m. to midnight shift before being assigned to day shifts in 1976. In 1986, he was named captain in charge of operations, a post he would hold for 14 years.
Scherpa received a bachelor of science in law enforcement from Western New England College in 1974 and also went through the New England School of Law Enforcement Management at Babson College.
Tolerant policing
Running a police department in a college town like Amherst requires a tolerance for behavior that might be deemed unacceptable in other communities, Scherpa said. "They're still in the oven and not fully baked yet," said Scherpa, paraphrasing a sentiment he heard from his wife.
"Our philosophy has been to take a passive approach to protests, demonstrations, walkouts and parades," Scherpa said. "There's no hurry to deal with those because they are just inconveniences."
He noted that when students do get out of control, most of the time police are able to handle these with minimal arrests, though police have increasingly had to use riot gear out of fear of being pelted with bottles, as happened in the spring of 2003, when 15 Amherst officers were injured.
"Today, we still get cooperation from most, but you get 10 to 15 percent who want to confront the police," Scherpa said.
Other incidents of note over the course of his career include one in 1977 when a woman came into the station holding her 2-year-old child, who appeared near death. With the help of police chief secretary Jennie Sarna, Scherpa was able to revive the girl and get an ambulance. "She lived, but to this day I don't know who she was," Scherpa said.
Another harrowing incident occurred when a man holed himself up inside a North East Street home from which he was facing eviction, waving a shotgun and making threats. Scherpa calmed the man down by discussing beekeeping, an interest they shared.
Among his accomplishments as chief, Scherpa cited mounted patrol and bicycle programs, bringing the department together with senior citizens, and inaugurating after-school programs for children, including a ropes course.
Scherpa said he supports having one of the veteran officers on the force succeed him.
"I'd like to see the tradition of the Amherst Police Department continue, going forward with new ideas, exploring new technology, and continuing the upward mobility and professionalism we've had under all administrations," Scherpa said.
In retirement, Scherpa said he will spend more time with his family, continue his hobby of buying and selling antique cars and may get reacquainted with Amherst politics. He'll also look for work opportunities.
He may even, he said, get back into beekeeping.
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