We recently found a video that was retweeted by the NEMLEC Foundation, and it’s worth sharing with everyone:
Dunstable Police Chief James Downes recently highlighted the work of the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council Motorcycle Unit on his regular cable television program “Groton Dunstable 911.”
GD 911- May-June Edition from Groton Channel on Vimeo.
The NEMLEC Motorcycle Unit is led by Arlington Police Chief Frederick Ryan, with assistance from Melrose Chief Michael Lyle, Lowell Sergeant Thomas Daly, and Lowell Captain Timothy Crowley.
It is comprised of about 50 motorcycle officers from 21 municipal police departments. NEMLEC provides extensive training and requires rigorous annual qualification tests in order to remain on the unit.
The Motor Unit is broken up into three squads, and together they focus on:
- Mobile crowd control control of motor traffic, or pedestrian moving traffic (e.g. marathons, parades)
- Funeral escorts
- Dignitary protection
- Supplement RRT crowd control capabilities
- Fixed Position traffic control when cruiser response is in-effective
- Non-adversarial traffic control (e.g. parades pedestrian traffic)
- Specialized law enforcement duties as requested, and accepted, by the Control Chief
In the video above, motorcycle officers from Lowell, Waltham Bedford, Watertown, Arlington, Groton, Concord, Melrose, Somerville, and others are visible. “Groton-Dunstable 911” is Chief Downes’ regular public access program dedicated to emergency services.
The Motor Unit is part of NEMLEC’s mission to provide skilled, specialized units of police officers drawn from its nearly 60 member agencies, so that each agency can take advantage of a resource they might not otherwise afford or have the resources to deploy on its own.
NEMLEC also provides a SWAT team, School Threat Assessment and Response System (STARS), Computer Crime Unit, Incident Management Assistance team (IMAT), and regional communications infrastructure that can be deployed anywhere in the area at a moment’s notice.