True Professionals

Chief James Krakowiecki and the rest of the Randolph police force should feel proud of the way they dealt with a difficult and dangerous situation last Wednesday morning.

A seven-hour standoff with an armed man in a residential neighborhood ended in a safe and orderly manner—but it didn’t have to be that way. At any time during that entire period, something could have gone terribly wrong, and the seven Randolph officers, as well as the State Police who were assisting, were under a strain of great tension. At any time one of them could have made a rash decision, the wrong decision, that could have resulted in bloodshed. But they didn’t.

Instead, they talked, and talked, and talked. They found friends and colleagues of the man to talk to him also. They used the professional services of a State Police negotiator. They carefully negotiated with the gunman to remove a family with small children from the apartment below him. The result was not like what you see on TV, in scenes that reek with excess adrenaline and testosterone. The result was that after seven hours, the man quietly exited the premises and put down his gun and was arrested.

It was an example of expert, professional police work. It was also exhausting work. By mid-afternoon, the bone tiredness of the officers in the Salisbury Street station was palpable; seven hours of life and death tension can do that to you.

The community of Randolph owes a debt of thanks to Chief K and his police force.