To serve and protect: Spencer Police Chief David Darrin to retire in March after 25 years

SPENCER — A police chief who had already worked enough years to retire might’ve done just that in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man murdered by a Minneapolis police officer May 25, 2020.

But David B. Darrin saw the Floyd case as a reason to stay.

“(That was when) police reform started … I didn’t want to leave that whole reform process to someone just coming in,” Darrin said. “I’m not going to walk away in the middle of a crisis. That’s just not who I am.”

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He stayed and helped craft new documents to govern how police operate in town.

Darrin will turn 65 in March, the mandatory retirement age. He'll leave his post then, he said.

Time in N. Brookfield, Sturbridge

Recently, he talked about weathering many storms since he took the reins in Spencer in 1998 after serving as chief in North Brookfield and spending 10 years in Sturbridge where he rose to the rank of detective sergeant.

It was in Sturbridge he was assigned a locker that belonged to  Leigh K. Mapplebeck, a female part-time officer, who was not happy, he recalled.

Her frustration didn’t last long. The two later married and have enjoyed years of traveling together, something they’ll do more of in retirement, he said.

Darrin recalled how the effects of national events, like the 9/11 attacks, always trickled down to impact Spencer.

“We had a victim from town,” he said, referring to Brian Sweeney, 38, a graduate of David Prouty High School, former U.S. Navy pilot and a passenger on United Airlines Flight 175, which struck the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It made it more personal. It was personal for everybody by its very nature but it made it more significant here,” Darrin said.

National news started changing things for Darrin just a year into his time in Spencer when two students went on a shooting rampage in Columbine High School in Colorado.

“That changed everything about the way we handle active shooter situations,” Darrin said.

And there was a time when Spencer became national news.

Spencer public water supply

One April morning in 2007, residents who rose early and showered or drank from their tap were burned by the water after too much lye was pumped into the system.

Darrin said the incident was unprecedented and town officials scrambled to notify residents, treat the injured and determine just how the mistake had happened.

Ambulances from around the state raced to Spencer to help and in the end, no one suffered life-threatening injuries.

Locally, in his 24 years the town has had three homicides and more murder-suicides than Darrin would’ve expected. For a while, police officers didn’t dare ask what might come next after two murder-suicides that involved horses.

Darrin said in one case, the owner shot his horse before killing his wife and taking his own life. But the horse survived and while he was encouraged to have it euthanized, Darrin couldn’t do it.

“I said, ‘We’re not going to put him down,’ and we trucked him off to Tufts. I put my own credit card down,” he said, adding that a family member eventually took responsibility and after losing an eye, Picaro recovered.

Darrin admits he has a soft spot for defenseless animals and he has had a few unusual happenings with four-legged friends over the years.

Alligator in town

There was a small alligator someone freed into Thompson Pond which caused an uproar after police, “Almost got a net on it,” before it swam off and was never seen again.

“Everybody was afraid it was going to disappear and grow up and Godzilla was going to come out of Thompson Pond,” Darrin said, laughing. “I had to consult some expert who assured us it wouldn’t survive the winters here.”

Then he had to consult the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) after complaints from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that questioned an exhibit at the annual Spencer Fair in which piglets raced around a track and were rewarded with Oreo cookies.

“The guy from the MSPCA came and said, ‘They look pretty happy to me,’” Darrin said.

Recently, he oversaw the addition of a police dog to the Spencer force, something he said has been an invaluable tool for officers.

Darrin has dealt with two officer-involved shootings. He prided himself on being transparent in both cases and in the second, where the shooting was fatal, he released a photograph of a replica gun the alleged perpetrator was carrying when he attempted to break into a female acquaintance’s home following a domestic violence incident.

At the time, Darrin said he wanted the public to see what the officer saw, under cover of darkness, as he rushed to prevent the man from getting into the woman’s home.

In March of 2020, Darrin recalled one of the most lonely days ever.

COVID-19 leaves Spencer streets empty

After the state essentially shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Darrin drove in his cruiser taking in the empty streets and feeling the uneasy, lonely feeling experienced by so many.

“The first day I went on the road and there was nobody, just nobody, It really hit home,” he said.

There were no medications or vaccines and he was working in a field that was at high risk for exposure to the virus. He worried about keeping the officers safe and when a vaccine came, he gladly took it. Looking back, he still feels a level of disbelief and said that was something he never anticipated when he decided his career path.

On his desk, amongst police-related tchotchkes, Darrin keeps paper files of current projects sitting in a rack. Many chiefs prefer electronic files and reminders on their smartphones but for Darrin, facing those folders on a daily basis is a reminder of what needs to be done.

“I’ve always done that," he said. “I like to have it there, to look at and work on it every day.”

As he rounds out his law enforcement career and mulls what he might do next, Darrin has taken to handing out challenge coins, minted with a Spencer police cruiser on one side and stamped from the office of the police chief.

It’s a small token from him to those he worked with, protected and served.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Spencer Police Chief David Darrin to retire in March after 25 years