What's Happening

Bicycle Helmets

The Dracut Police Department has been awarded 125 bicycle helmets for the children of the town to promote bicycle safety. These helmets were made available by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Highway Safety Division statewide bicycle helmet program and will be available in the Community Policing Unit cruisers. Community Policing Officers will distribute these helmets at no cost to those children observed by a Police Officer who do not have a bike helmet. If the Officer does not have a bike helmet to fit the child, the child can have their parents contact Community Police Officer Barry Cregg at the Police Department. Officer Cregg can be reached at 978-957-2123 X226.

There are only 125 bike helmets and we will continue distributing them until such time there are no bike helmets available

Dracut Receives New Enhanced 911 System

Dracut converted from their old equipment to this new system in cooperation with the Statewide Emergency Telecommunications Board (SETB). The conversion took place as the department moved from the old police department building to the new station on Loon Hill Road. This conversion was part of a statewide project in which all public safety answering points, commonly referred to as PSAPs, will be outfitted with this new equipment.

In 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an order requiring implementation of a new Enhanced 9-1-1 system for wireless phone carriers nationwide. As an estimated 50% of 9-1-1 calls are made from wireless phones nationwide, Massachusetts recognized the significance of implementing this program.

The SETB, which oversees the 911 system in Massachusetts, began planning for the implementation of the new E-911 system in late 2004. The new E-911 system will provide PSAPs with a computer based technology for landline and wireless calls that will allow the call taker to obtain the call back number and approximate location information of the caller. This information will be plotted on a map and displayed on two flat screen monitors located at the call takers position.

Before, all 911 calls made from cell phones were routed to the State Police, where they received the callers’ location information, and then they transferred the caller to the appropriate local PSAP. This new equipment now allows Dracut Police to receive the same location information that the State Police received.