Losing two good police officers is a difficult reality for Police Chief Stephen Williams, but seeing them wait in line for unemployment checks would be even worse, he said.
So he's feeling relief that two officers who hired here from North Attleborough in the last two years have landed jobs on the Walpole force.
Williams said he knew Walpole was looking for officers, so he helped get Eric Zimmerman and Robert Kilroy hired there.
..."I don't think anybody anticipated what happened to the economy, or that it would happen as fast as it did," Williams said, adding that he was still trying to restore his force of 46 back to the 50 officers he had in 2000.
Foreseeing the layoffs he would have to make this year because of the town's projected $5 million budget shortfall, Williams said he decided to be proactive to take care of his force.
"Do I feel better these officers (did not face unemployment)? Yes, absolutely I do," Williams said. "It's a win-win for us both. I feel better they were not laid off, and Walpole gets two good officers with several years' experience."
As someone who has had personal experience observing job reductions and then been finally affected by one, good people are the most flexible to move and generally the earliest to leave. I believe that to be the case here. There is likely to be more of the real Franklin "brain drain" before the numbers settle out and we really know what will happen.
Read the full article about two of Franklin's finest moving on in the Milford Daily News here
