By Dakota Antelman, Contributing Writer
Hudson – The police chief job here will remain in familiar hands.
That’s the decision local selectmen made earlier this month and announced on Feb. 24 with praise for longtime Captain Richard DiPersio.
“We have a great chief here,” said selectman Scott Duplisea. “I feel that this town is extremely lucky to have Mr. DiPersio.”
Appointed to his Captain position in 2015 under now retired police chief Michael Burks, DiPersio takes the reins of the Hudson Police Department after 22 years on the force.
He’s lived in town his entire life and has held over a half dozen positions in his department since being hired as a reserve officer in 1997.
Among those duties, he’s spent the past 14 years in the department’s field training division, helping prepare new hires for patrols.
“He has always been forthright and honest and conducted himself with the utmost professionalism,” said Hudson Executive Assistant Tom Moses.
Out in the community meanwhile, reaction to the move was similarly generally positive.
“[There’s] nobody more deserving,” wrote one user of a Hudson residents’ Facebook group. “He’s an incredible guy from an incredible family.”
“Definitely a great choice,” another chimed in. “He is a dedicated member of our community.”
All this comes just over three months after a tragic shooting near Hudson’s Farley Elementary School thrust DiPersio into a sudden leadership role.
As he was in an important meeting at the time, then Chief Michael Burks was initially unable to respond to the shooting scene.
Taking Burks’ place, DiPersio juggled a lockdown of Farley Elementary, a tense manhunt for the suspect, and immediate collaboration with several neighboring police departments all before Burks was able to respond personally.
“He went down there and made decisions that I would have made,” Burks said of DiPersio. “There’s not a thing he did that I wouldn’t have done and I may have even forgotten to think about some of the things he did think about.”
Moses, who was also in that meeting, echoed similar sentiments.
“Rick interrupted the meeting and briefed Chief Burks with quiet confidence,” he said. “Without exaggerating, without fear, and without the excitement of the possibility of being heroic, he informed us that there was a report of a shooting, it was credible and that he was on his way to the scene.”
With Burks retiring, DiPersio officially started in his new position March 1.
“Hudson is in good hands,” Moses said.