CLARKSBURG, Mass. – The Clarksburg Town Selectboard has suspended police department operations until further notice after Friday.

The suspension coincides with Chief Michael Williams’ last day before his retirement.

The chief says it has been hard to find officers ever since the reserves/intermittent training program stopped being held. The program certified people to become a special or part-time officer.

“Since they’ve closed the intermittent reserve academy down, about three years ago was the last class that came through it, we don’t have any applicants of trained people to come,” Williams said.

The current police department consists of the full-time chief and a part-time officer. It has been relying on State Police coverage for the weekends.

The department used to have around four-to-six part-time officers.

“Getting trained officers, they would have to go to ROC training or a full-time police academy, so it made it difficult to fill the positions that had been dwindling down for the last few years,” said Williams.

Mary Ann Maroni, who is a library assistant at the Clarksburg Public Library, disagreed with the decision to suspend the department and worries about emergency response time.

“If there is an emergency, I mean, you want someone to show up as quickly as they possibly can. And if they have to come from Cheshire, it’s not going to happen in a couple of instances, it’s going to be a few minutes before they get here,” Maroni said.

The town tried to hire a new chief but of the few candidates who applied, some were unwilling to move to the town.

The town told Spectrum News 1, State Police will handle calls for service in Clarksburg for now. It will evaluate how it works to determine what will be best for the town in the long run.