MPD public safety boat ready, but who will serve as captain?

By Steve Whipple
and Nancy Reardon
Methuen Life Writers

Methuen Police Department’s public safety boat is ready for Merrimack River patrols, even if no patrols exist.

Currently docked at the Methuen home of retired Mass. State Police Lt. Ed Johnson, the center console boat underwent a recent makeover at Haverhill’s Whittier Technical High School.

Under the direction of Whittier’s Marine Service Technology instructor Michael Murray, students were tasked with replacing and repairing necessary mechanical issues. From November to May, the students – in between shop and classroom work – repaired misfires, minor engine glitches and electrical issues, updated the lights, performed minor body work and repainted, buffed and waxed the hull.

The Police Department has had the boat for over 20 years. Whittier students did all the labor for free and the city paid $1,700 for parts.

Instructor Murray said, “This is the fourth year for this program. A total of 12 students worked on this assignment including six seniors.”

Now a Special Officer with the Methuen Police Department, Johnson said, “Whittier students did an amazing job with updating the boat.”

The boat is ready for action, even if it’s yet to be determined who will be at the wheel.
According to Mayor D.J. Beauregard, the Methuen Police Department union is filing a grievance against him to prevent river patrol duties to be assigned to Johnson.

“We have money in the budget for river patrols. The issue is that Ed Johnson is a Special Officer. The patrol officers union is filing a grievance against me. They say they have officers that are trained but were subverted,” said the mayor. “There’s ongoing discussions with the unions.”

Johnson, who has lived on the Merrimack River for decades, has expressed interest in serving as a full- or part-time harbormaster. He said jet skiers are terrorizing boaters on all stretches of the area’s drinking water source. He said incidents like the death of a Nashua jet skier this summer could happen in Methuen.

“Some of them drive like maniacs. Had I been out on the police boat yesterday, there were four I would have stopped,” said Johnson recently. “It’s only a matter of time. It happened four years ago in Lawrence. A guy was knocked off the back of his boat by a jet ski trying to jump his wake. His body was found 30 feet down … by the boathouse.”

Johnson said he would be interested in patrolling the river from approximately April through October.

The mayor said he is looking at a compromise between solely hiring Johnson as a harbormaster or Marine Patrol and assigning regular officers river duty.

“Partnering Eddie with a trained (marine) officer may be an option,” said the mayor.