QPD, Chaddock hoping for council support for new resource officer position

Published 12:06 pm Friday, June 5, 2026

QUINCY — Quincy’s City Council is expected to take up a vote on Monday to approve a new speciality position within the department to add support for some of the more at-risk members of the community.

At last week’s council meeting, Quincy Police Chief Adam Yates told the council he was bringing forward a proposal to add a Campus Resource Officer to work at the Chaddock campus on South 24th Street, an idea that has been in discussion for years.

“It started before Matt (Obert) took over as president and CEO,” Yates said. “He and I had a meeting, and he expressed to me his interest in looking at creating an officer position at Chaddock at that time.”

Yates said that conversation was in early 2024, a time the Quincy Police Department (QPD) was in the process of rebuilding the department’s ranks after a series of departures to other agencies and retirements.

“I told him it would be impossible to build a position at that time,” Yates said. “Probably eight to 10 months ago, Matt had reached back out to me and said he had (seen reporting that) staffing numbers are a little more leveled off now where we need them to be, and wanted to have another conversation about this position. That’s ultimately what has led us to this point.”

Chaddock, originally established in 1853, serves not only the Quincy region, but across the country with a residential program for children that are usually struggling with behavioral issues often coming from attachment and development trauma. The student-residents at Chaddock also attend school at the on-campus facility.

“They are a very vulnerable part of our community,” Yates said. “They need the additional support that Chaddock provides. I think it’s only fair that, as a police department. We already have school resource officers in the Quincy Public Schools, so we should provide that resource to Chaddock, especially when we’re going to be reimbursed for it. This will help them find appropriate solutions to better serve their clients, their clients’ families and ultimately the city wins.”

While the proposed agreement would create a new position internally within the department, it would not be adding a new officer to the current employment. Rather, it would be considered a speciality duty, like the three current School Resource Officers, the Housing Officer, and the Senior Services Officer.

At the bottom line, Yates said, the position will actually lead to a cost savings for the department. As part of the agreement, Chaddock will reimburse 65% of salary and benefit costs for the officer selected for the position, while the city will cover the remaining 35%.

From a budgetary point of view, QPD would see the same amount budgeted for the employment of the officer whether the position is created or not. With this agreement, however, the Chaddock reimbursement would offset a portion of that expense for the department while allowing QPD to respond more effectively to a source of a substantial number of calls for service.

According to department statistics, school resource officers at Quincy Senior High and Quincy Junior High have averaged just over 140 calls for service at their respective campuses per year over the last seven years. At Chaddock, officers with QPD have answered around 170 calls per service each year in the same period.

“The overwhelming majority of the calls that we get at Chaddock are for missing persons, Yates said. “When some of their clients go on run, the term they use, they leave campus, and they’re out in the community. Every one of those kids that are on run are either at risk in our community, or are potentially committing crimes within our community.”

Yates said there are other calls, including juvenile disturbances, threats against staff or other students, and other situations that could become violent that officers respond to. The hope with this proposal is that having a consistent presence and a familiar face, it can help minimize these situations.

“If they see the same police officer, day in and day out, they’ll get to know that police officer,” he said. “They’ll feel comfortable speaking with that police officer, having a relationship with that officer. I’ve seen it happen at the junior high and the high school, and it’s amazing, the interactions in the partnerships that are created. I fully expect that’s exactly what we’re going to have happen at Chaddock.”

One concern that Yates said he has heard is that the new position will remove an officer from the regular patrol rotation. But he noted that will be offset by having a reduced demand on the patrol officers when a call for service comes in from Chaddock.

The Campus Resource Officer will also still be a full-time QPD officer that would be able to respond when needed for serious calls outside of Chaddock, adding additional resources for potentially serious situations.

“Chaddock understands that, ultimately, the (Campus Resource Officer) is an employee of the city of Quincy and the Quincy Police Department,” Yates said. “If we need to pull them to respond to something, or there’s an issue where the (Campus Resource Officer) couldn’t be there for a couple of days, that’s part of the agreement that yeah, they do serve a role as a police officer. But our intent is to have a consistent presence at the campus.”

With the success of the department’s school resource officer positions, as well as the other special-duty officers, Yates said the ultimate goal is to handle issues that come up at an earlier stage before they escalate into a criminal level of call that would require more severe action.

“Our hope is that we’re able to establish solutions that will minimize the number of clients that go on run, for example. That way these kids aren’t out in the community committing crimes that can affect the entire city. And arguably more importantly, these clients aren’t out within the community becoming victims of crime themselves, which we have seen. Our hope is to tackle a number of these issues that, we as a law enforcement entity, have been responding to and dealing with for years and years and years.”

Yates said this is a position he feels should have been created a long time ago, but while he can’t change that past, he’s hoping the council agrees that it’s worthwhile change for the community and for the students at Chaddock, as well as staff and family members for those students.

“It comes down to the kids,” he said. “It’s all about making a safe environment for these kids to learn, to recover, and to thrive. It’s also about building that trust and transparency with the staff.

“For the 26-plus-years that I’ve been with the police department, Chaddock and the QPD have recognized the close partnership we have with one another. But I think we both agree, and I think most of our officers would agree, that there’s more that we can do to be more efficient with how the Chaddock relationship with the City of Quincy’s law enforcement is handled.”