February 24, 2026 Select Board Virtual Meeting
This past Tuesday night, the Select Board, Hopkinton Fire Department, and, yes, even the Hopkinton Police Department unanimously spoke in favor of conducting a public safety audit. For that, we are grateful. A special thanks to Joe Clark, Select Board Chair, for this much-needed and long-needed agenda item.
Mr. Clark introduced the agenda item with positivity, and it was contagious; everyone else who commented on it had nothing but positive remarks.
October 1, 2024 “Swatting” Incident
>> RELATED – Letter to SB: School Unsafety in Hopkinton
I was just one of many who voiced concerns about Chief Bennett’s and Deputy Chief van Raalten’s obvious lack of preparedness on “swatting” day, October 1, 2024. High schoolers and high school staff waited in fear for about half an hour to learn whether or not their school was under attack.
Many residents attended the next Select Board meeting and spoke during the public forum. They expressed their dismay at what did and did not happen that day. To say that this Town once again showed its distaste for and lack of faith in Joe Bennett’s and Scott van Raalten’s leadership is an understatement.
This was especially evident when van Raalten tried to cover up his mistakes by providing misleading information in his press release this past November (disinformation I brought to the Select Board’s attention soon thereafter).
>> RELATED: LTE: Clarifying HPDs Oct 1 Response. FBI Review and Transparency Concerns
Change on the Horizon
Since that early October day in 2024, 19,000 residents have anxiously been awaiting news of change. While it has taken a long time to get here, you know what they say…” better late than never.” It’s nice to know that so many parents’ concerns are finally being heard and acknowledged, thanks to Joe Clark’s leadership.
Hopefully, the Town will expedite this much-needed enterprise (the public safety audit) so that the people of Hopkinton (especially the children) can benefit from better emergency preparedness protocols, better drilling at schools and Town buildings (for everything from active shooters to tornadoes to gas leaks), and, hopefully, better police leadership.
Everybody Wins
Everyone wins here. With Joe Bennett maxing out on his retirement at the close of his contract this June, Bennett can retire unscathed and can sail off into the sunset, and the new chief can learn from Bennett’s and van Raalten’s past mistakes.
New Leadership to Put the Audit to Work
So long as it is put into the hands of fresh new leadership, the public safety audit is sure to improve public safety. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?
After all, the primary goal is safety – safety across all things impacted by the Town’s decisions. And this past Tuesday night’s unanimous, resolute welcome of a public safety audit is definitely a step in the right direction.
We look forward to the results of that audit and to building a safer community — a community with greater faith and trust in its first responders (especially those taking the lead)!
Kevin Narbonne
Hopkinton
After all the Select Board meetings , public forum, picketing, pertitions end may be in sight . I feel strongly that the audit should not be a finger pointing process. Instead work to come up with a good public Safty plan bring all SOP’s up to date.
Law enforcement is never about safety. It’s about enforcing public structure.
Based on the stated goals, HPD has always fulfilled the purpose: support existing power structures and self-perpetuate.
The current HPD should be razed and rebuilt. Bennett and Porter built a house which is structurally unsound and needs to be gutted.
Chief doesn’t intend to retire. He is in talks with selectboard to renew his contract
And this audit isn’t what everybody thinks. It’s to look at response to school incidents. It doesn’t touch anything else within the department or audit anything historical
If you want change you need to speak up or send emails to the selectboard