Bolton’s new Police Chief Luke Hamburger is no stranger to public service or to Bolton
By Dan McClure
July was a month that saw new leadership come to Bolton. Not only did the town get a new Town Administrator (Marie Sobalvarro), a new Chief of Police was also sworn in.
Luke Hamburger was unanimously approved to head up the Police Department by the Select Board earlier this year and was officially pinned at a ceremony held on July 9 at the Bolton Public Safety Building. Hamburger has been serving in Bolton’s police force for 19 years, rising from reserve officer to lieutenant before being chosen as the new Chief following the retirement of Chief Warren Nelson.
In an interview conducted at his new office, Chief Hamburger talked about how his desire to serve the community extended even further back than his time with the police. For 10 years, he served in the Massachusetts National Guard.
“During my time with the Army Guard, we used to help out with DARE camps,” Hamburger commented. “That gave me an appreciation for how local law enforcement is important to the community on many levels. When I left the military, I worked in communications installation, but I realized I missed that feeling of serving the greater good – the public service aspect of serving in the military.”
Hamburger started as a dispatcher with the Shrewsbury Police Department in 2003. They sponsored him to attend the Reserve Police Academy, which held part-time evening classes. When he began looking for positions as a reserve officer, he saw Bolton had an opening. He applied without hesitation. Hamburger grew up in Lancaster and graduated from Nashoba Regional High School.
When he began work as a reserve officer in Bolton, he was still working full time in Shrewsbury. In 2006, a full-time position in Bolton opened up and he worked on a waiver until he could attend the academy to get certified as a full-time officer, which he did in 2007.
Hamburger worked as a patrol officer until 2012, when he applied for the position of Sergeant. After he passed a written exam and interview process, he served as Sergeant until 2016, when he underwent the process all over again to become Lieutenant.
“Bolton is a busy little town and getting busier,” Hamburger observed. “It’s grown a lot, but so have the surrounding communities. I learned a lot during those years, and Chief Alfano and Chief Nelson gave me guidance at each stage.”
When asked about what he’s noticed about Bolton growing busier, he cited the traffic problem of being at the junction of Interstate 495 and Route 117, two roads popular with overland shippers and commuters. With the Covid-19 pandemic, many people left cities like Boston and Worcester to take up residence in rural areas like Bolton and surrounding towns. With the stress of the pandemic, the increased traffic, and the increase in population, there has been an uptick in emergency calls.
“It’s not necessarily the number of calls we get, it’s the complexity,” Hamburger explained. “Sometimes we’ll get a call and another call comes in and we only have two officers on duty. And that’s a recent change, too. Up until just a couple years ago, we only had one officer on. And that’s kind of crazy if you think about it. That’s just unheard of these days. So, it’s two now, but there are days when even that’s not enough to provide the service we want to provide…. I don’t want to be the kind of department where someone comes in and files a report that something was stolen off their property (or credit card fraud, or ID theft) and we just stick it in a drawer and get to it when we get to it. We might not be able to solve it, but I want us to try to do the best we can. And that’s a challenge these days, because the calls just keep coming in.”
Hamburger is inspired by the people that he works with every day. Despite the increase in calls, and inevitable increase in criticism, they keep coming to work and are eager to serve the community. He’s also proud of the increase in female officers at the department, which he feels makes the force more approachable to every resident.
“Even with limited staffing and resources, I want to make sure our staff continues to interact in a positive way with the community,” Hamburger responded when asked about his short-term goals. “And because we’ve had a lot of turnover, I want to make sure that new and existing officers have the opportunity to explore the specific aspects of the job that they might be interested in.”
When considering the long-term goals of the department, Hamburger is hoping for more staffing and more specialization. As it is, officers perform a variety of roles, but none more important than being the officer on duty.
“I’m looking at adding the position of full-time detective to the department, so my patrol officers can go to those disabled vehicles and alarm calls, and the detective can concentrate on the larceny calls…. And we’ve got about a hundred miles of roadway, so one of the other areas I am considering is having a dedicated traffic enforcement unit during commuter hours…. I told the Select Board that when I’m here, there won’t be any hovercrafts, helicopters, or MRAPs rolling down Main Street. I don’t need stuff, I need people. We’re in the people business.”
Chief Hamburger welcomes any resident to stop by any time to talk. He can be found in his office in the Public Safety Building on Wattaquadock Hill Road.