After months of dealing with a shortage of officers, the Aquinnah Police Department recently added a new member.
The Aquinnah Select Board appointed Krystle Anderson as a full-time police officer on June 11.
Anderson previously worked as a purchasing and travel agent for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and prior to that, she worked for Amazon as a security and loss-prevention specialist.
The Aquinnah Police Department put out an advertisement for a patrol officer recently, and received three applications for the position. A police interview committee was appointed by the select board, made up of Aquinnah residents Ken DiPietro, Tom Murphy, Sarah Thulin, Howard Goldstein, and Durwood Vanderhoop, who interviewed two of the applicants on June 4.
The hiring follows efforts by Aquinnah to shore up its police department, which was losing members from retirements. The town received help from Massachusetts State Police and the Dukes County Sheriff’s Office to cover shifts as well.
After interviews, the committee, alongside Aquinnah Chief of Police Randhi Belain, unanimously recommended Anderson. Although she has no prior training as a police officer, Anderson will be working as a traffic officer for the summer months, and she is planning to apply to attend the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC) recruit officer class in Falmouth in October this year, with an anticipated graduation in April 2027.
Earlier this year, Belain, alongside Aquinnah town officials, asked the Chilmark Select Board for help providing overnight, on-call police shifts in Aquinnah, but due to Chilmark having its own staffing needs, it was not approved.
Since as early as November last year, Aquinnah has offset its understaffed department by paying State Police and Dukes County Sheriff’s officers to patrol the town through the night at a hefty price — as much as $700 a night.
Belain said having a female officer who lives in town will benefit the department in many ways. He added that they still need some help, and were going to interview for the sergeant position.
“We have two Island applicants and one applicant from off-Island,” said Belain. “Whoever it is, hopefully we have them on board by mid-July.”
Belain also said that he plans to retire in November.