Guilford's New Police Chief Is Excited To Lead A Dedicated Team

GUILFORD, CT — Christopher Massey was all smiles as Guilford’s Police Commission Chair Bob Welsh pinned the police chief badge on him.

A small informal official swearing-in of the new police chief took place on Monday, July 3, at the Guilford Police Station.

Massey said there will be a formal swear-in ceremony at a later date.

“It’s always been a goal to advance my career,” Massey said. “I’ve always been big into professional development and seeking new opportunities to learn and expand my professional capabilities.”

What first attracted Massey to the police force is the service-oriented nature of the job.

“You see the good and the bad, and you see that law enforcement is at the forefront of those things,” he said. “It’s an exciting job, and it changes every day. Since I was a kid, my interest gravitated in this field, and I got a degree in criminal justice.”

Throughout his career, Massey said he’s had many roles within the police department, which have helped him get to the position he finds himself now as the chief of police.

One of those roles was in the accident and reconstruction field training, where he was training and leading others. When Massey was promoted to sergeant, he said he had the opportunity to work as the accreditation manager of CALEA and POSTC.

“That was a career-changing experience for me,” he said. “We are accredited through two agencies, but the main one is CALEA. There are 400 standers you must go through to ensure the agency is following best practices, and your job as the manager is to look at policy and ensure our action matches the policy.”

Massey said his time as the accreditation manager helped him better understand all elements of the Guilford Police Department.

“From sergeant, I got promoted to deputy chief in 2020 during the pandemic, which was an interesting, difficult and challenging time for law enforcement,” he said.

During this time, Massey said he learned even more about what it means to be a deputy chief and a chief of police.

“I was paired up as a deputy chief with Warren Hyatt, Jr., and he was a fantastic mentor in the role,” he said. “He was an open book. He was constantly making time for me to explain the roles of chief and deputy chief, and his level of knowledge is rare in this field.”

Massey said Hyatt worked for the Milford Police Department, then moved on to the Connecticut State Police, where he retired as a lieutenant colonel before coming to the Guilford Police Department as deputy chief and eventually chief of police.

“He was a wonderful resource and a great mentor,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor coming into this role here.”

One of the most valuable lessons Massey learned from Hyatt was how he approached different issues while chief of police.

“He was always well-informed and well researched and took his time to make decisions when time existed,” he said. “He didn’t make decisions without having it well backed, which is certainly something you learned as you move up the ranks.”

“To be able to tap into your professional networks, be able to look into past experiences to make the best-informed decision for the agency, that was one of the greatest takeaways from him,” Massey added.

From when Massey started in the police force to now, as he begins his career as the police chief, Massey said policing has become complex, and demand on officers has increased exponentially, but in a good way.

“It is a challenge to enhance professionalism daily, it’s a challenge to be transparent, it’s a challenge to build legitimacy in the community and that is something that has been a constant effort on our part,” he said. “What has been a steady demand from society has been for us to be better and do more, and we are going to be up for that challenge.”

As Massey steps up into his new role, there are some goals he would like to accomplish, starting with retention and recruitment.

“That is one of our great challenges now, but it’s also a challenge statewide and nationwide problems for law enforcement,” he said. “I hope that we are going to be able to accomplish this in the next few years to resolve that problem internally with retention and externally with recruiting people.”

Another goal is to continue to build on the positive culture the Guilford Police Department has with the community.

“We have a solid team here, and I would say the teamwork and passion for the job and commitment to community engagement is what everyone shares here,” he said. “We are going to continue to build on that culture.”

“I can argue we offer best-in-class service to the Guilford community because of that team, and I’m excited to lead the team,” Massey added.