How Brookline Police Are Preparing For Election Day

BROOKLINE, MA — As communities across the country are preparing for the last day of the election, and rallies are planned for Election Day in Boston, Brookline Police have a plan.

"As with anything we have our plan and we have contingency plans in case those fails, we have contingency plans for those," said Lt. Jen Paster who is a spokesperson for the department. "We've had a lot of discussions behind the scenes. We've covered all of the 'what if's', but I do feel pretty confident we will be OK here."

There are 16 polling places across the town, and what's new this year is that schools will be using Tuesday as a professional development day, so there will be no students in the schools this year, according to the district.

Nationwide, Massachusetts is the only state that requires a police presence at the polls. So this year, as in previous years, voters will see an officer posted at the polling locations.

"A lot of that is business is usual, but we're reminding the officers to be vigilant and the purpose of their presence, which is to support the warden," Paster said.

Officers have the power to arrest anyone who disobeys the election official, or who brings weapons to the school property. Brookline Police have not had to make any such arrests in recent memory.

"We're there to support the town clerk's office and that everybody has the right to vote," Paster said.

In addition to the presence at the polling places, the department has asked that no one take time off the week following the election, in an effort to have all hands on deck and ensure sufficient staffing levels to meet anything that may come up.

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin asked communities to step up security after a ballot box was set ablaze in Boston over the weekend.

While there are no known threats right now, to Boston, Brookline or the rest of the commonwealth, police departments are preparing for demonstrations after the elections no matter who wins.

"What's kind of alarming to me is ... the preparation we've put into this election we've never had to put in before," Walsh said this week. "I don't think any mayor before me, or I certainly wasn't asked in 2016, what's your election safety plan?"

Select Board Chair Bernard Greene said he has not heard of any protests set for Brookline, in particular, but knew many residents were deeply involved in and focused on getting out the vote.

"No matter what the outcome people have got to be always involved in organizing around the concerns that they have to let politicians know what's important to them," he said.

Although Brookline borders, Boston, it hasn't seen the looting or large scale property destruction that Boston has seen, Paster said.

"We love that our citizens are so engaged and so many people have been taking advantage of early voting and mail in voting and everything has been going smoothly there. I feel pretty confident we can have a smooth day and a safe day and no matter the outcome. I feel confident we can handle it, at least town wide."

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how .