Melrose Auxiliary Police Officers Secure Boston Marathon Bombing Site

Shortly after returning home from working police detail for several hours at the Runner's Village in Hopkinton during the 2013 Boston Marathon, the bombs were detonated near the finish line, according to Melrose Auxiliary Police Captain Mike Batchelder.

Batchelder, recently retired after 21 years of service with Melrose-based 1-182 Infantry, completed his 16th Boston Marathon detail (13 with the 182nd Infantry, three with the Melrose Auxiliary) on Monday. He serves as one of two operations officers for the Melrose Auxiliary Police Department, which is comprised of EMTs, sheriffs, university police officers, 182nd Infantry soldiers, recent Reserve Intermittent Police Academy graduates and Federal officers with the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Working Detail in Hopkinton

While on detail, everything seemend to be going just fine, according to Batchelder. "Originally, our detail was to secure the Runner's Village and also to direct traffic at a few intersections in Hopkinton. As far as we knew it was just another picture perfect Boston Marathon," he said.

Captain Dave Dragan, a Melrosian like Batchelder, was also working detail—his fifth—for the Melrose Auxiliary unit at the race on Monday.

"Our part of the marathon detail was over when this atrocity occurred," Dragan said, adding that the officers worked from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. "We were all at dismissed when this occurred. As soon as I heard about the blast I thought it was probably a terrorist act."

Batchelder, a four-year officer with the local auxiliary, said he had just gotten home when the bombs were set off shortly before 3 p.m. The bombings claimed the lives of three people and injured more than 100.

"After the second explosion, I knew exactly what it was," Batchelder said. "I reached out to my contacts and immediately put out the word that we would report to Boston if needed." 

Call of Duty

After witnessing the events unfold on television for a couple hours, Batchelder received word from the the incident commander for the Boston Police that they could use assistance at the scene.

"I was able to mobilize 10 officers right away (several of us who had reported to Hopkinton at 6:30 a.m.), and had a few more meet us later in the evening," he said. "We were assigned to three street corners surrounding the crime scene and tasked with keeping anyone out who was not Boston Police or FBI."

Securing the Boston Marathon Crime Scene

Dragan, a 13-year veteran with the Melrose Auxiliary, outlined the team's response.

"We responded to the Boston Common parking garage on Charles Sreet, the site of the operations center, at about 8 p.m.," he said. "From there we were dispatched to the intersections of Stuart and Dartmouth Streets and St. James Avenue and Dartmouth Street (at) Copley Square.

"The medical tent was at Copley and the medical examiner was still there. Our job was to keep unauthorized individuals from entering the crime scene, which can be extremely hard with some of the foreign news media not understanding."

One Long Day

Dragan continued, saying the unit was called to the operations center at 3 a.m. to see about relief, but with no one immediately available to help they agreed to stay until 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

"...At this time most of us had been up since 3:30 Monday morning," he said. "When I called the operations center at about 6:15 (a.m. Tuesday), the lieutenant on duty told me 'you are relieved and God bless you.'"

Officers React to Bombings

Like many others, Batchelder said he felt "periods of shock, sadness and anger" about the bombings. Dragan added that he felt "disgust and anger, as the person (or persons) that did this is nothing but a coward. There is nothing that can condone the murder and maiming of innocent people like this."

Who Secured the Boston Marathon Crime Scene?

A dozen Melrose Auxiliary Police Officers responded to the Boston Marathon crime scene to help secure it, including:

• Captain Michael Batchelder, Officer in charge, Melrose
• Captain Dave Dragan, Melrose
• Lieutenant James Cassier, Wakefield
• Lieutenant Vincent Lamberti, Braintree
• Lieutenant Christopher Waites, East Boston
• Patrolman Scott Addison, Lynn
• Patrolman Peter Costello, Norwood
• Patrolman Marcio Francioli, Medford
• Patrolman Allen Gee, Somerville
• Patrolman Hanshin Hsieh, Lexington
• Patrolman Hanwei Hsieh, Cambridge
• Patrolman Luis Ortiz, Roxbury