Chelsea Police Capt. David Batchelor was the recipient of the James E. Mahoney Award at ROCA’s Annual Breakfast that was held virtually on May 6.
ROCA Chief Executive Officer Molly Baldwin presented the prestigious award to Batchelor, who has served with distinction in the Chelsea Police Department for 36 years. The award was given in recognition of Capt. Batchelor’s “leadership, humility, and commitment to systemic change on behalf of young people.”
Baldwin, whose organization is a nationally recognized model for bringing positive change to the lives of young adults, praised Batchelor as a “systems partner whose commitment to helping people stands out and brings change.”
Baldwin told the ROCA Breakfast viewers, “You can read Dave’s biography in the program, but what you won’t get from it his absolute and genuine desire to help people. Nor will you understand his courage to try different things, his love of people, or his humor.
“We at ROCA have known Dave for 34 years,” continued Baldwin. “He’s always willing to help and jump into action with us. Most of all, he teaches us by example, about being a caring and kind human being and an extraordinary police officer.”
In officially making the presentation, Baldwin commented warmly, “Dave, the ROCA team appreciates you and loves you and honors you.”
He Humbly Accepts the Recognition from ROCA
David Batchelor was humble in accepting the award, just as he had been throughout his amazing three-sport career at Chelsea High School more than 40 years ago.
“I just want to thank Molly for that very kind introduction, for those kind words,” began Batchelor. “I want to thank all of the ROCA staff for all the work they do, helping young people in Chelsea and beyond.”
Batchelor recalled his first interactions with ROCA as a new police officer. “Very quickly, I realized that they were trying to do the same thing that we were trying to do – they were trying to help young people in the City of Chelsea and keep our community safe. Our relationship built from there. We have a relationship of trust and respect, and for 34 years since then, we’ve been working together to help young people in Chelsea.”
Batchelor spoke of the Chelsea Police Department’s cooperative effort with ROCA for the past seven years on The Chelsea Hub, “a group of 25 community and government agencies working together to help people at high risk before emergencies happen.”
“It [The Chelsea Hub] has been a great benefit to the City of Chelsea and those that are struggling from high risk,” said Batchelor. “That was something Molly brought to us, and it’s been very beneficial to Chelsea.”
In closing his remarks Batchelor thanked Police Chief Brian Kyes “for allowing me the opportunity to work with ROCA over these years.”
“Everyone who knows Brian knows that he is certainly a very innovative chief and really understands the importance of building relationships between the Police Department and communities and treating everyone with dignity and respect,” said Batchelor.
“I also would like to thank all of the Chelsea police officers in the Chelsea Police Department. We have a great bunch of officers that on a daily basis that are out there in the streets, trying to help everybody in the community, working with ROCA and treating everybody with dignity and respect and knowing what their purpose as a police officer is, which is to help people,” concluded Batchelor.
Chief Kyes Offers his Congratulations
Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes congratulated his long-time, professional colleague on receiving the major award from ROCA.
“I am incredibly proud of my good friend Captain David Batchelor and the tireless work that he continues to do – day in and day out – in strengthening the relationships that we enjoy with our community members,” Kyes said.
“Dave is an incredibly humble man and tries his best to avoid the limelight and any resulting praise, but there is no one more deserving of this prestigious award from our valued community partner, ROCA, than Captain Batchelor.”