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Officer Bob Goes Back to School

For retired sergeant Bob DePalma, policing is all about learning—which makes his latest posting all the more fitting.

He started his career with the North Haven Police Department in 1983, just a year after graduating high school, but it wasn’t as a patrolman. Bob started out as a dispatcher.

“It’s the toughest job in the place,” he says.

In high school, Bob had thoughts of going to the University of New Haven or becoming a police officer. When he heard that a dispatcher position had opened up in his hometown, Bob made his decision.

“It allowed me to see how the officers operated,” he says. “It helped me a great deal in the academy and then, moving forward, being a police officer.”

After four years as a dispatcher, Bob went to the police academy and was hired as a North Haven patrolman. He served North Haven as a duty police officer for 31 years, retiring this year to take a position as school resource officer (SRO) at the middle school.

“When [First Selectman Mike] Freda was talking about putting SROs in all the schools…it was something I was interested in,” Bob says.

With 31 years on the job and a son, Richie, slated to become a North Haven police officer, retiring to become an SRO made sense.

“It was very important for me to still be a certified officer, to still be part of this family, meaning, the North Haven Police family,” he says. “My role’s changing, but I’m still going to be involved with my fellow officers.”

Together with officers Mark Iannone and Ted Stockmon, Bob will join existing SRO Mike DiCocco and two outside hires to fill positions at all of North Haven’s schools for the upcoming school year.

Given the length of his service, Bob is looking forward to a more regular schedule. His youngest son, Vinnie, will be a North Haven High School senior this year and will play his last football game on Thanksgiving. With his new schedule, Bob will be able to make the game with his wife, Terri.

Bob served as the school resource officer for the North Haven School District from 2000 to 2005, so he’s familiar with the demands of the job.

“The time being a SRO in the high school…was probably five of the most gratifying years of my career,” he says. “You build relationships, not only with students, but their families.”

He was stationed in the high school, but took the time to visit the other schools in the district throughout the week.

“I think I impacted several kids during the time I was in there. To this day, I still have students back in 2000 to 2005 that I’m in contact with.”

North Haven’s decision to place SROs in all of its schools came only a few months after the Parkland, Florida shooting in February, but Bob thinks that stationing police in schools goes well beyond protection.

“To me, the SRO program, now that it’s in every school, is an added layer of security, but that’s not all you’re doing,” he says.

“It was gratifying, too, even teaching,” he says. “I enjoyed doing it and hopefully I can do it again.”

The kids had questions about the law. Bob taught classes about search and seizure, sexual assault laws, and even how to interact with police.

“It may help them if they have an encounter with a police officer in the future,” he said. “Because they interacted with you all the time in the past, it may help them.”

Bob left his position at the high school when he was promoted to sergeant in 2005. Now, he says, “I’m looking forward to going back.”

After he left his SRO position, Bob took on many other tasks in the Police Department. He became supervisor of the Traffic Division and later worked in the detective bureau. He even became the team leader of the regional SWAT team.

“It’s very important to me to be a well-rounded officer,” he says.

Bob learned to use his diverse skills throughout his career.

“Being a SWAT operator for such a long time, there’s thousands of hours of training, thousands of hours of call-outs,” he said. “That helps you on the road with tactical situations that may arise in your daily patrols.”

Even though he’s retired from the Police Department officially, Bob isn’t taking a break.

“Things are always changing. There’re always things to learn,” he says. “I still intend on going to some of the trainings. You have to stay sharp with this job. You can’t take anything for granted.”