A New Cop On The Beat At Monomoy Middle School: Officer Charlie Chaprales Takes Over As SRO From Sgt. Bill Massey

CHATHAM – When did Chatham Police Sgt. Bill Massey know it was time to retire as school resource officer? He chuckles and shakes his head. It might have been when one of his students at Monomoy Regional Middle School recently remarked that Massey had been there when his father went through the school.

 “I didn’t want to get burnt out. When you get burnt out, you’re the last one to know,” he said.

 This year, Massey is passing the torch to a new SRO, Officer Charlie Chaprales. They’ll be working together during the transition, helping not only ensure the security of the school but working hand-in-hand with school officials to help kids at risk of getting in trouble. It’s been work that Massey has loved since he was tutored by the late Sgt. Joe Fennell, the previous school liaison.

 “He told me about a great police officer he knew as a kid, and I told him about a great police officer I knew as a kid,” Massey recalled. Starting in 2006, he helped build strong connections with the school until then-Chief Mark Pawlina advocated for the creation of a certified school resource officer position in 2017. Together with school officials led by then-Principal Paul Mangelinkx, “we built something great,” Massey said.

 Chaprales is the ideal candidate to be the next SRO, said Massey.

 “He actually came to us asking for it,” he said. Chaprales has two children of his own — ages 2 and 10 — and works well autonomously, a skill that’s important since SROs are often working outside the police station and during odd hours.

Chaprales said he’s ready for the challenge, and he knows he’ll get strong support from school officials, the district’s other SROs and Massey.

A Sandwich native, Chaprales started as a police officer 21 years ago in Aquinnah, a four-officer department on Martha’s Vineyard. In 2010, he and his wife moved to North Carolina, where Chaprales served with the 800-member Beaufort Police Department. The couple returned to the Cape in 2022, and Chaprales signed on with Chatham. An avid sportfisherman, he’s been spending lots of time with 10-year-old son Alex, who’s getting him up to speed on the musical tastes and slang terms used by kids.

 “He’s been my teacher this past year,” Chaprales quipped. Still, as school starts this week, “I feel like a freshman in high school,” he said. 

Massey, who essentially shaped Chatham’s SRO program, said much has changed since he started in the post, “but a lot of what we really wanted to do hasn’t.” Policing in the schools is “not unlike what happens out in the community. It just involves young people,” he said. Issues of mental health, substance abuse, one-on-one conflicts and family problems are present in kids, and a good SRO program like Chatham’s involves strong cooperation with patrol officers, fire and rescue officials, teachers and others in the community, giving responders a full understanding of the challenges kids face in school, at home and elsewhere. 

The biggest change since Massey started? Social media. 

 “It changed the world,” he said. For the first time, youngsters were communicating in a way that didn’t involve vocal cues or facial expressions that might hint when a barb might be a simple joke or an act of aggression. Social media posts also allow a new kind of bullying, where hurtful comments can be made in quasi-anonymity. 

A good antidote for that is face-to-face communication with an SRO in the hallways or even at a “lunch with a cop” session in the SRO’s office, with parents’ permission. The creative ways to connect with young people are almost endless.

At school, “we get ‘em for what, six-and-a-half hours a day,” Massey said. The SRO can help by making sure that a child’s time in that environment is safe and positive, he said.