Representatives from the region's police forces as well as from the FBI, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, state police and the associations for both the Massachusetts and the New England police chief's attended the retirement party for former Police Chief Thomas E. Burke.
Jadwiga Burke shakes the hand of Ron Gibbons of the Massachusetts State Police as former West Springfield Police Chief Thomas E. Burke, center, looks on. Burke was honored at a retirement party at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke Wednesday evening.
HOLYOKE – Not only was retired West Springfield Police Chief Thomas E. Burke a cop’s cop, he is such a regular guy even his long-time barber was among the 500 people who crowded into his retirement party Wednesday at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House.
They came to fete and roast Burke and celebrate his 42 years with the West Side Police Department, 20 of them at its helm.
Jay B. Contrino, who used to cut Burke’s hair in his Agawam shop and now does it at Rich Gallerani Hair Design in West Side, had warm memories.
“I fixed him and his buddy up with long-haired wigs so they could go undercover,” Contrino, who has cut Burke’s hair since 1972, recalled of Burke’s early police days. “He’ll listen to your problems and if he can help you he will, very compassionate, very compassionate. If he weren’t Irish I’d think he was Sicilian.”
Interim West Springfield Police Chief Ronald P. Campurciani described his former boss as “ a cop’s cop.”
“Tom was always concerned about cops on the street and making sure they had the best training and equipment out there,” Campurciani said.
He called the high attendance at the party well deserved and pointed out that not only were there lots of members of the region’s police forces there, but also representatives from the FBI, the DEA, Massachusetts state police and the associations for both Massachusetts’ and New England’s police chiefs.
Burke, 67, retired in March two years after the mandatory state retirement age. The state legislature granted a waiver to allow him to work longer than that because former Mayor Edward J. Gibson wanted to keep him on longer because of his budget expertise.
In an interview before the party’s program, Burke talked about how he always tried to be fair.
“I believe totally in the community policing philosophy. We aren’t very different from the people we serve. We put our pants on one leg at a time,” Burke said.
Asked his proudest accomplishment, Burke named his four children, two of whom followed in his footsteps by becoming officers in the West Springfield Police Department. They are Alissa L. Burke, a juvenile detective and Patrolman Thomas E. Burke Jr. His daughter Kristen A. Coccia is a registered nurse and his youngest, Ania K. Burke just graduated from Northeastern University.