Board approves new members, new appointments

The MAPLE Board of directors met via zoom on Thursday September 25, 2025.  The date for the Fall General Membership meeting was set for December 16, 2025 at Stonehill College.  The same format as year will be followed: reception at 11A, lunch at noon, business starts at 1.00PM.  More details to follow.   Special thanks to Ann Marie Rocheleau for arranging the facilities for us once again and for her continuing effort to support our meetings at Stonehill. The Board approved a new member and made a new interim appointment to secretary.  MAPLE is very proud to announce that former Boston Police planner Jim Jordan was approved as a full member.  Jim joined shortly after a meeting with Al Puller and Dennis Galvin intended to solicit his support for MAPLE’s police education legislative initiative.  Jim is an enthusiastic supporter of this proposal and is eager to help pitch in with the effort.

Deb Piehl was also appointed as the interim Secretary.  Former Secretary Marcel Beausoleil submitted his resignation to the board with great regret.  Personal matters are consuming more and more of his time, to the point where he did not believe he could properly discharge his duties.  Marcel will remain a member.  The Board approved his resignation, issuing a heartfelt thank you to him for his service as Secretary for so many years.  Deb Piehl brings significant tool box of organizational skills with her to her new task.  She was an integral part of the NYPD compstat program and now MAPLE has the great advantage of making use of her considerable talents.  She will serve out the rest of Marcel’s term which will expire in 2027.

Board members received updates from the President on two major issues. The first was a legislative initiative that seeks to require 60 credit hours of higher education as a qualification for appointment as a police officer in Massachusetts.  The proposal has been forwarded to selected legislators and engagement with them has begun.  The intent is to have this legislative proposal on Beacon Hill’s 2026 calendar.          President Galvin also briefed the Board on MAPLE’s Bluebook for Police Reform.  The drafting and editing committee will convene very soon.  There was also discussion about the status of the mental health committee. The Treasurer reported that MAPLE has $ 6, 330.16 in its coffers.   Fall fundraising letters are now going to members who have not yet paid their dues for 2025.

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