Harwich Police officer retires after nearly 30 years on the job; another Harwich officer promoted to Sergeant

Ofc. Robert Hadfield with his wife Emily

HARWICH – Friday was the last day for Officer Robert Hadfield after serving the townspeople of Harwich for 29 years and 7 months, most of that time on the overnight shift. Bobby was raised in Harwich and always displayed a deep commitment to his community and to his fellow officers. Never was this more evident than when he saved a man from drowning in Seymour Pond during the early morning hours of Christmas 2006. Bobby’s heroic actions earned him the Distinguished Service Medal from Harwich Police and the George L. Hanna award from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which is the highest award for valor that the State can bestow on a police officer.

From CWN archives (12/26/06):
Police rescue man from pond Christmas morning after canoe capsizes
HARWICH – Harwich police say a Brewster man is lucky to be alive after capsizing his canoe on Seymour Pond in the pre-dawn hours Christmas morning. 25-year old Wesley Cartier was fished out of the frigid water after police got a call from a resident who heard cries for help about 5:30 a.m.

Harwich Police Officer Robert Hadfield responded to the call at the pond off Route 124 near the Brewster line and could barely see Cartier in the dark several hundred feet off shore. Hadfield found a canoe and paddles at a nearby house and attempted to rescue Cartier but the officer’s canoe also capsized in rough weather. He got back to shore, emptied water out of the canoe and set out to rescue Cartier again. When Hadfield reached Cartier he told him to hang onto the canoe and then paddled them both back to shore.

Both men were taken to Cape Cod Hospital, where they were treated for hypothermia. Cartier had been in the water for about an hour before he was rescued. “He had left a party in Brewster and somehow decided to take a canoe ride,” Harwich Police Lt. Thomas Gagnon said. Cartier and Hadfield were treated and released from the hospital. Hadfield suffered some minor shoulder and back injuries in the rescue.
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Sgt. Peter Petell with his wife Jill and twin sons Hayden and Bennett.

HARWICH – Officer Peter Petell was promoted to Sergeant  Harwich Police. Sgt. Petell was appointed to the department in 2007. Over the fourteen years on the force he has been OIC experience shift supervisor, civil rights liaison, hybrid job between patrol and detective investigator, and is now armor and senior firearms instructor.
Photos and video by Jake O’Callaghan/CWN 

ha012822 Promotion ceremony from Cape Wide News LLC on Vimeo.



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