GREENFIELD — In an effort to bridge the divide between law enforcement and those residing in the city’s Central Business District, the Greenfield Police Department has recruited retired police officer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Maria Burge as its first-ever community liaison.

The civilian position, which Burge will serve while stationed out of the department’s soon-to-open 205 Main St. substation, aims to connect residents in need with the appropriate resources without unnecessary police intervention. Burge said she hopes to build a sense of trust between portions of the downtown population who need help, but might otherwise be hesitant to talk to law enforcement.

“There are a lot of new folks to this community who hang out downtown that I don’t know. By being more present out there, the folks that do know me can say, hopefully, ‘She’s OK.’ Most of them are not afraid, they don’t shy away from me,” said Burge, who works for Greenfield under the city’s Senior Tax Work-Off program by which residents work in a part-time position in a municipal department and apply their wages to one of their quarterly property tax bills. “The police have their hands full with crime and a lot of the concerns out there are not necessarily criminal.”

Since Burge’s time serving as a Greenfield Police officer in the 1980s, she went on to fill numerous public roles, working as a liaison for Greenfield students who speak English as a second language before transitioning to her most recent role as a Greenfield District Court officer.

Burge said she has already had hopeful interactions with the community since she began her new position earlier this month, ranging from helping a homeless couple find water to helping an individual struggling to make ends meet avoid eviction by referring them to a Salvation Army rent assistance program.

Burge said her experience with individuals involved in the criminal justice system at Greenfield District Court has carried over into her new role, helping her establish trust with the people she now serves.

“I have developed a trusting relationship with them, because when they were either under arrest or they were in my cell at the courthouse, they always saw me as fair and helpful,” she recalled. “When they got out, I would say, ‘Go here,” or ‘Try this.’ It’s just so important for folks to be seen as a human being and not just a criminal or someone with an addiction.”

According to acting Police Chief Todd Dodge, the new community liaison position coincides with the department’s latest push to enhance its relationships with the downtown community. He cited the opening of the Main Street substation in the months ahead and development of the department’s Community Impact Unit — a police division that focuses on developing strong community connections, particularly downtown — as examples of a push toward service-focused law enforcement.

“I’d love to make this a more permanent thing. Those individuals down there, for some pretty valid reasons, they don’t look at us the same as they look at a civilian. They always have to remember in the back of their minds that we could be the people that take away their liberties, we could be the ones that arrest them, we could be the ones that slap them with a fine or make their lives miserable because of what they’re doing,” Dodge said. “Maria has to trust us to not go down there and be overwhelming in response to what she brings to us, because then it defies her trust. If every time Maria comes to report something to us, a crew of ours show up downtown and sweeps two or three people off the street under arrest, it’s going to kill this thing. Our minds are open, we’re going to listen and we want to take open-minded response methods. We want to do things differently.”

In the future, Dodge added that he would like to see the community liaison position grow into a full civilian task force. He said he has been working with Burge to develop a “Greenfield Dollars” program, in which civilians would be rewarded for acts of community service, such as street sweeping or cleaning up litter, with a currency that can be spent at participating local businesses. Those businesses would later be reimbursed by the Police Department.

The idea for Greenfield Dollars was inspired, in part, by a youth program that Burge led during her time working at Greenfield’s public schools, in which students were given the opportunity to work for “community dollars” that could be exchanged for Mother’s Day gifts. Dodge added that by engaging the public with tasks to better their community, the program would instill civilians with a sense of responsibility and service.

“Generally speaking, when individuals put any sort of energy into something, they take ownership of something, and then as a result of that, they end up policing it themselves. They have a little more respect for it, they have a little more pride. If we can develop this Greenfield Dollar system or something like it, and we [see] individuals doing good things, we can pay them for their service, not with cash, not with true money, but with Greenfield Dollars,” Dodge explained. “The more successes we have, the better off we’re going to be and the more likely we’re going to be able to add people to [Burge’s] contingency that will help. It may get to a point where she could be the chief of civilians.”

Burge’s appointment as community liaison came within weeks of the Police Department hiring two new officers — Zoe Smith and Robert Johnson — along with a new dispatcher, Luda Sherstyukova. Dodge introduced the new hires at a July 17 City Council meeting.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.