Animal Control Officers Association of Massachusetts

ACOAM is pleased to offer several different scholarships for different educational opportunities. Click here for an application to any of our scholarships.

Benjamin Harvey Scholarship
For students pursuing animal related professions, ACOAM is proud to offer this $500 scholarship.

Founded in memory of WellesleyAnimal Control Officer Sue Webb’s son Ben.  This article was written by Ben’s mother, Sue Webb.

Benjamin Harvey was the son of Wellesley ACO Sue Webb Harvey.  He was 6 years old when he was murdered on Nov. 27, 1988.

Ben was a curious child who loved learning, and with Sue as his mother it was natural that he would be interested in all types of critters from domestic pets to horseshoe crabs and snails in tidal pools on the beach.  Ben had an interest in learning how things worked and in understanding the relationships between animals in the web of life.  From livestock in the barn to salamanders under a rock in the woods, his goal was to learn everything there was to know about them.

Ben greeted everyone with a smile and an offer of friendship and then he would either share whatever interesting piece of knowledge he had just learned or he would quiz his new friend for information on something that he wanted to understand.  For such a young person Ben would stand up and speak out if he thought an animal was not being treated correctly and then try to explain the correct way to treat the animal. He was precocious and wise beyond his years, and everyone who knew Ben loved him.

Ben was killed while the first Animal Control Officers’ Academy was in session, and many of the students in the class knew Ben’s mother, Sue. It was Fate that placed Bill Hurt Smith, an experienced grief counselor, in the ACOAM class the next day with a scheduled class on coping with the emotional stress of performing euthanasia.  He left the class at the end of that day having helped some 80 animal control officers understand how to cope with the shock and sadness of such a tragedy happening to someone so young, and with some tools to help support Officer Webb and each other in their time of need.

This scholarship is ACOAM’s way to honor Ben’s intense desire to learn, and it keeps Ben’s memory alive by supporting that desire in fellow Animal Control Officers’ children or in a person that could use a helping hand to further their goal of learning about and helping animals.

ACOAM Certification Course Scholarships

Capt. Thomas White Scholarship

Captain Tom White, as Director of Law Enforcement of the Animal Rescue League of Boston, played a vital role in the development of the ACOAM certification course, working with the founding members of ACOAM in designing the classes, defining the structure and implementing the course in 1988. Capt. White, or Tom as he was known to his many friends, taught classes for the course on subjects ranging from Occult Crime to Crime Scene Investigation, Officer Safety, and Capstun Certification. His vast knowledge and fascinating stories of his years in the field held his classes' attention and taught by example how the job should be done. He continued to play an integral part in the improvement and updating of the course as needed, right up until his death in 2000.

Tom spent many hours working with ACOs from all over the state who had questions or needed advice on serious situations that they had little experience with, or who needed a hand in preparing a case for court or before a Town Selectmen’s board. Capt. White recognized the growing role of Animal Control Officers in the field of public safety and he understood that educating ACOs would improve the ability of officers to protect themselves on the job and improve the ability of Animal Control Officers to work with the public and with the Animal Rescue League in promoting and protecting the welfare of animals.

The Animal Control Officers' Association of Massachusetts, with the support of the Animal Rescue League of Boston, offers this scholarship in the name of Capt. Thomas White, in honor of and with thanks for a man who was a great friend to so many in the field of Animal Control.

Dick Stein Certification Course Scholarship

Richard “Dick” Stein was the town of Canton’s Animal Control Officer (ACO) for over 30 years, and he was a founding member of the Animal Control Officer’s Association of Massachusetts (ACOAM) in 1980. With the creation of ACOAM he became a driving force in the move to educate and professionalize the officers in this much joked about and maligned job. Dick was there for the inception of ACOAM’s certification course, and he helped mold the course into one of the most in-depth educational opportunities available to Animal Control Officers anywhere in the United States.

Dick served as President of ACOAM, and later held other Board positions as well, and in 1995 the Animal Rescue League of Boston and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals honored Dick with their prestigious ACO of the Year award, which he richly deserved.

His years of effort to build respect for his chosen profession helped create the recognition that ACOAM has today with local and state government. ACOs who never met Dick Stein will benefit from his efforts on behalf of the organization that he helped to create, and from the tone that he set that has helped to bring Animal Control from the image of the lowly, cartoonish dogcatcher to a respected branch of public safety officers.

This scholarship is offered as a thank you and a memorial to honor the years that Dick devoted to the Animal Control Officers of Massachusetts, and his contribution to the certification course offered by the organization that he helped to create.

The Humane Society of the United States

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has for many years recognized the importance of the professionally trained Animal Control Officer in the field of animal protection and humane education. ACOAM benefits greatly from the expert instructors and educational programs the HSUS offers on a wide range of Animal Control, Animal Welfare and Humane Education topics, and their contribution to the quality of the Certification course is undeniable.

In keeping with their practice of supporting ACOs in their work the HSUS offers ACOAM a scholarship to the certification course. This scholarship will enable an Animal Control Officer who unfortunately does not enjoy the financial support of their employing municipality the opportunity to obtain the education that is so vital to the advancement of ACOAM’s and the HSUS’ goal of training and education for all Animal Control Officers in Massachusetts.

ACOAM and all of its members are grateful to the Animal Rescue League of Boston and the Humane Society of the United States for their support of ACOAM and the Certification course with these scholarships and so much more.