Bernardston Police Department
City agency in Franklin County. How it reports to the FBI, and the rules its arrests run under.
Reporting to the FBI
- Population served
- 2,847 (FBI figure, 2025)
- Counties
- Franklin County
- Incident reporting
- Sends incident detail (NIBRS) since January 2004.
- Months sent in 2025
- 11 of 12
- FBI agency code
- MA0060200
Source: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29.
After an arrest
- Who decides release first
When court is closed, a bail commissioner or a district court clerk-magistrate sets bail; neither is a judge. When court is open, a judge sets bail at arraignment. A person arrested for violating an abuse prevention order or for some domestic abuse charges can't be bailed for 6 hours except by a judge in open court.
G.L. c. 276, s. 57- Time to see a judge
A person arrested and not released must be brought to court for arraignment the same day if court is in session, or at its next session. The rule sets no hour limit. The U.S. Supreme Court's 48-hour rule for a probable cause finding applies as the federal floor.
Mass. R. Crim. P. 7(a)(1)
Crime and arrests
No figures yet