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Gloversville Police Chief To Retire

Marc Porter
City of Gloversville

The Chief of the Gloversville Police Department announced his upcoming retirement this week.

Marc Porter began his career with the Gloversville police 22 years ago and for the past four years has served as chief. I spoke to Porter this week, who had a message for the people of the Fulton County city.

“I like to think of the community as like my extended family and it’s been an honor and a privilege. But the same time it’s also time to move on and kind of change of pace a little bit and serve our community in a different capacity,” said Porter.

Porter, who is 46, has overseen a number of projects at the city police department, notably the implementation of a body camera program in 2017, which he characterizes as a success.

“That’s been very successful for a variety of reasons. Prosecution, being able to take a look at whether there’s incidence of use of force, or whether there’s a complaint against an officer, or whether we can just got back and use those for investigation purposes…it’s been one success story after another with the camera program,” said Porter.

Also under Porter, the Gloversville Police Department has digitized its policy books, provided a school resource officer to the Gloversville Enlarged School District, and a K-9 team is expected to be in full service in March.

Porter says his department is in the same boat as other agencies across the state in facing challenges with New York’s new bail and discovery laws. A staff member has been dedicated to comply with the discovery process full-time.

But, Porter says, the changes were not met with surprise.

“We don’t necessarily agree with these things but we’ve been prepared. And we’ve provided all of our staff with training in conjunction with our district attorney, Chad Brown. So challenges, yes, but we’re also prepared,” said Porter.

And on transition, Porter has an idea for that, too. He’s recommended to the mayor and city council that Captain Anthony Clay become the next chief. Clay retired in 2015 but was reinstated in March 2019, to give time for Clay to acclimate to changes within the department and administrative duties.

“So they know the people, they know the policies, they know the budget. The list kind of goes on. But, to me, it was important to do that so there would be a seamless transition,” said Porter.

Gloversville Mayor Vincent DeSantis says the common council, which has the authority to select the next chief, is “on board” with Captain Clay getting the job.

As for Porter, DeSantis says he gets “constant compliments” from county prosecutors and others in county government about his work.

“Because he interfaces with them and he works on these joint investigations and prosecutions with other agencies. So really he’s developed our PD into kind of an elite group. And I’m really proud of all of them. And we really have Chief Porter to thank for it,” said DeSantis.

Chief Porter will officially retire on February 29th. He plans to spend more time with his wife and three children, coach high school baseball, and plans on working as an assessor for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. And he plans on staying in the City of Gloversville.

Lucas Willard is a reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011.
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