First-term Mayor Peter Marchetti named interim chief Thomas Dawley as the successor to the Pittsfield Police Department’s last permanent leader, Michael Wynn, who stepped down last July.
Dawley, who joined the force in 2002 and rose to the rank of captain before taking on the interim chief role last year, detailed the joint co-responder diversion team his department launched earlier in 2024.
“It's officers, my officers, going out with the co-responders," he explained. "What they do is, they go out, they work hand in hand with our co-responders, they go to calls for mental health, they help with Section 35s, they help with Section 12s, they also do a lot of follow up. So, what it does is, it's a softer approach to mental health, then our officers being taken off the street to go to the mental health calls. So, these officers who are in soft uniform go out with the co-responders, do the follow ups with the co-responders. They, like I said, they go to the Section 35s, the Section 12s. So, my officers remain on the street and remain on their beats. Because I'll be honest with you- Mental health, obviously is something in the city that needs to be addressed not only by the police department, but we also have other resources that we need to get involved as well. So, with that being said, it's up and coming. We're walking before we run with this program. So far, I think it's been a great success. Currently, we have about four or five officers that are not only being trained to do this type of work, but also to be on the streets with these co-responders and know what they're doing.”
Dawley was asked to identify his top priority as head of Berkshire County’s largest police force.
“Well, first and foremost is my department," he answered. "I wanted, like I said before, I wanted to make sure that the staffing levels are up, my command staff and first frontline supervisors are staffed, because if we're not fully staffed and together, we can't serve you. So, the biggest part is making sure, A, the wellness of my officers to be on the street, because if they're not happy, or if they're not well, they can't serve the community that they serve. That, I believe, is probably the most important thing, is officer wellness. Like I said, we work for the community. I work for the mayor, they work for me. So, it's a trickledown effect. If I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do by leading this department, then my officers are not expected to do as well.”
Fully staffing the department is another one of Dawley’s objectives.
“We are budgeted for 97 officers, okay?" he said. "Right now, we're probably about 91, 92. We have three in the academy, we have a requisition right now for about four or five new officers. I have an officer in field training that's going to be graduating from that shortly, and I have an officer that's going to be going to the academy in, I think it's October of this year. Now with that being said, I might have also a transfer from another city or town, so, with our fingers crossed, I think in the first time, correct me if I'm wrong retired Chief Wynn, that we’ll be at full staff by the end of this year.”
That effort comes as the pool of potential candidates has dramatically shriveled.
“It's a great difficulty," said Dawley. "You know, when many of us got on, it was, you know, there was hundreds of people taking the civil service tests. We don't see that anymore. Obviously, with social media and stuff we get shed in a bad light. So, people don't want to take up on this career.”
After multiple election cycles where politicians have campaigned on baseless claims of rising crime in Pittsfield – including the 2023 mayoral race and the 2022 district attorney’s race – Dawley tells WAMC that the numbers paint a far different picture of the community.
“I think there's just false positives out there," he said. "To be honest, I think people are thinking that Pittsfield is an awful place, it's dangerous to walk down downtown and stuff like that. The statistics don't show that. Statistically, Pittsfield is a very safe place. Yes, we have our shootings, our drug seizures, our domestics, which obviously are bad things that we deal with every day. But looking at the data, Pittsfield is very safe.”
Per the Pittsfield PD’s most recent statistics, the city has seen a 36% drop in major crimes over the past five years.
