Great Barrington — Three new officers for the town’s Police Department are set to start on the beat on Monday, April 15.
Officers Kevin Troiano and Mike Kotleski grew up in Great Barrington and are graduates of Monument Mountain High School, with Troiano graduating in 2018, and Kotleski graduating in 2014. Officer Daniel Hadsell is a native of Alford and attended Lee Middle and High Schools, graduating from the latter in 2020.
“I just wanted to do something that got me up and moving,” Officer Troiano told The Berkshire Edge. “Being a police officer is just one of those jobs that gets me to be part of the community and all around town, not just in one place. I think it’s a good opportunity to be around everybody in the community and not just sit in an office. I’m a small-town kid, and I wanted to work for my hometown. It’s a good feeling to be part of the Police Department.”
“I joined because I wanted to be involved in the community in the best way I can,” Officer Hadsell said. “There isn’t a better way to contribute to a local community than being a police officer.”
Officer Kotleski said that, as he grew up in Great Barrington, he was always interested in law enforcement. “The best way for me to be an officer is serving in my hometown,” Officer Kotleski said. “Since we’re in a small town, it’s good for me to be part of the community. A big part of why I chose this department is because I grew up here and also because I know Chief Paul Storti, and he’s a great guy. We have great sergeants and patrol officers who are all a pretty tight-knit and close group.”
The three officers said that they recently finished 23 weeks of training at the Holyoke Police Academy’s 2nd Recruit Officer Class, driving over two hours each day for weeks from Berkshire County to Holyoke. “It’s a big relief to be back in the Berkshires,” Hadsell said. “Driving out to Holyoke every day was a hard task.”
Across the nation, a stigma has developed surrounding local police departments and police officers. “One of the reasons I got into law enforcement is to fight against the stigma,” Troiano said. “I wanted to get into law enforcement because I knew there was a bad stigma and rap on police officers, especially in the last five years or more. But we’re all just people trying to help others out. Just like any other profession, you will have bad plumbers, bad electricians, and bad teachers. But you can’t let a couple of bad apples define the whole bunch.”
“I just want to do my best to be a good officer for the community and do the best I can to treat everybody equally,” Officer Hadsell said.
Officer Troiano added that the department itself continues to progress and move forward with its services as time goes by. “There’s always more things going on behind the scenes that people don’t realize,” Officer Troiano said. “There’s always new training, the development of new policies, and other things that are continuously being improved to hold ourselves accountable. We want to ensure that any cracks that might be there when it comes to policing are not there. We’re all people, and we’re trying to make the best improvements that we can in a very tricky field.”
“We’re not the smallest department around here, but we are one of the bigger ones,” Officer Kotleski said. “I feel like we have more opportunities because of that.”
For more information about the Great Barrington Police Department, visit its website or its Facebook page.
