West Stockbridge — With almost 30 years under his badge, West Stockbridge Police Chief Marc Portieri informed the town’s Select Board on March 3 that he plans to retire, stating that July 7 will be his last day on the job.
Portieri has served in his current role for eight and a half years following two decades with the Becket Police Department. “When I came here, it was pretty much a two-person, part-time department,” he said in an interview with The Berkshire Edge. “And now, as I’m stepping out the door, we have four full-time officers plus myself.”
At the start of his West Stockbridge tenure in 2016, the department was just about on the chopping block, Portieri said, leaving the town to rely on state police services. “I’ve built it up, over the years, to what we’re at now,” he said.
The 53-year-old Portieri grew up in Lee and moved to Becket in 1990. Although he pursued several different jobs including working security detail at the Columbia Mill, he found law enforcement as a career in 1993 when a part-time position opened up on the local police department. It was a natural segue after Portieri enjoyed a criminal justice course at the University of Massachusetts. After a six-month training course, he was on the job with a partner. “It started out as something very, very exciting to do, so I stuck with it,” Portieri said.
A year later, he advanced to become Becket’s first full-time police officer, with that position funded by grant monies. In 2000, Portieri rose to the rank of sergeant in Becket, where he remained for 16 more years.
The ability to help others struck a chord with Portieri, and he cited the support received from state police officers who “basically showed you the ropes” as his stalwart resources.
“It was old-school policing,” Portieri said of the era he served in before the advent of computers and cell phones. “We’re handcuffed as police in doing [our] job now by society. It’s changed so much. We had a thing called ‘community policing’ back in the day. You drove around. You talked to people in the neighborhood. You had contacts in the neighborhood. I solved a lot of cases in the neighborhood this way—you were very easily approachable. They would say, ‘Hey, we saw the neighbor kids down the road and the front door is open.’ Nowadays, no one approaches you.”
Today, the public’s view of police officers has turned negative, he said, and “put a bad mark on us and it’s unfortunate.” “You get a bad officer and then that just leaks down to ‘everybody is this way,’” Portieri said. “You didn’t have that problem back 20 years ago. People respected you. You respected them.”
West Stockbridge’s offer presented a new opportunity, “a change of pace” for Portieri as the town’s full-time chief of police. His first challenge in the role was to assemble a police department, and he used his 22 years of law enforcement contacts to do so. “We started building on what we had,” Portieri said. “In the policing world, unfortunately, it’s a continuous build. It’s not just, ‘You build and you’re all set.’”
To bring in officers, he created an internship at Monument Mountain High School, resulting in staffing one candidate who entered the department at age 18, becoming a full-time staffer two years later. Although that officer is now with the Stockbridge Police Department, Patrol Officer Curt Wilton III was developed through the internship and continues to serve the department today.
Portieri recalled police incidents that he “wished he never had to attend.” The Becket Home Alone Case in 1995 involved a young boy who was sick at home when two individuals kicked the door in, robbing the house while the youngster hid in the kitchen. The child called 911 and, with Portieri en route, the criminals discovered him. However, they left him unharmed and departed. As Portieri approached the residence, he could see the perpetrators’ car tracks in the light snow. With the youth’s description, a trooper in Otis spied the vehicle, pursued the car, and apprehended the criminals who had prior offenses and a history of jail time.
In an odd turn of events, Portieri became acquainted with the homeowners and eventually purchased that house, living in it for about 10 years before selling it.
With so many Becket cases, a number of investigations—discovering an infant’s death and nabbing the top dog in a string of home burglaries—still gnaw at him.
In West Stockbridge, Portieri cites domestic relations issues, drug possession and motor vehicle stops for speeding, or equipment violations as current policing issues. He said his department has stepped up police stops in town. “From when I first came here in 2016 to now, people know we’re out there on patrol,” Portieri said.
For instance, from January 1 to February 28 of this year, West Stockbridge officers have stopped 242 vehicles, he said. In comparison, in 2023, town officers posted 680 motor vehicle stops and, in 2024, more than 850 motor vehicle stops, according to Portieri.
Portieri reasoned that interstate drivers pulling through West Stockbridge may not be aware of local speed limits. Even so, his officers sometimes dole out just a warning.
With those increasing vehicle stops, Portieri said police patrols are encountering drug or heroin possession incidents.
“The more you stop, the more work you’re going to get,” he said. “[Drug trafficking] is definitely here because you have the [Massachusetts] Turnpike [nearby]. New York borders us, [Route] 102, [Route] 20, and Pittsfield. I’m sure there’s a lot more here than we see.” The local statistics for breaking and entering violations are way down, year over year, he said.
A conflict over contract negotiations and the desire to spend more time with his family pushed Portieri’s decision to retire, a choice that will allow this avid outdoorsman additional hunting and fishing opportunities. He also might pick up a patrol detail here and there for a local community.
“I’ve enjoyed [serving as police chief],” Portieri said. “There’s a lot of nice people in town. Going forward, they have a good core group of police officers here.”
