Is Crime Up or Down in Pittsfield? Retiring Chief Dawley Has The Answer

After 24 years with the Pittsfield Police Department and two and a half years as chief, Tom Dawley has watched crime trends shift across the city. So when asked whether crime is up or down, he had a clear answer: it depends on what you're counting.

"If you go on our website and you look at the five-year span, it is down," Dawley said in an interview on Tuesday morning with Slater and Marjo. "The only thing that is up that I saw was property crimes - breaking and entering, larcenies from houses and stuff like that, vandalism. For whatever reason, that's up."

But the bigger picture? Violent crime is actually trending downward.

"Some of the major categories, like violent crimes, is actually down," Dawley said. "We're obviously in a different era than we were 20 years ago."

So what's driving the drop in violent crime? Dawley credits collaboration between local law enforcement agencies as a major factor.

"You have the current police department, the DA's office, and the Sheriff's Office - the DA's office is holding people accountable for their actions. We're just the starting point," he said.

Modern technology has played a role too. Forensics have improved dramatically, and the proliferation of cell phone cameras has created what Dawley called a "surveillance culture" that may act as a deterrent.

But that same technology cuts both ways. Dawley pointed to social media as a possible driver behind the uptick in property crimes, with perpetrators monitoring real-time posts to determine when homes are unoccupied.

"Real-time social media posts" give burglars a roadmap, he explained - making it easier to target empty homes.

Dawley, 52, retires January 9 after a career that began in 2002. He rose through the ranks from patrol officer to detective, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and eventually chief.