I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down and have an interview with Police Chief Strout. The following is the interview:

What’s your name and job title?

“My name is Deanna Strout and I’m the Chief of Police in Dalton.”

Did you always want to be a police officer?

“Yes, since I was five years old. I wanted to be a police officer my entire life; it never changed. Which made life pretty easy when it came to school and goal setting because I didn’t have to think about what I wanted to do. I just knew and proceeded with everything I wanted to do to meet that goal.”

Did you have any other job before becoming a police officer?

“I did. I actually worked at Angelina’s when I was in high school. Then I worked loss prevention jobs at the mall when the mall was open. I also worked at Sears. Then I got the job here in 1998.”

Why did you become a police officer?

“There were a couple reasons. I have an aunt and uncle who are very special to me and they took care of me because both my parents worked when I was little. I would go to their house and they would take care of me every day, and my uncle happened to be a police officer here in Dalton. I wanted to be just like him, so I think that’s where it started. I don’t think it’s that I necessarily knew what he did at work; it’s just that I wanted to be just like him. So that was the start of why. But then when I saw the impact you could make on your community, it just kind of grew from there.”

What does it feel like to be the first female police chief in Dalton?

“I don’t really think about it like that because I was the first female officer here too. I don’t really look at it being a female thing though. I’m proud of it, if I stop and think about it, because it’s a big deal. It’s a pretty male dominated field. So to be able to get promoted, I competed against twenty-three men for this job. I guess it’s a big accomplishment, but I don’t really think about the male versus female role because there is just so much to do everyday. But I’m proud of it if you put it like that I suppose.”

What do you hope to accomplish with this role?

“Changing the culture here and the environment and really [making] sure we really work on [having] a great relationship with our community is key to me. I’ve never been a police officer that focused on enforcing as much as much as I did interacting with the community and being in the helper role. It was more important to me to help someone and fill a gap. If someone needed us then we could help them as opposed to making the arrests. It’s a different mindset. I engaged in community policing before I even knew what that was. It was just the way that I did my job.”

If you were to say anything to younger you, what would you say?

“Probably the same thing I say to my kids: you can really do anything you want. We live in a world now where it’s encouraged [to believe that you can] really accomplish anything you want. It’s hard work. I worked three jobs to put myself through college. I wasn’t able to go away to school when I graduated from high school because my parents were both very ill. So I had to work three jobs and put myself through college and I did. Now I have two Master’s degrees. I didn’t have the traditional, my parents let me go off to college for four years. I didn’t have that. I always had to work and really take care of myself in that sense because my dad was ill when I was a senior in high school. He recovered, but my mom unfortunately didn’t. She died when I had just turned twenty-two, so she didn’t get to see me in this job. She never saw me in my uniform. But I did it. I got the job.”

What do you want to tell someone who is questioning about becoming a police officer?

“I’ve thought about that a lot. The biggest thing we have going against us right now is the media. Depending on what media you listen to, we are horrible people. They say terrible things about us, and I can tell you that in Berkshire county, I know a vast majority of police officers. Don’t believe what the media says. 99% of police officers are good humans and you look around in your community and it’s the police officers volunteering their time and going the extra yard to help their community [to] become a better place.

I’d tell young people. Check out, come to a ride-along, stop in, come out for a visit, see what we do, get to know us as humans. We’re all people just like everyone else. We all have families that care about us that want us to come home safe to them.

Just work hard, everything takes work. Kids always say they want to be a detective. I always remind people you have to [do] the police officer work first. There is no police department that says ‘hey, we’re going to hire you off the street and make you a detective.’ You have to be really good at being a police officer first and then you get promoted to a detective or an investigator position. So people have that misunderstanding that you can just jump out and be a detective. It’s a great job, but you [have] to be good at this part first. It’s like climbing a ladder.”

What do you think about the media about police officers?

“I hate it. I have really good police officers here and it has such a negative impact on their morale. I talk to them all the time about it and they’re afraid to go out and do their job because of the way we are portrayed and it’s unfair. It’s not accurate at all. I listen to some of these stats and there is no fact basis behind these stats. I read one the other day and it said something like: police have killed 400-500 unarmed minorities in motor vehicles and I’m like ‘where do you come up with this stuff? It’s not even true.’ But unfortunately, they just say whatever they want and people believe it. You have [social media platforms] and there is free speech which I totally stand behind, but with that free speech comes a lot of responsibility and when you say horrible things about specific groups of people, there is responsibility that comes with that. But unfortunately I’m not seeing that happening. They’re saying whatever they want about us, and nothing seems to change certain people’s viewpoints.

The George Floyd thing, I have never heard one police officer defend those actions of those officers at all. To any police officer that cares about what we do, it makes you sick to watch it and see that. It was horrifying. We’re currently dealing with a lot of reform[s] and changes. Massachusetts, and I know I’m a little bit biased to say this, has exceptionally good training. We’re well ahead of the curve for de-escalation and verbal tactics when we speak with people. I’m very much pro-training and we could do better. There are always ways to improve and I think that it’s important that we continue to grow and learn and train and get better with what we’re doing because it’s important that our community first of all trusts us, but second of all works with us. Because if we don’t have a cooperative community, we’re not going to be very successful in the street and in what we do.”

How many schools do you do D.A.R.E. at?

“I teach [at] Craneville and Saint Agnes Academy. Those are my two. I do the elementary schools here, just fifth grade still and I’m still doing it. I refuse to give it up. It was part of the package when I got this job, I really didn’t want to give that up because I enjoy it. It’s a fun time to be with the kids, and it’s such a great age too because they ask such fantastic questions and I love having that interaction with them.

It’s fun, it’s one of those times where it’s a little bit different [from] your traditional academic setting. We have some pretty interesting conversations and I love to do D.A.R.E. when we have moments to talk about, things that are going on around us and it’s fun because you can ask questions that you may not want to ask your teacher.”

Are you seeing a rise in the number of females trying to get into the police force?

“Yes, and that makes me exceptionally happy. So we have myself and we have one other female officer, and we just offered employment to another female who accepted. But it’s going to be a little bit of time before we see her because there is such a backlog in the police academy. Now it looks like she might not be able to come and attend the academy until like January, which means it’s like…it’s a huge delay in hiring. We have a lack of accessibility and training because we’re in Berkshire County and we don’t have anything here. We have to travel and that drives me bananas. I complain about it at every meeting I have the opportunity to complain about it at, so I do.”

Do you enjoy working in Berkshire County?

“I love it. It’s my home; it’s definitely a great place to be. We have good everything, [but] not enough restaurants…We need more options. But [it’s] getting there.”

Are you living your dream job?

“For sure, although I never dreamed to be chief. That was never my goal for some reason. I loved just being a police officer; that’s just what I loved. I loved getting the calls. Today we had a three car accident, and I was able to go out and help the guys on the call so it still makes me happy to be able to go and do that stuff. I wear my uniform to work everyday just in case I have the chance to go out and back them up, because I just love it. It’s what I like to do. I have a different role now, but it’s ok. I never set my goal for this; it wasn’t something I ever really thought of doing. I just loved the job itself. This was kind of a bonus.”