GOSHEN — Capping a gradual transition from the business world to small-town law enforcement, Fred Bezio was recently named chief of police in Goshen.

Bezio, 53, started working as a police officer seven years ago in neighboring Ashfield, where his wife, Beth Bezio, is police chief. Until then, he had worked in manufacturing, most recently as a production manager at a business in Turners Falls.

“I was always interested in policing,” he said.

After joining the force in Ashfield, he said, David Gendron, who was acting chief at the time, put him through training with the Massachusetts Police Training Committee. He is also certified through the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission.

When longtime Goshen chief Jeffrey Hewes and his wife, Donna, retired in June 2021, William Bissell was named acting chief and Bezio said he asked him if he could come work in Goshen.

So Bezio worked as a patrol officer for about a year before being promoted to sergeant in May 2022. In February, he was named chief, and Bissell was appointed sergeant.

“I grew to love the town,” Bezio said. “I’m proud to be here.”

Other members of the department, he said, are Eric Haberman, Jeffrey Fish and Beth Bezio. The department has two vehicles, with a third about to be retired.

The job of Goshen police chief is a part-time position, 24 hours a week, he said. The rest of his time he works as sergeant in Ashfield.

Bezio said he aims to create and maintain a professional police organization, focusing on community policing, with transparency and accountability.

“Community outreach is a big part of any chief’s responsibility,” he said.

Part of that involves social media, and Bezio has set up a Facebook page to enhance community outreach.

The nature of some of the calls coming in to the department has changed in recent times, he said.

“Mental health has become a serious crisis,” he said.

Numerous hilltowns, including Goshen, have banded together on a grant application to fund a mental health counselor who serves as a co-responder on crisis calls, he said. The counselor, with police backup, provides an assessment of the individual in crisis, and this in turn leads to fewer arrests, he said.

Another issue that small-town departments in particular are facing is that the police reform law has made part-time police work unsustainable.

“The largest problem is that there’s nobody coming through the academy who’s going to work part-time,” Bezio said. “The long-term impact is hard to predict.”

James Pentland can be reached at jpentland@gazettenet.com.

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