01945 Fall 2021

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Man in charge
Marblehead's police chief since July 1, Dennis King, has 26 years of experience in law enforcement, including a stint as acting chief in Salem.
CHIEF, from page 08
July 1 from former Police Chief Robert
Picariello. King says that the community
and the department have been more than
welcoming to him.
“It’s been really exciting and
challenging,” King said. “I have high
hopes for the department. It’s a very
solid department. Everybody has a role
and really does a good job and works
together.”
King has been in law enforcement for
26 years. He was a police officer for the
City of Salem for 21 years, a member of
the police reserves for four years and the
acting chief in Salem for nine months.
While he spent some time working
with former Chief Picariello, King said
that he hadn’t really known many people
at the Marblehead Police Department
before joining its force. He said that
there's been a steep learning curve, one
that he has been happy to take on.
“I’d say that’s been challenging when
you go from a community where you
know everyone and every street and you
have relationships with everyone, to go
to a situation where you don’t have those
relationships that are established,” King
said. “It takes a little bit of extra work, in
terms of getting up to speed and relying
on people for institutional knowledge.”
King said that despite this being a
move from a city to a town, his role as
chief won’t be extremely different.
“I’m still the face and spokesman for
the department. I handle administrative
and budget things,” King said.
He said that he wants to have the
officers be more interactive with the
people they serve and create a more
inclusive culture.
“I’ve found that there are certain
things around community engagement
that the department is ready for that I
did in Salem," King said.
A month after King came into office,
an investigation into a swastika carved
into a police officer’s car was reaching
its conclusion. That incident, which
happened in July 2019, was caused by
another officer making a "joke."
King said that this incident, along
with national concerns about police
policy, has made members of the
Marblehead community skeptical
towards the department. He said that
through education with the Anti-
Defamation League and community
outreach, he feels the department is
headed in the right direction.
“I’ve listened and I think that we have
the same interest in making changes that
need to be made and building back that
trust so everyone feels confident in the
department,” King said. “Recognizing
that we can do better when we solicit
input from the community on how
they want us to police them, is a really
important thing.”
King’s goal is to make sure the
entire department is certified under
the Massachusetts Commonwealth’s
criminal-justice reform law. So far, he
says that every officer has been certified
through the Police Officer Standards
and Training, and that the department
is currently accredited through the
Commission on Accreditation for Law
Enforcement Agencies.
Under the new law, once an officer
is certified, they must keep their
certification while working as an officer.
The program is designed to help educate
officers not only on the new policies put
in place by the state, but also educate
officers on what outdated training will be
retired.
King said he is emphasizing the
importance of community engagement,
being transparent as officers, and the
department holding itself accountable.
“I really do believe that the
community in (Marblehead) is a great
community,” King said. “It’s civic minded.
Everybody wants people to be treated
fair and equitable. Social justice is a part
of that.”
Overall, King says that he feels
incredibly welcomed to his new
community. He said that he is excited for
the next chapter of his career in a town
that cares so much about each other and
how they are treated as a whole.
“I’ve really found the town and the
civic engagement and interests of the
citizens here very uplifting,” King said.
“It’s a very close-knit — but civicminded
— community.”