Former Raynham police chief honored by town
Article Date: June 29, 2014
From The Taunton Gazette
By Marc Larocque
RAYNHAM – A retired police chief who served his community for nearly four decades was celebrated on Tuesday.
The Raynham Board of Selectmen honored former Raynham Police Chief Lou Pacheco on Tuesday night with the dedication of the new annual town report. Pacheco, who continues to work as the chief of operations for the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, started as a civilian dispatcher at the Raynham Police Department in 1972, serving every position in the department before retiring as chief in 2011.
“It’s difficult to get an award like this,” Pacheco said, with his family looking on. “When it was first mentioned to me, I was seriously considering turning it down because nothing in police work is done alone. It’s the ultimate team thing. What (former police) Chief (Peter) King built on, we built on, I built on. But nothing at all is done alone.”
From 1985 to 1990, Pacheco served as the director of the Bristol County Drug Task Force, which seized over $300 million in drugs, according to the town report dedication. Pacheco was also known for his work as a Raynham K-9 officer, a firearms instructor, an undercover narcotics investigator and a longtime teacher of young police officers at the Massachusetts Police Academy.
Pacheco was also lauded for starting REACCT, the Regional Electronics and Computer Crime Taskforce, “which did some groundbreaking work in video and computer forensics as well as Internet safety,” the dedication said.
Pacheco said that he and other officers were always told to “leave a situation a little better than you found it,” and that he was proud to help improve the department in any way he could.
“I’ve been very lucky to have friends as my bosses all the way through,” Pacheco said, including the Raynham selectmen and his current boss, Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter.
Calling Pacheco “the human being whisperer,” riffing off of the “Dog Whisperer” television show, Sutter said that the former Raynham police chief is talented at working with people.
“I think Raynham benefited from his independence of thought and innovative approach to matters,” said Sutter, who came to the meeting to see Pacheco honored. “He also has a true gift with people … because of the way he handles difficult personnel matters. I sometimes call him the human being whisperer because he’s that good. … This is a great honor. You deserve it.”
Selectwoman Marie Smith, who started working for Raynham government two years prior to Pacheco in 1970, said she was happy to call him a friend.
Selectman Joseph Pacheco, who is Lou Pacheco’s cousin, said his relative’s “legacy carries on after his retirement.”
Also during the Tuesday night meeting, the selectmen honored the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School girls’ softball team for its state championship victory. Selectmen Chairman Richard Schiavo read a proclamation to the girls, dedicating a day in Raynham in honor of the team.
“Giving us this great honor and giving us this day, we can’t express how much this means to us,” said Holly Greet, a graduating senior from the Trojans team. “We’d like to thank you from the deepest of our hearts.”
Original Article: http://m.raynham.wickedlocal.com/article/20140629/News/140626330