The Recorded Phone Call Between Marshfield Police Chief Phil Tavares and Joe Pecevich

Two grown men have different recollections of events from 14 years ago.

News and Analysis

Hundreds of Marshfield residents gather at the June 30, 2025 Marshfield Select Board meeting to watch a discussion over a dispute that started over differing recollections of what happened in 2011.

July 4, 2025 (Marshfield) — The full recording of Marshfield Police Chief Phil Tavares’ phone call with Joe Pecevich is uploaded at the end of the story.

In the phone call, Tavares asks for a retraction of statements Pecevich made about Tavares in his June 18 episode of Control Room.

Pecevich told him to call him back on an unrecorded line.

As readers will recall, Tavares did just that, but Pecevich took exception to what Tavares said to him in a second unrecorded phone call and filed a complaint with the Town of Marshfield.

At a meeting on June 30, in front of a crowd of hundreds of Tavares’ supporters, the Select Board voted to do nothing about Pecevich’s complaint.

Differing Recollections of an Event 14 Years Ago

Here’s how it all started.

In 2011, when Pecevich was put on trial for trespass at the Marshfield Public Schools, Tavares was a captain in the Marshfield Police Department.

Pecevich said on his show that he recalled seeing Tavares in the courtroom when the jury came back with a not guilty verdict.

Tavares says he wasn’t there.

I was just hoping that you'd do a retraction. I was never in that courthouse. I had nothing to do with your arrest or the case whatsoever.