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6-14-2022 10:07pm
Independent Investigation Ongoing Into Alleged “Serious Misconduct” by Medfield Police
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Medfield’s Board of Selectmen have revealed, through a statement issued on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, that since March, there has been an “ongoing Internal Affairs investigation into allegations of serious misconduct by multiple Medfield Police Officers.” The allegations include regularly and “intentionally sleeping on duty” for several hours, “at times exceeding five hours of a regularly scheduled eight-hour shift.”
Medfield’s Board of Selectmen further state that two officers were immediately placed on paid administrative leave. It notes that a number of police staff resigned after the opening of an independent investigation.
The Board of Selectmen issued the statement in response to public concerns regarding staffing level at the Medfield Police Department. Job openings created from these resignations may be the same openings that Medfield Police Chief Michelle Guerette referred to in a statement from the Medfield Police Department that she issued on May 26, 2022, following the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. Last month, Chief Guerette acknowledged the lack of a full-time School Resource Officer and the existence of several recent vacancies “which have led to difficulties filling shifts” and the decision to pull officers from specialty/office assignments.
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“After exploring many options to help fill these shifts, the Town made the decision to pull officers from specialty/office assignments back onto patrolling in the community,” reads Chief Guerette’s statement. “Medfield Police Department is a community-first department which focuses on proactive, preventative policing. In order to accomplish this goal, the Department made the decision to prioritize having officers on patrol and visible in the community,” she wrote.
There are two ways to police – proactive and reactive policing. According to Dr. David Muhlhausen, a past director of the National Institute of Justice, proactive policing is “getting out in front of events” with a focus on prevention and crime reduction. In contrast, reactive policing is essentially officers responding to service calls.
Chief Guerette’s and the Board of Selectmen’s support of proactive policing stands in opposition to the union’s apparent position in support of reactive policing. The Board of Selectmen noted “a consistent pattern of officer inactivity during the midnight shift” which the Selectmen say is condoned by the police union as reactive policing.
The Board of Selectmen state, “The Medfield Police Department is funded by our tax dollars and the residents of Medfield should expect that all of our police officers are engaged in active patrols during all shifts. . . . Long, consistent periods of inactivity do not meet the standard of service that the Chief requires and that the citizens of Medfield deserve.”
