By Matt Stout
A “rogue cop” is likely responsible for the theft of drugs from the Attleboro police station’s evidence room, Police Chief Kyle Heagney said, underscoring the need for all police officers to be drug tested, a practice currently banned by collective bargaining pacts in Massachusetts.
Heagney said an investigation is under way to determine how an undisclosed amount of cocaine and other narcotics went missing from the station’s “inner sanctum,” discovered during what he called a routine audit in August. He has since changed the locks to the evidence room, reduced the number of officers who have keys and plans to add security cameras.
The theft has prompted “shock and disbelief” from fellow officers and could destroy public confidence in his cops, he said.
The police union’s current contract doesn’t allow drug testing, but Heagney said state law should change to remove the issue from the bargaining table.
“I think we owe it to the public to do it,” he said.
Leigh A. Panettiere, a lawyer for the Attleboro union, an affiliate of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, said during her six years representing the city’s officers, they’ve never been opposed to drug testing, but the union and Attleboro have yet to agree to the terms of the policy.
“We are cooperating fully with the investigation, while ensuring the constitutional and collective bargaining rights of our members,” President Kevin Fuoco and President-elect Jeffrey Peavey of the Attleboro Police Association said in a joint statement.
Heagney said A.P.D. Management, a private police consulting company, is leading the probe.
These types of incidents aren’t new. In 2003, $80,000 worth of marijuana was stolen from a Dracut police storage trailer. Two officers were accused of being “intentionally deceptive” about their involvement, but both were eventually cleared and the 154 pounds of drugs were never recovered. Boston police in 2008 released an audit detailing the theft of drugs in hundreds of cases from a Hyde Park evidence warehouse.
“We only have bad cops when good cops protect them,” Heagney said. “My goal is to weed and seed. I may not become the most popular person in the process, but I really don’t care at this point. I will terminate corrupt police officers.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_1229missing_drug_evidence_points_to_rogue_cop/
“We are cooperating fully with the investigation, while ensuring the constitutional and collective bargaining rights of our members,” President Kevin Fuoco and President-elect Jeffrey Peavey of the Attleboro Police Association said in a joint statement.
Heagney said A.P.D. Management, a private police consulting company, is leading the probe.
These types of incidents aren’t new. In 2003, $80,000 worth of marijuana was stolen from a Dracut police storage trailer. Two officers were accused of being “intentionally deceptive” about their involvement, but both were eventually cleared and the 154 pounds of drugs were never recovered. Boston police in 2008 released an audit detailing the theft of drugs in hundreds of cases from a Hyde Park evidence warehouse.
“We only have bad cops when good cops protect them,” Heagney said. “My goal is to weed and seed. I may not become the most popular person in the process, but I really don’t care at this point. I will terminate corrupt police officers.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_1229missing_drug_evidence_points_to_rogue_cop/
