Thursday, March 23, 2000

Firm begins review of police dept. - By DAN SHOHL - STAFF WRITER

A Boston consulting firm has begun the work of examining Arlington's police department from stem to stern.

Crest Associates, which recently completed a sweeping and high-profile review of Boston's Fire Department, has been selected to examine the staffing, equipment and procedural needs of Arlington's 68-employee police department.

The consultants performing the work include Kathleen O'Toole, a former State Police officer and Secretary of Public Safety under Gov. William Weld; Richard St. Louis, formerly O'Toole's chief of staff at Public Safety; Stephen Unsworth, former chief of police for Waltham; and James Gilbert, former general counsel with the state Executive Office of Public Safety.

The consultants, having received a $37,500 contract for the study, began their work three weeks ago, interviewing the town's higher ranking police officers, including Director Fred Ryan, the presidents of the two police unions, and other town officials.

The team will be gathering its data into next month, examining procedures, talking with sworn officers and civilian staff, riding with officers on patrol, and so forth. The goal, said Ryan and St. Louis, is to arrive at achievable improvements for the police.

"[We're] not attempting to do the quick-hit, drop-a-report-and-run," said St. Louis. "We want to produce a report that is going to be beneficial and utilized."

The police-management study grew from a call for an independent examination of the department after an incident involving an off-duty Arlington police officer that expanded into a divisive, town-wide issue.

Last April, former Arlington Patrolman Richard Jenkins was tried and convicted for being a disorderly person and filing a false stolen-vehicle report during a 1997 "peeping tom" incident at an East Arlington home.

Soon after the conviction, which led to Jenkins serving three months in jail, Selectman Charles Lyons proposed the formation of a special commission to take an outside look at the police department to improve public confidence in the police and to restore morale among their ranks.

Also after Jenkins' conviction, the town initiated disciplinary proceedings for two other police officers, Daniel Kelly and Jennifer McGurl, who had encountered Jenkins on the night of the incident and conveyed him to his hometown of Medford without advising their superiors. Town Manager Donald Marquis and Eugene Del Gaizo, then head of the police department, asserted that McGurl and Kelly had lied to their superiors about the incident, and that Kelly had filed a false police report and initially made false statements to state police investigating the incident. Both officers were fired from the department last summer.

The firings were strenuously opposed by local activists, friends and family of the officers, and the patrolmen's union, who said the town had been capricious and overly harsh. They picketed Town Hall during the disciplinary hearings, held "Arlington Demands Fairness" signs at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Pleasant Street, and held a rally before and during a selectman's meeting in September. That meeting was disrupted when a retired Arlington police officer began screaming obscenities at Town Counsel John Maher, who had advocated the town's case during the disciplinary hearings.

At the end of August, Lyons withdrew his suggestion for an outside commission, offering in its place a police-management study that would make a broader, deeper analysis of what is needed to make "a police department for the 21st century." The town manager, responding to a union concern, said input from all officers would be sought.

"Everybody with have a chance to have their say," said Marquis when the study was discussed. "We can't do this without the cooperation of literally every police officer working for the town."

Last month, before an appeal of the firings was set to begin, attorneys for the town and the officers worked out a settlement agreement where McGurl and Kelly agreed they made mistakes, apologized to the residents and employees of the town, and accepted heavy suspensions.

When the settlement was announced, six Arlington residents, asking not to be quoted, contacted The Advocate to say that they had lingering concerns about the Arlington police. Most said that they were unhappy with the return of the two officers. Many of the residents added that they particularly objected to the tenor and method of the protests undertaken on McGurl's and Kelly's behalf.

Crest's work will include a review of the Arlington police department's mechanism for dealing with alleged officer misconduct as part of the larger study. Three areas in particular are identified in the firm's proposal that appear to address the concerns of Town Hall, the patrolmen and residents who either favored or did not agree with Kelly and McGurl's return to the force.

St. Louis said Crest's study will not rehash the facts or actions related to the Jenkins incident. He said personnel policies are usually part of any police study.

"It was generalistic when you go into management studies ... for public safety organizations," he said. "There is no focus on past incidents." Ryan, the current director of Arlington's police department, arrived at his job in August, having most recently served as deputy chief with the Concord police.

While Ryan stressed that accountability and disciplinary procedures will be part of a larger look at his department's requirements, he said he recognized the need to maintain public confidence in the department police. He said he recognized his own obligations in that regard.

"When you talk about accountability and standards of performance, it starts at the top," he said. "I need to be held accountable, as chief law-enforcement officer in the this town, for the conduct of the officers in this department, which ... I welcome. It will start with me."

The study is not limited to personnel issues. Unsworth, O'Toole, Gilbert and St. Louis have outlined a plan to look at everything that makes a department work, with an eye toward making it a more effective and efficient force.

The Crest team will be developing two anonymous surveys. The first will be mailed to a representative sample of residents to gauge their level of satisfaction and experience with their police department. The second will be given to the employees of the department.

The firm will also hold two public meetings to hear and talk to citizens about the study, a chance for people who don't receive a survey to meet the team and ask questions. The second will take place three months later, when the team presents its report.

The town also has an option in the Crest contract to keep the firm on board to implement their recommendations. Exercising that option would cost an additional $7,500.

There is an article on this year's Town Meeting warrant, Article 11, that allows Arlington to adopt any proposals that come from this study. This year's Town Meeting might be too early to take up the bulk of Crest's recommendations, as the company's proposed timeline outlines a work schedule though the middle of the summer. St. Louis said having the article on the warrant would allow the town to address any glaring funding shortfalls that might come of the study.

"I see this [study] as an investment in our future, to be able to use the recommendations of these consultants to most effectively deploy our current resources and identify the potential for the need of any [additional] resources," said Ryan.

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