Username:
 Password:
 

Are you not a member?
Register here
Forgot your password?
 
 
 
 
 
 



NEWS > 02 February 2007

Other related articles:

Botswana police deny xenophobi
GABORONE – The Botswana Police Service has denied a report carried in The Zimbabwean of November 30, 2006) headlined “6 000 Zimbabweans beaten in Botswana”.

Supt Witness K. Bosija, the service’s deputy public relations officer, dismissed the article as an attempt “to tarnish the cordial relationship that exists between Botswana and Zimbabwe”.

He insisted that the police service placed a high value on human rights “as articulated in the United Nations Charter”, and denied that the Special Support Group (SSG) of the Botswana Police Service dealt with cases of violence an... Read more

 Article sourced from

Brockton Enterprise - Brockton
02 February 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.


Kingston chief fined for lendi

Kingston Police Chief Joseph J. Rebello was fined $1,000 by the state Ethics Commission for letting a Monson selectman borrow a police pistol six years ago when Rebello held the top police job there.

The commission found that Rebello, Kingston chief since 2005, violated the state's conflict-of-interest laws when he issued the Monson selectman the pistol for protection after a police sergeant was suspended.

Rebello never disclosed in writing that he issued the pistol to the selectman, one of his superiors, and there was nothing in the Monson town ordinances or state law that authorizes a chief to do that, the commission found.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Rebello said the pistol issuance was no secret in town — he told the other selectmen and the town administrator about it at the time.

“Everyone knew,” he said. “This was not a secret thing that was done.”

Rebello said he issued Monson Selectman James Manning the pistol after a police sergeant was placed on psychological leave by the town. The sergeant had been the selectman's campaign chairman, he said.

“Because of some of the personnel decisions, (Manning) felt he was in danger, and I felt he was, too,” Rebello said. “The sergeant that was out of work on psychological leave had been his campaign manager and Manning felt that this person was going to feel very betrayed by him ... I was feeling that we were all in danger and I certainly wouldn't have done anything if I thought there was a conflict of interest or an ethics violation.”

Rebello, Monson police chief from February 1992 until July 2001, was asked by Manning in late 2000 or early 2001 if there were any extra police pistols and if there were, would he issue him one, the commission wrote in a four-page decision. Rebello said he believes the request was made even earlier.

Selectmen, who serve as police commissioners, are not normally issued police pistols, the commission noted.

Manning had a gun permit at the time he was issued the pistol.

However, Rebello agreed to give Manning the pistol on the condition he go through the same firearms qualification training course as the town police officers, according to the commission and Rebello.

Manning said he wanted the pistol for protection because he was afraid of a suspended town police sergeant, the commission said.

Manning returned the pistol about six months later when he left for military duty, but in 2003 asked the man who replaced Rebello as chief to issue him a pistol.

That chief, Curtis McKenzie, refused and notified the other selectmen. The other selectmen decided Manning should not get a police pistol.

The commission fined Manning $2,000, saying he used his position as selectman to “secure an unwarranted privilege of substantial value not properly available to similarly situated individuals.”

Rebello said the issue of the pistol came up after selectmen did not renew McKenzie's contract as police chief.

Rebello said, in hindsight, he would have loaned Manning money to buy a pistol rather than issue a police pistol to the selectman.

“I knew at the time things were financially tight for the individual,” Rebello said of Manning, who is no longer a selectman in Monson.

Monson is in central Massachusetts on the Connecticut border.

 

EiP Comments:

 


* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.


 
 
[about EiP] [membership] [information room] [library] [online shopping]
[EiP services] [contact information]
 
 
Policing Research 2010 EthicsinPolicing Limited. All rights reserved International Policing
privacy policy

site designed, maintained & hosted by
The Consultancy
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications