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New York Times - United States
15 March 2008

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Madison Police Department, CT

Officers’ Firings Prompt Calls

THE dismissal of three local police officers for misconduct in recent months has prompted a growing number of residents in this usually quiet shore town of 19,000 to question the police chief’s management skills and demand that he step down.

First Selectman Al Goldberg said he gets two or three calls a day from residents complaining about the Police Department. Other residents are writing letters to the editor of the town’s newspaper, The Source, expressing their concern about the department’s leadership. More than 300 residents showed up at a town meeting earlier this year with the majority of people loudly seeking his ouster.

“There is such outrage and it’s not clear that the problems are going to be addressed,” said Peggy Soufer, 50, a resident for more than 20 years who attended the meeting at the Walter C. Polson Middle School. “The first person who spoke at the meeting asked, ‘How do we get this man fired?’ and everybody applauded.”

But Chief Paul D. Jakubson, 58, a member of the department for 34 years and chief since 1998, said he has no plans to resign because he said he was not the one who violated departmental rules and policies. He brought the charges against the officers after an internal investigation. Two of the officers were accused of visiting houses of prostitution and consorting with felons. Another officer was accused of trying to hinder an investigation, among other charges.

“I’m not going to throw in the towel,” Mr. Jakubson said in an interview. “It’s nothing I did. It’s decisions they as individuals made.”

Mr. Goldberg said the members of the Board of Selectmen do not have the authority to take action on the chief’s role.

In most Connecticut towns, the police departments are overseen by a local Board of Police Commissioners, whose members are appointed by the town selectmen, and only the board has the authority to fire and hire the chief, after showing cause, said David Smith, vice chairman of the board.

Recently, the board appointed Thom Cartledge, a former commissioner, to find an expert to advise the board on how to move forward on the matter of the department’s leadership.

“We’ll review the entire process of policing and ethics,” Mr. Cartledge said. “We want an open dialogue between all parties.”

The three officers were terminated by the Board of Police Commissioners for violating departmental rules after administrative charges were brought against them by Chief Jakubson following an internal investigation. The three police officers — Officer Bernard Durgin Jr., Officer Matthew Sterling and Sgt. Timothy Heiden — all worked the midnight shift.

LAST May, another Madison police officer, Joseph Gambardella, was dismissed after administrative and criminal charges were brought against him including allegations that he stole frozen seafood from Lenny and Joe’s Fish Tale, a local restaurant.

Ronald Suraci at the United Public Service Employees Union, Coalition of Public Safety Division, which is representing the four officers, said all four have filed grievances with the state labor board contesting their dismissals.

The charges against Mr. Durgin include reportedly flashing his badge to keep a fellow motorcycle club member from being arrested during an altercation in New Haven and using a police database to get information about women. Mr. Heiden was accused of what the Police Commission called an interference with the state investigation into Mr. Gambardella and of not adequately managing the midnight shift.

Charges against Mr. Sterling included visiting houses of prostitution and consorting with a felon, both with Mr. Durgin.

In addition to the administrative charges, Mr. Gambardella and Mr. Durgin both face criminal charges in Superior Court in New Haven, filed by the State’s Attorneys Office, said William H. Clendenen Jr., the town’s attorney.

Mr. Gambardella, who is accused of larceny and burglary charges, is scheduled to appear in Superior Court on March 27. His lawyer, Hugh F. Keefe said Mr. Gambardella has pleaded not guilty to the two charges.

Mr. Durgin faces criminal charges including computer crime for stalking women, worker’s compensation fraud, larceny, tampering with a witness and intimidation of a witness. He is to appear in court on March 28. His lawyer, Joseph Wicklow, said, “If we enter a plea on the 28th, it will be not guilty.” He said he is still waiting for information from the State’s Attorneys Office.

“I wish I had more confidence in the management over there,” said Bill Gashlin, 73 and a four-year resident. “They should be looking at the lieutenants and the chief.”

Mr. Goldberg, who has lived in Madison for 33 years and has served as the first selectman for a couple of months, agreed.

“This has been a troubled department as long as I’ve lived in town,” he said. He also said the town has spent several hundred thousand dollars in legal fees and he expects the town will be spending more.

Defending his management of the department, Chief Jakubson said he was working to improve the department, but he likened the fired officers to juveniles who steal candy and aren’t caught the first time.

“Why do they violate the rules?” Chief Jakubson asked. “Maybe their sense of right and wrong is not fully developed.”

He said the department planned to provide additional training for its employees.

“It will be a reaffirmation of police ethics,” he said. “One would also hope that because of what has occurred, individual officers will take stock of themselves.”

The problems have put a strain on the department, with more officers being asked to work extra shifts to cover for the officers who left. Officer Bill Roy, 25, a Madison police officer for just 15 months, said the department was coping. “We’re just trying to keep our heads up,” he said.

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New York Times - United States15 March 2008

Officers’ Firings Prompt Calls

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New York Times - United States
15 March 2008