Thoughts on public safety
On our town website, the Select Board role description clearly states right at the top that the Select Board is responsible for the oversight and delivery of all general municipal services, including Public Safety.
I’ve been vocally opposed to the position of many of the current members, publicly stating “it’s not our job to police the police” when, in fact, they are tasked with overseeing Police leadership.
As I have commented at Select Board meetings, in order to support the effective operation and functioning of our Police Department, I am against renewing our current Police Chief’s contract again—and feel we should be actively and carefully looking for a new Chief for the fresh start Canton needs.
I had hoped Chief Rafferty would use the past 9 months to rebuild trust within the town. Instead, we seem to be moving in the opposite direction.
I am disappointed by the lack of disciplinary action for mis-steps and that the Chief dispatched officers and resources in ways that are either petty or pose civil rights violations. It is pretty clear to me that we currently have a two-tiered system of police service in this town: one level of service for friends and family of the CPD, and a different level of service for the rest of us.
Like many of you, I was very troubled that after giving lip service to the importance of transparency, the Chief failed to disclose that she struck and injured a pedestrian while driving a vehicle owned by the town.
While attending a Select Board meeting in August of 2023 to talk about a funding request, Chief Rafferty went off on a lengthy tangent on the Karen Read case, asserting that there was no cover up and commenting on various witnesses. This was in direct violation of the Select Board’s stated prohibition to discuss the case involving Canton Police Department, as well as her own stated policy not to comment on the case . To make matters worse, the Select Board did nothing to curtail her inappropriate comments.
Additionally, I’d like to see the role of the Chief better collect funds for unpaid details over the years.
For example, we should not be permitting tree services or construction companies to have details for new projects until they pay for the more than $150k in outstanding invoices for police details.
Perhaps most important, we need to be interviewing new Police Chief candidates NOW as it will take time to find the strong, independent, fresh leader the department needs to rebuild Canton’s trust in our public safety and law enforcement department and leadership.
