By Eric Moskowitz
Boston Globe
HAMILTON, Mass. — With its graceful Colonials and snow-covered horse farms, Hamilton in winter looks as if it were lifted from a Currier and Ives scene. Less idyllic are the feelings of many of its residents, whose appreciation for their pastoral setting has been usurped by a mix of sadness, anger, and embarrassment elicited by a Police Department scandal.
“I’m very ashamed,” said Lois Davis, a 72-year-old retiree who has lived in town for more than 40 years. “People always used to say to me: `Oh, you live in Hamilton? Do you have horses?’ Now I don’t want to tell them where I live, because they’ll say, `Oh, you have the crooked police department.”’
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health suspended the license of Hamilton’s police-run ambulance service earlier this month after an investigation revealed that a majority of the town’s officers, including the chief, participated in a scheme to falsify emergency medical technician training and certification records.
That enabled them to continue to run the ambulance service - and receive thousands of dollars in bonus pay as officer-EMTs - despite the apparent widespread failure to keep up with mandatory continuing education and refresher training designed to protect the public.
“I could see if a few got away with it, but all the way to the top? That’s unforgivable,” said Anthony DiFrancisco, a 74-year-old architect. Like Davis, he was interviewed at the Shoppes at Hamilton Crossing, a clapboard-covered plaza near the Wenham line where all the stores, including the Dunkin’ Donuts, have signs of carved wood and polished brass.
“The hardest thing to swallow is that it’s so widespread,” DiFrancisco added. “That’s the thing that’s really scary.”
With his retirement pending and his roughly $80,000-a-year pension in jeopardy, Chief Walter Cullen was recently placed on paid leave, along with Sergeant Donald Dupray. An independent, selectmen-commissioned investigation found that the two had misappropriated a $6,100 federal technology grant.
Dupray declined to be interviewed. Cullen did not return calls seeking comment.
The investigation - conducted by Robert J. Pomeroy, former Plymouth police chief - resulted in an 85-page report released in two parts earlier this month.
Pomeroy, whom the selectmen subsequently asked to act as interim chief, probed an array of allegations; although some were unsubstantiated, the report painted a picture of an unhealthy department with inadequate oversight and internal factions, and it suggested that the selectmen consider disciplinary action against some officers and the town counsel.
In interviews across this town of about 8,000 people, many said their faith in the department was shaken. Some declined to give their names, saying they were afraid of retribution. Opinions varied about what should be done going forward; some wanted to clean house, while others wanted to forgive and move on quickly.
“They should all be put in jail,” said Diana Campbell, 65, a lawyer with an office on Railroad Avenue. “I don’t even know how they can walk through the town. We trusted them and relied on them, and they let us down.”
Jay Burnham, a real estate broker, called it “a very sad situation,” saying people are eager to see the matter resolved swiftly, even as they wonder whether charges might result.
“We’re all proud of most of the police officers on our force,” said Burnham, who was walking his Welsh terriers, Ozzie and Harriet, near Campbell’s office. “We shall get through this.”
Mary Carlin, a freelance writer, said she was considering a petition drive to fire everyone associated with the scandal.
“I don’t know anyone who’s not disgusted,” said Carlin, a 45-year-old mother of three.
At the American Legion, residents nursing drinks and playing cards amid a collection of military memorabilia - some of it featuring Major General George S. Patton, son of the World War II commander and a Hamilton resident - had mixed opinions.
“It’s a sad situation,” said Judy Tucker, who knew the officers allegedly involved. “We have to struggle to explain it. I think ... everybody involved followed the hierarchy. And the hierarchy told them to do the wrong things.”
Wayne Lougee agreed. “The regular patrolmen and the regular cops we have are great,” he said. “It’s up top that was screwed up.”
Lougee, a 62-year-old retired mechanic, grew up in Hamilton and went to school with Cullen, who had planned to retire in February after 40 years with the department, 19 as chief. That was before the investigations, which prompted Cullen to announce that he would be retiring Dec. 31.
On Dec. 15, the Essex Regional Retirement Board informed Cullen in writing that his pension could be forfeited under state law if he is convicted of violations or “leaves office for reasons involving moral turpitude.”
The potential for further fallout in Hamilton, or from the state, remains. The town has worked with the attorney general’s office on both the ambulance issue and the grant to determine whether the matters should be prosecuted, said Town Administrator Candace Wheeler.
In addition to taking action against the individuals involved, town officials could propose eliminating the Police Department’s role as Basic Life Support ambulance provider. (Lyons Ambulance Service, a private company, has historically supplemented the police by providing Advanced Life Support service; Lyons currently provides all ambulance service for the town, on an interim basis.)
“It’s obviously a serious situation that we need to deal with appropriately, as quickly as we can. And we clearly are committed to moving forward on this, but we have to go about it properly,” said Richard Low, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
Including the chief, the department has 15 full-time and 12 part-time reserve officers. Eight full-time Hamilton officers, including the chief, and four Danvers officers failed to complete training courses required for EMT recertification and falsified documents to renew their certifications, in 2006 and 2007, the state found. The courses were supposed to have been taught by Officer David Mastrianni, son-in-law of the chief, who has left the department.
The state found that an additional 11 EMTs, including five full-time Hamilton officers, falsely signed attendance rosters but did not falsify recertification requests, because they either were not due for recertification or completed courses elsewhere.
The first group of officers had their certifications suspended, and the second group received written reprimands, a Department of Public Health spokesman said. Several are appealing their state suspensions, said Wheeler, the town administrator.
State investigators learned that the EMT issues may have predated 2006, but could not verify that allegation.
Taxpayers have paid the police thousands of dollars to serve as EMTs; the officers receive stipends of nearly $3,500 a year for being EMTs and also get overtime pay, averaging roughly $1,500, for taking EMT courses, the town administrator said.
Low said the police situation “came as a shock to people,” adding that the important thing now is to respect the due process of those involved while trying to rebuild the department under Pomeroy and an eventual new chief.
Copyright 2008 Boston Globe