Impact Of Police Union Criminal Investigation Considered 

By Andrew Gorosko

As Danbury police continue their investigation into whether a Newtown police sergeant and a patrol officer are criminally culpable in connection with a “significant,” but unspecified, amount of money that is missing from the Newtown Police Union’s financial accounts, Newtown police officials are considering the impact of the situation on the Newtown Police Department and the community at large.

As the matter unfolds, the police union is taking legal steps in seeking the expulsion of both Sergeant Domenic Costello and Patrol Officer Andrew Stinson from the police union. Such an expulsion would ostensibly prevent the two officers from any right to legal representation by the union.

Both Officer Stinson, who recently resigned as the union president, and Sgt Costello, who is the union treasurer, were placed on indefinite paid administrative leave from their law enforcement jobs on October 15 by Police Chief Michael Kehoe as the criminal investigation began into their possible wrongdoing involving the police union money.

Chief Kehoe said November 1 that is unclear how long the town would continue to pay the two police officers while they are on administrative leave. There are no set procedures on the matter, he said, adding that neither the labor union contract, nor the police department’s manual on policies and procedures addresses the issue.

What the town eventually does in regard to paying the officers their salaries while they are on leave would be based on applicable state law, the police chief said.

According to town financial documents, Sgt Costello’s current annual base salary is $70,367, and Officer Stinson’s annual base salary is $65,524. All police officers covered by the union labor contract are scheduled to receive two percent pay raises on January 1, 2011. The two officers’ paid-leave payments would be based upon their base salaries.

Town financial documents indicate that Sgt Costello received an overall payment of $86,586 for the 2009-10 fiscal year, and that Officer Stinson received an overall payment of $83,842 for that fiscal year. Those amounts reflect their base salaries, overtime pay, private duty pay, and other miscellaneous police-related income.

Fred Dorsey, who works as the town’s labor lawyer, will legally guide police officials in handling the police payment issue, the police chief said.

“This is a very complex situation,” Chief Kehoe said.

Seeking to eliminate the two police officers’ pay by the town would require hearings at which the officers would be represented, he said. It is unclear whether such hearings would be held publicly or privately, he said. The matter is under research, he added. “It’s a complex set of situations,” he said.

The town must follow the due process of the law in handling such cases, the police chief said.

Chief Kehoe said police are considering various options concerning the future of Baro, the police dog, who has continued living with officer Stinson and is not working as a police dog.

“The dog issue is complex,” Chief Kehoe said.

“This was an unexpected setback,” the police chief said of the criminal investigation into possible financial wrongdoing Sgt Costello and Officer Stinson.

Of police department morale in view of the situation, the police chief said, “ These are professional people who know their job and will do their job in a professional manner… We get beyond setbacks very quickly…We can get past this very quickly and do the work we are supposed to do,” he said.

Labor Lawyer

At its November 2 session, Police Commission members held an hourlong closed session meeting with Mr Dorsey to discuss various labor issues.

Before that session began, Mr Dorsey handed Police Commission Chairman Duane Giannini a document within an envelope which apparently was a legal opinion.

The agenda for that meeting listed two general topics for the closed session: discussion and possible action on legal opinion from town labor counsel, and discussion and possible action upon pending litigation regarding disciplinary grievance.

When the ensuing public portion of the Police Commission meeting opened, a reporter asked Mr Giannini for a copy of the document that Mr Dorsey had handed to him before the closed session started.

“I’m sorry. It’s a protected legal document. It’s not [publicly] available,” Mr Giannini responded.     

On November 3, Mr Giannini declined to disclose whether the police union investigation was among the various topics discussed by Mr Dorsey and commission members at the November 2 closed-door meeting.

“There’s an ongoing criminal investigation and I don’t want to jeopardize anything,” Mr Giannini said.

“I hope the people of Newtown do not judge the people of this [police] department by this incident,” he said of the criminal investigation.