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MIDDLEFIELD INFO
A few observations and a repository of information for a small town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts _____________________________________________________________________________________________
The Middlefield Police
The Selectmen are the Middlefield Police Commissioners and are responsible for hiring the chief and setting the rules and regulations for that department. On March 30,2022, I provided the Selectboard with an examination of Police Department financial operations demonstrating the possible loss of over $100k in Department receipts and evidence of irregular accounting practices between the Department Chief and Town accountant. My report was fully documented but was limited by the lack of certain data that was never provided by the Selectboard and Town accountant after several FOI requests. The Selectboard never acknowledged my report, never provided any summary from an internal investigation or, to my knowledge, did not provide a copy of this report to the Town auditors. At the time of my report the Selectboard had a member that was an active police officer and a second member who was a retired town officer. The Police had been under scrutiny by an earlier Selectboard that tried to disband the force in favor of State Police coverage. The vote to maintain or disband local policing turned into a popularity contest that was influenced by several police officers from surrounding departments appearing at the town meeting in uniform. The voters ignored the excessive price paid by the town for very limited police coverage. The two surviving Selectboard members are probably guilty of nonfeasance and malfeasance in this matter - and if money was criminally missing, they would be an accessory to that action. My report – Middlefield Police Analysis
Howard Knickerbocker
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