And it starts at the top with the Police Chief
By Dalia Díaz
On Friday, June 28, 2019, Lawrence Police Detective Kevin Schiavone filed allegations against the City of Lawrence, its Police Chief Roy Vasque, and the leader of the LPD Detectives Division Lieutenant Mark Ciccarelli. This is not the first time Rumbo writes Lt. Ciccarelli which will make it very difficult to have any doubt about the allegations.
Back in 2015, Ciccarelli was accused, by several Latino Police Officers and Sergeants, of making racially insensitive remarks during a training exercise to others. An outside an independent investigator was hired by the City of Lawrence to investigated then Police Officer William Green’s harassment, also found during a second an independent investigation that Lieutenant Ciccarelli was wrong in making racial insensitive remarks.
Additionally, in 2015, Lieutenant Ciccarelli was found to have left the scene of an accident, in his police vehicle, but was not punished or disciplined by his command. Anyone of us would have been jailed for “hit & run”. He wrote on the accident report, “I was conducting a drug surveillance. I backed out of the driveway and struck vehicle #2 which was legally parked…” The accident was in Bourne, MA and he claimed to be going on an emergency, according to the report.
Mayor Rivera was quoted as saying, through a regional newspaper, that he does not comment on “ongoing litigations”. Rumbo is here to call BS on that comment. Here are a few instances where he commented during litigation: during the Columbia Gas Explosions; during Police Officer William Green situations; during the William DiAdamo $5 million building fiasco; during the lawsuit in which he had an attorney file in regards to sanctuary city and funding issues; during Attorney Corrigan’s discharge; before finally losing in Gilda Durán’s case, calling her “corrupt” and Rumbo can continue to provide examples of Dan Rivera commenting and sticking his foot into his mouth many other times.
Dan Rivera stated that he has had Police Chief Vasque’s back since day one. Well, what else do you want a Mayor to say, especially when it was Mayor Rivera who appointed Chief Vasque. It’s a corruption, and money is playing a role in this corruptible department.
My disappointment is that no police officers complain until they, themselves, don’t get what others are getting in terms of money of corruption or are about to be disciplined and don’t want to be fired. We know that many officers in the LPD are stealing the taxpayer’s money by placing lies on timesheets with no work, or no work to show.
Another thing is that Rumbo is already under the impression that the Patrolmen’s Union just does not support its members. Lately (in the last five years or so) members have had to force the union for support, by filing labor charges. So that means one thing, they are in this corruption.
In the case of Lt. Ciccarelli, the Superior Officers Association issued a statement fully supporting him “confident that once all the facts come to light through the discovery and trial process there will be no support whatsoever for any of the allegations against Lt. Ciccarelli,” said President Scott McNamara.
The LPSOA union represents the City of Lawrence Police Department’s Captains, Lieutenants and Sergeants but the Chief does not belong to any union. The few reports published on this matter emphasize the overtime cheating that was going on, not necessarily the money taken from the drug raids. They are both bad but keep in mind that about seven State troopers went to jail for filing false claims. The Chief could go to jail if this is proven against him
Regarding Police Chief Roy Vasque, there’s no doubt we need an outside Police Chief; someone from another state, if possible, with no connections to this place what-so-ever. Meanwhile, he should have been suspended with pay until the investigation concludes – if there’s going to be one.
