Board Accepts Police Plan

By COLE LOUISON

Tisbury selectmen took the first step toward changing the Tisbury
police department this week, a department labeled "dysfunctional
at best" by a report released from an outside agency. Released
Feb. 27 after four months of research, the report made 11
recommendations for changes in the department, all of which were
unanimously approved by the board Tuesday evening.

Conducted by occasional Island resident Robert Wasserman, an expert
in the field of law enforcement and public safety, the study found deep
divisions between management and officers on the force, and frayed
communication at various levels of the department and with previous
boards of selectmen.

"We're moving forward step by step with these
recommendations and we intend to implement them," said selectman
Tristan Israel after the meeting. "We're hopeful and are
looking for the cooperation of everyone in the community, the police
department and others to back this and back the effort so we can develop
a better atmosphere and a more community-based police department."

Mr. Wasserman's solution to the problems he found is an influx
of outside sources into a department plagued by past internal conflicts.
This includes less obtrusive measures like scheduling weekly
police-selectmen meetings to improve once sour relations between the
two, and giving officers more flexibility along the lines of shift
rotation and emergency time off in the busy summer months.

But more aggressive measures were also taken to ensure that
developments inside the department are more public than before. For one
year, a monitor will meet with the management staff of the force to
eliminate unresolved issues cited in a side agreement to the police
labor contract, then report to selectmen.

The side agreement was another suggestion of Mr. Wasserman, who was
offered the monitor position but declined. He recommended Brent
Larrabee, Framingham's chief of police, and Kathleen
O'Toole, a Cambridge resident.

The agreement, a kind of amendment to the police labor contract,
documents unresolved issues within the department cited by all members
of the force. Town administrator Dennis Luttrell recommended the labor
council review the agreement prior to implementation. Currently the
agreement is under review by the town attorney.

Moving outside sources into all levels of the department was also
key to unlocking problems within the force, Mr. Wasserman said. A new
lieutenant will be hired, but applicants must come from outside the
Tisbury police department, ensuring the new second in command will enter
the position free of the past experiences reported by veteran officers
and management that contributed to internal problems.

But the soon-to-be-implemented recommendations not only make changes
on the force's staff, but give the board and community a say in
how those changes should be made. New policy and procedure manuals will
be developed under the guidance of the new monitor and a new testing
procedure for the sergeant and lieutenant positions is being developed
by an outside personnel professional at an estimated cost of $4,500. A
new "oral board," consisting of all available Island police
chiefs, including Mr. McCarthy, will conduct question and answer
sessions for the second round of testing.

The approved recommendations shuffle personnel already in the
department and leave the force with some options selectmen hope will
ease tension and improve performance. The new sergeant will assume
responsibility for patrol supervision, and the existing sergeant will
assume responsibility for administration. Both will attend management
and supervision schools. The cost for classes was not released, but Mr.
Luttrell reported the costs should be covered by the existing line item
in the department.

A committee of citizens will also share concerns about policing
strategies in monthly meetings with the chief. An advertisement for the
committee appears in today's Gazette. Following the advice of Mr.
Wasserman, Mr. Luttrell recommended to selectmen that the seven-member
committee be comprised of a high school senior, minority representative
from the NAACP, senior citizen, local business owner, at large member, a
female member, and himself. The newly hired monitor will attend meetings
as a resource person.

The monitor will also work with police to find alternate shift
schedules, giving all officers rotating access to weekends off, and
shifts other than the midnight shift.

"The mood of the department is positive, upbeat," Mr.
Luttrell reported after reading through a five-page plan which quoted
from Mr. Wasserman's recommendations and contained the town
administrator's observations from meetings with police, along with
adjustments made to the original suggestions.

"I will seek their input and guidance as we move
forward," he said. "They all recognize there's a need
to move ahead and put the past behind them, and are welcoming the
changes that the recommendations will bear out."

Mr. McCarthy was not in attendance Monday night, and when asked
later, he would not speak for the mood of the entire department. He had
little to say about the upcoming changes, though his few words were
enthusiastic.

"Lets get it done," he said. "I think
there's been enough putzing around, quite frankly, and it's
time to move forward. If this is the direction we're heading,
let's get behind it and start pushing."