An internal police investigation that resulted in the dismissal last week of a longtime Oak Bluffs detective offers new details of the circumstances leading up to his termination, including the revelation that kilograms of cocaine had been delivered to a tenant in the detective’s Falmouth home.

Investigators said they had no indication that Det. James T. Morse had any involvement in drug trafficking, but the unnamed target of a police drug investigation was renting a room in his condominium.

Detective Morse, a 23-year veteran of the Oak Bluffs police department, was terminated by the town selectmen on Nov. 9. Police said later that Detective Morse had used the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) system to conduct background checks on people who were not under investigation.

His dismissal followed an internal investigation conducted by the Oak Bluffs police. A redacted version of the 16-page investigative report written by Lieut. Timothy Williamson was provided to the Gazette Friday morning in response to a public records request. Lieutenant Williamson’s report noted that police chief Erik Blake was kept informed throughout the investigation.

The report detailed events that began with a call to Oak Bluffs police on Oct. 9 from an unspecified law enforcement agency. According to the report, the caller disclosed that troopers from his office were working on a case involving the delivery of kilograms of cocaine.

“He advised that one of the targets of the investigation was living at Detective Morse’s condominium and packages were being delivered there,” Lieutenant Williamson wrote in the report.

Lieutenant Williamson learned that the drug investigation had been underway for the past year and that it was determined that two or three one to two-kilogram packages of cocaine had been delivered to Detective Morse’s condominium during the summer.

Reached by phone by Lieut. Williamson the next day, Detective Morse agreed to submit to an interview at the Oak Bluffs police station. Lieut. Williamson, with the assistance of Sgt. Nick Curelli and Sgt. Michael Marchand, developed a cover letter and a list of 26 questions and gave Detective Morse 24 hours to respond.

Detective Morse was accompanied by his union representative at the interview. When asked about his use of the CJIS database, he refused to answer citing his constitutional rights, the investigative report said.

“Based on that answer, we decided to conduct an audit of Detective Morse’s CJIS/NCIC queries for the last year,” the report said. The audit found that the detective’s queries had included “a large amount of names” of people who were apparently not related to Oak Bluffs police activity and were not targets of the Falmouth drug investigation.

Based on the audit, Oak Bluffs police developed another list of 40 questions which were emailed to Detective Morse. All but one question — about whether he was being truthful — was redacted in the investigative report provided to the Gazette, but the report said he refused to answer any of them, citing his constitutional rights.

The report concluded that “Detective Morse was using the department’s CJIS access to obtain information on multiple individuals he ran on department computers while on duty. It is unclear of the motive for Detective Morse to access these individuals as he refused to answer our questions by exercising his constitutional rights. I can only surmise that it was not for any official police business.”

Lieutenant Williamson concluded in his investigative report that Detective Morse had violated a department rule governing conduct unbecoming an officer and may have violated another rule governing association with known criminals.

However, his termination was based solely on his improper use of CJIS.

Speaking to the Gazette by phone on Wednesday, Chief Erik Blake said the town would not seek charges against Detective Morse, who began as an Oak Bluffs summer officer in 1995 and worked his way up the ranks, eventually becoming a detective in 2014. Mr. Morse is also a practicing attorney and has a law office and a home in Falmouth.

Chief Blake said the results of the investigation and internal audit would be sent to CJIS within 90 days, as required. “They make a determination whether what we did was sufficient or not. That’s who would be making any kind of decision like that, but no, we’re not seeking any charges,” the chief said.

The vote to terminate Detective Morse followed a brief executive session that was attended by all five selectmen, the town administrator and Chief Blake last Friday. The separation agreement was announced at the same time.

“Detective Morse has been separated from service to the town,” selectman and board chairman Gail Barmakian said. “As a personnel matter we have no further comment on the subject.”

According to a mutual separation and release agreement made public by the selectmen, Nov. 5 was Detective Morse’s last day of work. Under the agreement, he will be paid accrued time for vacation of $7,686 and accrued compensatory time of $12,746.

Detective Morse did not attend the meeting.

In addition to itemizing payments for accrued vacation and compensatory time, the separation agreement also spells out mutual non-disparagement terms. “Mr. Morse agrees to refrain from making any public statements, including but not limited to social media postings that are critical, derogatory, or which many tend to injure the reputation of the town,” the agreement reads in part. It also states that the town agrees if asked, that it will “confirm his job title and dates of employment and compensation only.”

Also under the agreement, Mr. Morse agreed to waive all rights to sue the town or recover any money by way of a lawsuit.