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Police investigate drugs stolen from dept.
The Lowell Sun
LOWELL, Mass. — The investigation into the missing drugs from a Dracut Police Department storage shed in 2002 is heating up, and so are officers' emotions.
Deputy Chief David Chartrand last week confirmed that lie-detector tests were being administered by the Northeast Middlesex Law Enforcement Council, which is conducting the investigation. He would not elaborate or say if every member of the force is being asked to submit to the polygraph exam.
In coffee shops and on street corners, several members of the department are talking. Many of them are not happy.
"How do you do this in good conscience?" said one officer on the condition of anonymity. "There were people on the force at the time who have passed away. There are people on the force now who weren't here when it happened. How do you conduct an investigation?"
Others are welcoming the investigation.
"I'm happy about it," said a department veteran. "We want to get rid of the people in this department who have no integrity. Look around. Look who is running scared. That should tell you something."
It was in 2002 when a large quantity of marijuana -- which was stored as evidence in a criminal case -- went missing from a storage shed behind the old Dracut Police Department on Lakeview Avenue.
Chartrand was the shed-master at the time, a fact that has Jerry Flynn, executive director of the New England Police Benevolent Association, scratching his head.
"They can put any kind of spin on it that they want, but the bottom line is that this investigation is being promulgated by the person who was in charge at the time," Flynn said. "They were storing evidence in a shed behind the station next to the high school. It was protected by a bicycle lock and every kid in that school knew what was in there. And now they're going to trample on the good names of dedicated and hard-working police officers in their department, instead of going after the guy who was actually in charge. It makes no sense."
Tony Archinski, a former lieutenant who retired Dec. 31, agrees with Flynn. Archinski now works with Flynn at NEPBA.
"This has been a management screw-up from day one and not one member of the administration has ever been held accountable for their actions," Archinski said. "Instead, they're pointing fingers at everyone else in the department. Even if they discover that somebody is lying, what are they going to do, fire them? Based on a polygraph, which is inadmissible in any court of law? The Civil Service would never uphold that."
Chartrand says he voluntarily took a polygraph test administered by the state police shortly after the incident, and passed. He dismisses Flynn's comments: "It's the classic union mentality to circle the wagons when it comes to any kind of investigation regarding one of their own. They will try to turn the focus on somebody else, anybody else. They think intimidation is going to work. They're barking up the wrong tree."
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Copyright 2009 Lowell Sun
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