SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The Springfield Police are at odds with the state’s new Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, known as POST, claiming dozens of officers were incorrectly listed on the new disciplinary record database.
In a statement to 22News, police superintendent Cheryl Clapprood said 80 Springfield police officers were listed in this database that have never been disciplined in their entire law enforcement careers.
“We are in disagreement with the POST Commission over how these complaints that were not sustained and are not disciplinary in nature made their database. There are a lot of officers who are upset, it has impacted their reputation and I understand and agree with them 100%. Eighty Springfield Officers are listed in this database that have never been disciplined in their entire law enforcement career and it affects many more. We are working with our Law Department and the POST Commission to get this right. By reviewing this database we also have seen that there is no uniformity across the state in how departments report discipline and there are no clear standards. That must also be addressed,” stated Clapprood.
Also at issue in the database is departmental “retraining.” Springfield Police said those officers were not disciplined and that the POST Commission wrongly listed them as such. Clapprood said the law department is working with the POST Commission to rectify the issue.
“We are taking 223 retrainings with 500 officers over the course of 30 plus years, so looking at it that’s really not a lot and what it shows is the Springfield Police Department holds their officers accountable and they investigate every single complaint that comes in,” said Springfield Police Spokesperson Ryan Walsh.
Walsh also pointed out that the state has no currents standards or uniformity for police departments to follow when reporting discipline, which may have contributed to the fact that officers who were retrained were included in this list.
The Executive Director of the POST Commission has stated at some point there will be quote a “convergence of standards.”
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