Not a Good Sign.
By Jim Conley • Mar 2nd, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline Politics, Brookline Schools, Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, The Scream TeamSo far, we are looking at three selectmen candidates for May’s local election.
We could use a few more; especially now with word that former School Committee member Marcia Heist and former selectman Donna Kalikow have signed on to run the campaign of town meeting member Richard Benka.
If you wanted to find two people who have [...]
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Charging Ahead.
By Jim Conley • Feb 28th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline SelectmenLast night’s meeting of the panel reviewing Brookline’s police complaint policy convinced me of one thing–a civilian review board is long overdue.
Many of the panel’s members rightly focused on the need to examine the events of May 24th and subsequent, events that led to the assembly of the panel. To them, their charge quickly moved [...]
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Opening Night Tension.
By Jim Conley • Feb 27th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline PoliceI’ll have a full report tomorrow, but tonight’s opening performance of Brookline’s police complaint review panel was much more contentious than I had expected. Maybe it was because a few of the panel members have figured out that there’s more to this than reading a manual and offering helpful suggestions.
Or maybe it’s because Marty [...]
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Police Panel to Perform on Wednesday.
By Jim Conley • Feb 23rd, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Jesse Mermell, Nancy DalyThe panel appointed to review Brookline’s police complaint procedures will stage Act I on Wednesday at 6 PM in the main library’s conference room. On Brookline will be covering the performance and provide the opening night review.
On another note, there’s still no word on a date for Selectman Nancy Daly’s “White Person’s Symposium on [...]
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What’s the Hurry?
By Jim Conley • Feb 21st, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline SelectmenYou know, if I put together a panel to look into the way in which police complaints are handled, I’d have insisted that the panel would have met by now.
But not the Brookline Selectmen.
For them, the political purpose has been served and now it’s just a matter of stalling past the May town meeting. [...]
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The Jacket on the Chair.
By Jim Conley • Feb 19th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline Selectmen, Police ReportsWhat would it take to bounce someone from holding the public trust in Brookline? Well, when it comes to Town Counsel Jennifer Dopazo I don’t think it’s possible.
There’s the general incompetence of the office, but that pales next to her woeful performance in the Arthur Conquest matter. And I have to believe that [...]
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Super Secret Commission.
By Jim Conley • Feb 18th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline PoliceThere’s a troubling story in today’s Herald concerning Boston’s civilian police review panel. It seems the Boston panel operates with an unusual amount of opacity. Plus, the they seem to be on the leap year meeting schedule.
Folks, if you’re going to throw a panel together for the sake of political expedience, this is [...]
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Commission to Nowhere.
By Jim Conley • Feb 7th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline PoliceSo, on Monday I attended the meeting of Brookline’s Human Relations Commission and Youth Resources Council to hear them discuss the Arthur Conquest matter. I left knowing less than I did going in.
I have no idea why this group exists (and neither do they apparently). Allegedly, the Commission is supposed to address “intergroup [...]
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Us vs. Them.
By Jim Conley • Feb 5th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline SelectmenWhat’s going on with the Brookline Selectmen’s blue ribbon committee panel of experts to advise them on police review procedures? Beats me.
I thought that panel members were going to be interviewed at tonight’s meeting. But according to Town Administrator Richard Kelliher, there’s no need for that because the selectmen heard the list of [...]
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Question Time.
By Jim Conley • Feb 4th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline Selectmen, Robert AllenQuestion: Why does Brookline need a civilian review board to handle citizen complaints into police department actions?
Answer: Well, besides the obvious reason that the police can’t investigate themselves, it puts control of department investigation into the hands of residents. The idea is not to put new pressure on officers, but to remove politics from [...]
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You Get to Guess Who Will Serve.
By Jim Conley • Feb 1st, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline SelectmenThis is strange. The Brookline Selectmen have posted their meeting agenda for Tuesday, and it says that they are going to take up the question of “adopting a charge and appointing” their sham panel of experts to review citizen complaints against the police department.
Hmmm. A couple of Tuesdays ago, I’m pretty sure I heard the [...]
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The More Things Change…
By Jim Conley • Jan 30th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline Selectmen, Police ReportsHere is the 1992 so-called citizen’s complaint investigation by Brookline Police resulting from a 1992 field interrogation of Arthur Conquest. Though Conquest never made a formal complaint, Brian Sullivan, the deputy town administrator at the time, initiated the process on the basis of an “open letter” written by Conquest.
Here’s a passage from Sergeant W.D. [...]
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No Town for Old Boys.
By Jim Conley • Jan 25th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline Selectmen, Jesse Mermell, The Allen FilesLooking back on Tuesday’s installment of the Arthur Conquest follies, I think I know why the Brookline Selectmen are firmly in the grip of insanity.
Conquest presents them with an opportunity to be progressive in matters of civil rights. But town government’s ideology is that of the movement conservative - robbing the treasury, pitting us against [...]
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Another Richard Kelliher Sham.
By Jim Conley • Jan 25th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline SelectmenI must be missing the point. Because so far, my research into members of the blue ribbon committee panel of experts advising the Brookline Selectmen on their police complaint policy shows me that only one member - Attorney Douglas Louison - has significant experience in the area; and he represents the police.
Here’s a bio [...]
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History Rhymes.
By Jim Conley • Jan 24th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline DPW, Brookline PoliceRemember when the Brookline Selectmen indemnified DPW Commissioner A. Thomas DeMaio from allegations of filing a false grant application to restore the Carlton St. Footbridge? And remember how Town Administrator Richard Kelliher recruited a lawyer to give him an expert opinion on the matter? And remember how Town Counsel Jennifer Dopazo briefed the [...]
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