Town releases lists of charges against officers

#Middlebury #MiddleburyPoliceDepartment

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

The Town of Middlebury today released the amended notice of predisciplinary conference and the notice of predisciplinary conference sent to Middlebury police officers Alton Cronin and Randy Ireland, respectively. Following the predisciplinary conference Monday, July 8, the Middlebury Board of Police Commissioners voted to terminate the two officers.

The amended notice to Cronin alleges that, on certain dates, he failed to perform patrol duties for which he submitted time sheets and for which he was paid and that on certain dates he was on patrol for as few as 5 minutes during an eight-hour shift.

It also states the following regarding time sheets: “You did submit time sheets, and bill the Town of Middlebury for 232 annual hours of overtime (16 double shifts of 8 hours each, plus 2 additional hours per week) recently changed to 208 annual hours of overtime (4 hours per week), for the scheduling and assignment of special duty jobs, when in fact, you actually performed these functions while in pay status for the Town, or on a special duty job, thereby falsely charging, or double charging, for these services.”

The notice to Ireland alleges that, on certain dates he either slept on the job and/or failed to perform patrol duties for which he submitted time sheets and for which he was paid and that, on certain dates, he was on patrol for as few as 11 minutes in an eight-hour shift.

Police Commissioner Frank Cipriano commented on officer Cronin specifically during a Nov. 13, 2017 Police Commission meeting. He asked Chief Dabbo if anything would warrant Cronin being at the police department for hours while working on the weekend. The minutes say Cipriano stated the officers are at the police department for hours on the weekend rather than out patrolling when the chief is not there. He noted there was not enough mileage on the vehicles used during the weekend to show they are out patrolling.

First Selectman Edward B. St. John said, “We weren’t seeing our officers out there.” All town vehicles (not just the police department) have GPS units, and the GPS activity and gasoline consumption indicate the amount of time a vehicle is on the road.

St. John said an internal audit pointed to inactivity in patrolling. “If you work for the town you are supposed to be out there doing the job you were sworn to do. This did not happen in this case. This type of action cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.”

Elliot Spector, the attorney for officers Cronin and Ireland, said he reviewed the personnel files of both officers and found no previous disciplinary actions against them. “We have two officers who have impeccable records,” he said.

He said there was no reason to believe the officers didn’t respond to calls and that, on the midnight shift in a small town, there often is nothing going on. He said the idea is to have an officer available in case something happens. “Policing in a small town is very different from a medium or large town,” he said. In the case of Cronin and Ireland, he said no one was ever harmed and no one suffered any loss.

“We don’t think it was reasonable to terminate the officers,” he said, adding they were punished for mere allegations. However, he said neither he nor the officers were surprised by the terminations. “Word has been out for a while that they wanted to terminate Cronin,” he said. He said Cronin, the police union president, was very outspoken, and they wanted to get rid of him before he retired in six months. He said Ireland was in line to become the police union president when Cronin retired.

Police Chief Fran Dabbo said Cronin joined the department in April 2000 and Ireland joined in July 2016.