MSP under fire

With their Smokey the Bear hats, tall black boots, and distinguished-looking grey and blue cruisers, the Massachusetts State Police force exudes confidence, order and invincibility.

Not sure I would equate those well-earned attributes with the MSP lately, however.

I’m wondering, as many residents across the commonwealth are, why the MSP initially resisted releasing the contents of the “black-box” inside the Crown Vic that Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray crashed in the early morning hours of Nov. 2 in Sterling.

If you recall, soon after the accident Murray said he was going around the speed limit, was wearing a seat belt and that black ice likely contributed to the crash.

The press pressed for the black-box contents. MSP wouldn’t give it up. It wasn’t until Secretary of State William Galvin flexed his muscles and determined the contents of the black-box a public record that it was handed over by the MSP.

And how’s this for troubling: Murray’s story of how the crash went down was shot full of holes by the black-box contents.

Murray reached a speed of 108.

Murray wasn’t wearing a seat-belt.

There was no black ice.

Murray certainly has explaining to do.

But what about the MSP? It looks as bad as Murray. Was it trying to hide something?

Then there’s the off-duty state trooper who was hunting in Norton on New Year’s Eve. The trooper, John Bergeron, shot Cheryl Blair when he thought her golden retrievers were deer.

Two very important factors to note here:

• Bergeron pulled the trigger in the waning hours of daylight when vision surely was impaired. Real stupid.

• Deer hunting season ended just after sunset Saturday, about a quarter-of-an-hour before Bergeron shot Blair. Sounds like an illegal shot.

So Bergeron fires his gun essentially when it’s dark; when deer hunting was illegal; and he has the gall to ask Blair why she is not wearing blaze orange, the bright color hunters are required to wear.

Unbelievable!

Norton Police were quoted as saying no charges will be filed. But the investigation by the state Environmental Police, which enforces hunting rules and regulations, continues. Let’s hope they throw every book they have at Bergeron.

Then there’s troopers John Analetto, Thomas McCarthy, Efrain Montanez, Derrick Costa and Brian Dunn, all of whom got in trouble with the law over the last several months.

Every organization has its bad apples and the MSP is no different. It’s a big force, nearly 2,500 troopers, so there’s going to be more bad apples.

But the true test of an organization’s integrity is how it deals with adversity. Kudos to the MSP for placing Analetto, McCarthy, Montanez, Costa and Dunn on unpaid leave pending the outcome of their cases.

How the proud organization handles the still unfolding Murray and Bergeron affairs remains to be seen.

 

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