The good-guy defense is rarely valid.Byline: Clive McFarlane COLUMN: CLIVE MCFARLANE Early this year, when 10 Massachusetts Turnpike The Massachusetts Turnpike (commonly shortened to the MassPike or The Pike) is the easternmost 138-mile (222 km) stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of Authority toll collectors were arraigned on larceny larceny, in law, the unlawful taking and carrying away of the property of another, with intent to deprive the owner of its use or to appropriate it to the use of the perpetrator or of someone else. and fraudulent record-keeping (which is a felony) for skimming Skimming An electronic method of capturing a victim's personal information used by identity thieves. The skimmer is a small device that scans a credit card and stores the information contained in the magnetic strip. some $7,500 from toll receipts, a lawyer for one of the defendants noted that his client was 56 years old, with 28 years of service with the Turnpike turnpike, road paid for partly or wholly by fees collected from travelers at tollgates. It derives its name from the hinged bar that prevented passage through such a gate until the toll was paid. See also road. Authority. He also pointed out that his client, who had two adult children, was suffering from multiple sclerosis. "He is a good guy," the lawyer said. We are hearing echoes of this "good-guy defense" here in Worcester, where seven police officers, including one lieutenant and four sergeants, are being investigated for allegedly charging the city from $80,000 to $100,000 in fraudulent court overtime claims between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year. The Police Department is investigating the case, in which Police Chief Gary J. Gemme alleges that an audit has unearthed Unearthed is the name of a Triple J project to find and "dig up" (hence the name) hidden talent in regional Australia. Unearthed has had three incarnations - they first visited each region of Australia where Triple J had a transmitter - 41 regions in all. at least half a dozen cases of "very serious abuse" of overtime procedures. In talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to city councilors, you get the sense that some are torn between their duty to protect the city taxpayer and their sympathy for veteran police officers, some of whom have served the city with distinction. "These are some good guys," one councilor coun·cil·or also coun·cil·lor n. A member of a council, as one convened to advise a governor. See Usage Note at council. coun told me off the record. Maybe it is too early to throw out words like theft, fraud, fraudulent record-keeping, etc., but let's be clear - the good-guy defense is not an option here. The City Council, whether or not it is comfortable in this role, has an obligation to tap the bottom of this barrel. If seven officers can make up to $100,000 in five months of overtime claims, city councilors should be wondering just how long this alleged theft might have been going on - how many years and how many millions of dollars? If councilors are uncomfortable in asking that question, then maybe they might want to instead ask how many Worcester public school children, while a few good guys fatten fat·ten v. fat·tened, fat·ten·ing, fat·tens v.tr. 1. To make plump or fat. 2. To fertilize (land). 3. their wallet on fraudulent claims, have been denied up-to-date textbooks, school librarians and other such services because of dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. school budgets. The City Council should want to know what the supervisors for these police officers knew and when. If this has been a standard operating procedure standard operating procedure Medtalk A technique, method or therapy performed 'by the book,' using a standard protocol meeting internally or externally defined criteria; a formal, written procedure that describes how specific lab operations are to be performed. for the department, then suddenly throwing "a few good guys" under the bus becomes more of a cover-up than a solution to the alleged abuse. Until the city Technical Services Department came up with the program that red-flagged these officers, the city auditor had to depend on the signatures of supervisors that individual officers' claims for overtime payments were legitimate. "We don't have the staff to check people's attendance record," City Auditor James A. DelSignore said. "We depend on the supervisors. They are not attendance officers, but that doesn't mean they can turn a blind eye to what is going on. We depend on them doing that job." The taxpayers are depending on the city councilors to do their job, which means mounting a full-court effort to recoup the money, should these allegations be borne out. And as long as it is within the statute Encompassed by, or included under, the provisions and scope of a particular law. In the U.S. legal system, a person who is charged with violating a statute must have committed actions that are specifically addressed in the law. of limitations, the individual doesn't need to currently be on the force for the city to go after him, Mr. DelSignore pointed out. City Councilor Barbara G. Haller said that if the alleged charges of fraudulent overtime claims are proven, she believes it would be her responsibility as a city councilor "to pursue all options to recover all the money." Mayor Konnie Lukes also said the result of Chief Gemme's investigation will determine how wide a net the city casts in looking at overtime claims from previous years. "It is a difficult, long, laborious la·bo·ri·ous adj. 1. Marked by or requiring long, hard work: spent many laborious hours on the project. 2. Hard-working; industrious. and problematic process, and we have to remember that evidence is separate from rumor," she said of the investigation. However, Ms. Lukes, a lawyer, quickly noted that "The Police Department is the city's legal arm for enforcing the law. We cannot afford to have a double standard on this, or any credibility in our law enforcement will be jeopardized." And that is the danger of using the "good-guy defense." NAME: WORCESTER POLICE DEPARTMENT; WORCESTER CITY COUNCIL |
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