After controversy, Dighton Board of Selectman pulls back on interview for new police chief

The chairman of the Dighton Board of Selectman issued a statement Monday afternoon, addressing concerns over the process behind hiring it’s newest chief of police.

The press release comes after fellow Selectman Lenoard Hull and members of the Dighton Police Officers Local 306 issued statements on their respective Facebook pages objecting to what appeared to be only one candidate being interviewed at this Wednesday’s upcoming Board of Selectman meeting. According to the press release issued by chairman Peter Caron, it appears that interview has been postponed.

After Dighton Police Chief Shawn Cronin was charged with participating in an insider trading scheme and terminated from his job, Dighton PD Sargent George Nichols has been acting as interim police chief. According to Sgt. Nick Barros and Det. Ryan Richards, who represent the union, the department has been running smoothly with Nichols at the helm.

“He was thrown unexpectedly into this role and he has stepped up to the challenge.” said Richards.

So it came as a shock to many that not only was Nichols not selected as the new chief, but he was eliminated from contention and not given an interview. Two other internal candidates were eliminated at the start of the process, as well as a candidate who lives in Dighton but works for a neighboring police department.

Instead, the hiring committee, which is comprised of Caron, the Town Administrator Michael Mullen and Human Resources coordinator Karin Brady seemingly narrowed down their search to one external candidate, Fairhaven Sgt. Timothy Souza. Through their public relations firm, the town issued a statement identifiying Souza as their finalist on February 22nd.

However, according to insiders, members of the committee had assured interim Chief Nichols he would be selected for the job. Those same individuals close to the process also shared that Mullen was supposed to post the job opening to internal candidates only and instead, made the posting open to both internal and external candidates at the same time.

Union representatives Barros and Richards elaborated today with Fall River Reporter about how external candidates can damage department morale, especially after the firing of Cronin.

“Keeping promotions like this internal show our officers there is room for growth. It prevents officers from leaving our department and going elsewhere.” said Barros.

The Dighton Police Department only has 14 officers, a small unit that stands behind Nichols and promoting from within.

“This has nothing to do with Souza. It has everything to do with how an external candidate can kill morale.” said Richards.

Perhaps more concerning, was how what was supposed to be information exclusive to the hiring committee was leaked to members of the public. Selectman Hull took to his Facebook to express his concerns over the committee not properly informing candidates of their status in their application, candidates hearing from members of the public that they were no longer being considered and possible open meeting law violations.

Hull encouraged residents to attend the Wednesday night meeting and bring up their own concerns.

The meeting, which is scheduled for this Wednesday at 6 PM has been moved from town hall to the Dighton Middle school in anticipation of the large crowd. The posted agenda for the meeting includes an agenda item for “Police Chief Hiring Process” as well as public input.

A request for comment from Town Administrator Mullen and Chairman Caron was not answered.