MONTAGUE — Former Montague Police Chief Ray Zukowski has called for the resignation of current Chief Charles “Chip” Dodge at the same time the town’s police unions have unanimously voted no confidence in Dodge — who is in recovery for opioid addiction and was the subject of an attorney general investigation last year.
In an Oct. 17 letter to the town, Zukowski condemned Dodge and his statements related to the attorney general’s investigation into possible tampering with the department’s prescription drop box.
“These are not the actions of a man in recovery,” he said in the letter. “These are the actions of an addict out of control. In this case, the addict wears a gun, a gold badge and is responsible for the safety and lives of the citizens of Town of Montague, and just as important, the members of the Montague Police Department.”
Zukowski’s letter is one of three that outlined concerns with Dodge continuing as police chief. All of them offer insight into the feedback the Selectboard was getting in the weeks before it placed Dodge on leave Oct. 31 and initiated an internal investigation into the department.
The two other letters — one from the police unions and one from the union representing the dispatchers in the department — also express a lack of trust in Dodge and his ability to continue as head of the department. Dodge did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Town officials have not publicly said what the investigation is focusing on, but that it comes on the heels of an Oct. 12 Recorder story detailing the Attorney General’s investigation into the department’s handling of a prescription drug drop box and how that investigation focused on Dodge. No charges were filed from the investigation and it was closed earlier this year. The selectmen expressed support for Dodge when the AG’s probe was first announced and when The Recorder reported on Dodge’s opioid addiction months later.
More recently, the regional anti-crime task force, a cooperative of the area’s large police departments coordinated through the district attorney’s office that works on major drug cases, declared it would not restore Montague Police Department to its ranks while Dodge was chief of the department.
Zukowski worked for the Montague Police Department for 36 years and was chief for six of those years. He retired in 2011. He oversaw the department’s move to the new public safety complex and said that within the evidence room there is a specific sub-room for narcotics. He doesn’t know why the overflow drugs from the drop box wouldn’t have been stored there while awaiting pick-up. Dodge told AG investigators that he stored the drop box contents in his office, often unsecured. He also told them that while he had the only key to the drop box itself, there were many missing master keys to the station that would allow access to his office. After he was interviewed by AG investigators, Dodge had some of the station’s locks changed.
“To state that he is changing locks and keys because of the conduct of some unknown officers when he is the culpable one calls for his immediate resignation,” Zukowski said. “The officers of the Montague Police Department deserve to be treated better than this.”
Zukowski said on Tuesday that he hopes the Selectboard and the town use logic, not emotion, in their handling of this situation.
“Town government needs to take the personal out of it and make it professional,” he said.
In his letter, he takes issue with Dodge’s statements that “cast a shadow of suspicion over the other members of his department.”
“I have empathy for Chief Dodge’s addiction. What I have a problem with is his lack of respect for his officers and the office that he holds. I worked with many of these officers for years and Montague is lucky to have such a professional, well-trained Police Department. The members of the department have to have the trust and confidence of each other on a daily basis. More importantly, they have to have confidence and respect for the Chief of Police. That confidence and respect in Chief Dodge is now gone, and I feel it can never be gained back.”
The patrolmen and the sergeants unions sent their letter to the Selectboard and town administrator on Oct. 26, following a joint meeting on Oct. 19 where members present unanimously voted no-confidence in Dodge.
The letter from the two unions was signed by every member of the department except acting Chief Chris Bonnett, who is in an administrative non-union position and Officer Jamal Holland, who is currently at the police academy.
The letter said the unions have “lost trust and confidence” in Dodge’s ability to lead.
“The chief’s lack of leadership and self-serving finger pointing has placed officer morale at an all-time low,” it read, referring to Dodge’s comments to AG investigators that suggested other members of his department could have “helped themselves” to drop box drugs. “It is the opinion of both unions that Chief Dodge made these comments — all without any basis in fact or reality — in an attempt to deflect the investigation and criticism from himself.”
The letter outlined additional concerns with Dodge, one being that after his previous four-day leave in June of 2016, he tried to change the shifts of the patrolmen, which the union claims was in retaliation because, they said, Dodge believed someone within the department initiated the investigation by the AG’s office.
The letter also disputes Dodge’s statement to investigators that he never came to the station late at night to empty the drug drop box.
“Without elaborating the details of the article and the AG’s investigation, it is the opinion of the unions that the public statements made by the Chief are inconsistent with the observations of our membership and, significantly, are neither a truthful nor honest account of the facts as they relate to the handling of the drug box,” the letter said.
The letter also said that other actions contributed to the vote of no-confidence: that Dodge told some dispatchers and Turners Falls Fire Department employees about the article, but did not tell anyone in the department itself.
“The leader of this department has, without basis, publicly challenged the credibility of our police officers,” the letter said. “The union is concerned that the Chief’s conduct will have a negative, long-term impact on the credibility of our officers and the department, particularly when officers are called regularly to testify as witnesses in court on behalf of the Town and the Commonwealth.”
The National Association of Government Employees, which represents the Montague dispatchers, sent a letter to the town as well, although the dispatchers themselves dispute the tone of that letter, written by a union official from out of town.
Robert Dickson, regional supervisor for the association, sent a letter on Oct. 23 to the town where he claimed that Dodge was trying to spread the blame for his actions to others in the department.
“Small towns are generally very close knit communities, but a disservice is being done when an effort to protect one individual is at the expense of others,” the letter said. “Has Montague been suspended by the Anti-Crime Task Force because of action of the Police force and/or administrative employees? I think not. Has the clouds of suspicion and its shadow of integrity concerning the Montague Police Department going to simply disappear, because the Chief wants to spread the blame around the department, rather than admit his problem is just that: HIS PROBLEM.”
The Montague dispatchers then sent a letter to the town saying that they did request Dickson’s help in writing to the town but were disappointed in the “tone and wording of his letter.”
“We feel that the content of Mr. Dickson’s letter was inflammatory and unprofessional and did not reflect the level of decorum our members would have wanted to maintain in any correspondence concerning this sensitive matter.”
Dodge was placed on paid administrative leave on Oct. 31 after an executive session of the Selectboard the night before. The town plans to conduct an internal investigation while Dodge is on leave, although the selectmen have declined to elaborate on the exact nature of the probe. Prior to this, the board offered Dodge their full support throughout the Attorney General’s office investigation.
Reach Miranda Davis
at 413-772-0261, ext. 280
or mdavis@recorder.com.