GREENFIELD — While the vast majority of police officers across the state have been recertified in a first wave of credentialing, the recertification of Greenfield Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. and Lt. Todd Dodge remains “pending,” according to a public records request submitted to the Police Department.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner said she is reviewing paperwork this week that will be submitted to the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission but declined to comment further, citing the officers’ recertification status as a personnel matter.
As part of the state’s new recertification process for law enforcement officers, individuals can be classified as certified, conditionally certified — a temporary certification that means certain requirements haven’t been met yet — or not certified. Officers not classified in one of those ways mean POST has determined their case merits further review.
POST Commission Executive Director Enrique Zuniga declined to comment on the exact status or classification of Haigh and Dodge, explaining that the commission is working on establishing a set of regulations for how to release that information to the public. The first stage of the recertification process seeks to recertify officers with last names beginning with A through H, the first group subject to the process under a 2020 policing reform law.
Although recertification documents were expected by June 30, “officers on approved or extended leave must complete their certification requirements no later than 90 days after the date of their return to service,” the POST Commission’s website states.
“It’s a very confusing process,” Haigh said.
Haigh and Dodge were placed on paid administrative leave on May 6 in the hours following a civil jury verdict in Hampshire County Superior Court that found Haigh and the Police Department had acted with “racial animus” toward Buchanan when he was denied a promotion in 2014. Buchanan was the department’s only Black officer at the time.
Dodge, who had testified in support of Buchanan’s claim, had his paid leave lifted and he returned to work in late May. Wedegartner reinstated Haigh as chief on Sept. 1.
Zuniga said he didn’t have specific information available for Greenfield or Franklin County officers. His last report to the POST Commission stated that approximately 7,000 of the 8,800 officers across the state with last names beginning with A through H had been certified. Certification lasts three years.
“About 800 were conditionally certified — we’re working our way through those — and there were about 800 more we were waiting for from Boston,” Zuniga noted. He said he expects 90% of remaining submissions will be in compliance, 9% will receive a conditional status and just 1% will merit further review.
Speaking generally to recertification, he said the process relies heavily on information submitted to the POST Commission, which includes a two-part questionnaire and an attestation of “good moral character” form.
He added that certain areas in which officers must be in compliance, such as completion of in-service training, may not need to be reported until Sept. 30.
“We have been, as part of that process, corroborating that information,” Zuniga said. “We’ve been auditing what has been submitted to us.”
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.