One could not chuck a rock in Springfield without hitting someone praising Mayor Domenic Sarno for choosing Lawrence Akers to be the next Police Superintendent. The incumbent super Cheryl Clapprood praised the choice. Longtime frenemy Michael Fenton, now City Council President, hailed Akers. Even frequent Sarno critics the Bishop Talbert Swan and at-large councilor Tracye Whitfield feted the move.
SPRINGFIELD—For well over a decade, city councilors have grappled with how to structure the Police Department leadership. The Control Board’s abolition of the Police Commission in 2005 was among its most controversial moves. But it took several reform attempts and the Gregg Bigda imbroglio to
UPDATED 10/30/16 1:17PM: For Grammar and clarity. The case of Detective Gregg Bigda has rocked Springfield in a way few other police events have in some time and the contagion has spread throughout the Springfield Police Department. Concerns about civil rights and doubts about Police
SPRINGFIELD—In a lavish ceremony last year featuring city vehicles festooned with flags and all the pomp and circumstance the City of Homes can muster, Springfield swore in John Barbieri as its top cop. Some observers likened it to a coronation, and Barbieri, possessing a humble mien, probably would have
To many political insiders in and around Springfield, the top cop is the second most important position in the city after the mayor. In a large (by New England standards) minority-majority city of 150,000, which, to many, has seen its revival bedeviled by both the
UPDATED 9:19PM: For response from Arise and news of McFarlin’s retirement and to reflect a correction. Barbieri is the third, not the second Police Commissioner of Springfield. SPRINGFIELD—Backing off from the conventional wisdom, Mayor Domenic Sarno announced the appointment of Deputy Police Chief John Barbieri
UPDATED 3/17/14 5:52PM: To include details of press release from community groups on McFarlin and his response to the release on Masslive. This post is the third in a series on the debate over Management of the Springfield Police Department. Since announcing how he would
This post is the second in a series on the debate over Management of the Police Department in Springfield. Since the debate to reform Police leadership has begun in Springfield, Mayor Domenic Sarno has employed a number of legal and rhetorical arguments to halt the
SPRINGFIELD—In a victory for organized labor, the City Council unanimously approved an arbitration award, securing a contract between the city and it’s the International Brother Hood of Police Officers, Local 364 through July 2016. Despite fears that the mayor’s office was maneuvering to kill the
This post is the first in a series on the debate over Management of the Police Department in Springfield. SPRINGFIELD—At a rescheduled committee meeting residents pled their case for a return of the Police Commission while a few representatives from Mayor Domenic Sarno’s administration vehemently