In an oped into today’s Globe, Lawrence Harmon, revisits the recent controversies inside the Newton Police Department and says Mayor Setti Warren “would do his constituents a big favor by hiring a new chief with no connection to the Garden City.”

And Harmon does something the city has declined to do, name at least one of those involved in the recent egging prank..

Boston Police routinely release the names of disciplined officers on the principle that it sends the message of an open partnership with the public. But the Newton department operates more like a family — literally. One of the officers in the egging incident, Jeffrey Boudreau, is surrounded by relatives on the force, including brother patrolmen Michael and Christopher Boudreau. Their father, Edward Boudreau, is a Newton Police captain. And their uncle, Alfred Boudreau, is a lieutenant….

…..It’s not just family ties that are at the root of the clubbiness of the Newton Police. Many officers grew up in blue-collar sections of the city and see it as a fiefdom where they can exercise power even without the big bucks and outsized homes of many Newton residents. Outsiders are viewed with suspicion.

What do you think? Is the Newton Police dept “too clubby”? Are you bothered or comforted by the family traditions inside the department? Should the mayor seek an outsider for our next top cop? And should the names of the “eggers” be public?