According to this story on Wicked Local Newton, Chief Matt Cummings has been replaced by Capt. Howard Mintz.
UPDATE: Here’s executive summary from the investigation on Cummings and here’s the announcement from the city:
PRESS RELEASE RE: ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE
City of Newton Police Chief Matthew Cummings has been placed on paid administrative leave pending a hearing. This action comes after the release of findingsĀ by an independent investigator. The hearing will be conducted as outlined and requiredĀ by the Chief of Po|iceās contract.
The Executive Summary of Investigation by the independent investigator isĀ Captain Howard MintzĀ has been named as interim Chief. Chief Mintz began his career as patrolman for the Newton Police Department in January 1984. He has servedĀ as Commander of the Patrol and Support Services Bureau and most recently asĀ Commander of the Traffic Bureau.
Some folks questioned the selection of Edward Mitnick (the same person who investigated a signature counting controversy under Mayor Cohen) to conduct this review.
Be nice to hear from those folks now.
Video from the mayor’s press conference yesterday…
The silence on this topic is deafening.
I’ll bite.
I think Mayor Warren made the right decision here — the only decision, really — but I still feel bad for Chief Cummings. Yes, he should have known better. But he didn’t intend to hurt anyone. The way I read the report, it sounds like this was his usual sense of humor that came back to haunt him. Having worked in a newsroom, it’s easy to imagine most of this behavior if it was used in a joking manner.
Again, he still screwed up and the mayor had to take action. Probably there needs to be more training in the department about appropriate behavior.
I wasn’t one of the people against the selection of Mitnick, but I’ll comment anyway. I read the report and it seems like he did a good job. The whole thing is sad.
Gail – I’ve worked in situations where I could imagine this behavior if it was used in a joking manner between peers, or at least where there wasn’t such a power differential that the people the humor it was aimed at wouldn’t be intimidated from responding in kind. When it comes from a police chief, the power imbalance is too great. That said, it’s unlikely that he didn’t show this kind of behavior prior to his promotion to chief, and it should have been addressed prior to him ever reaching that position, to give him a chance to learn proper behavior before he reached a position where it can’t be tolerated.
mgwa – I agree.
Because the keyword in gov’t is “transparency”, the mayor used a microphone and news cameras. That’s a little over the top in what could have been a “he’s chosen to spend more time with his family” message.