Ladies and Gentlemen of the Select Board:

Sgt. Tim Brennan has served this community professionally in nearly every possible capacity over the last two decades…as a dedicated detective, mentor to younger officers, safety instructor to our daughters, coach, scoutmaster, active participant in numerous town board roles, and advocate for all things Hopkinton.

Sgt. Tim Brennan now finds himself in the unenviable position of having to defend himself against administrative policy allegations which have been embellished by the Chief to distract, muddy, and obfuscate from the pertinent matters.

Sgt. Tim Brennan stands accused of no crime. In fact, Tim stands accused of nothing that warrants a closer look, other than which, in fact, was the result of his truly compassionate actions on behalf of the victim of a crime.

Former Deputy Chief Porter alone is accused of a crime. A horrible crime. Sgt. Brennan is in no way responsible for any of the alleged past actions of former Deputy Chief Porter with the victim. To the contrary, under the uniquely sensitive and precarious circumstances that faced him, Sgt. Brennan took great care in seeing to it that timely information was provided to the District Attorney’s Office (which, by the way, is law enforcement and is the appropriate, objective and experienced venue for pursuit of this sensitive type of investigation), making a safe path for that victim to be heard by an objective, trustworthy, and multi-disciplinary team of investigators, victim-witness advocates, prosecutors, and, ultimately, grand jurors. But if you understand anything about that process…it takes time and it must be kept secret and uninfluenced, in order to protect the safety of both the victim and any witnesses, in order to prevent witness tampering, and, finally, to preserve the grand jury’s ability to conduct as sound an investigation as possible.

The Chief has engaged an outside investigative group, Kroll, and legal agencies to look into a straightforward internal police policy investigation. The Chief or the Deputy Chief normally is responsible for those straightforward reviews of such alleged internal policy infractions. They happen all the time. The administration of such in-house matters is part of the basic management of a police department.

In an unprecedented use of town funds, Kroll took several months to complete an unnecessary investigation, only to conclude what Sgt. Brennan already had admitted to. That nonsensical investigation cost the taxpayers of Hopkinton nearly $50,000.00, and (through its delays) has required the Town to pay other police officers to fill the vacancy created by the absence of Sgt. Brennan for the past 247 days (as of 1/14/24). These over-the-top excessive actions should raise an immediate red flag for our Town’s fiscal administrators. All of this, for a perceived administrative policy violation?! In other words, to anyone paying attention to the facts, this stinks of being personal. So…has anyone here asked Kroll to look into why this might be so personal? What does this Chief have to hide? Perhaps all of those resources so haphazardly spent on this silly alleged policy infraction would have been better served in a thorough vetting of Jay Porter for Deputy Chief! Had that been done, perhaps the Town would not be in this predicament. Had that thorough vetting for Deputy Chief taken place, we the people of Hopkinton, would not have had to suffer not just the exorbitant cost but also the directly-linked and significant subsequent exodus of good and experienced police officers from Hopkinton to other towns’ police departments.

Jay Porter’s criminal case is in the hands of the Superior Court. Regardless of the outcome of that case, one thing is abundantly clear: at the very least, Porter has been shown to have had horribly bad judgment. And we’re not talking about bad judgment that might lead to administrative oversight mistakes or bad policy decisions. No. Porter’s horribly bad judgment led to his alleged sexual relationship with a teenage girl; he used his special position as her trusted SRO to build an intimate relationship between him, when he was 35, and her, when she was just 14. That kind of bad judgment cannot exist in your Deputy Chief of Police. You, Town, must do a much much better job of vetting those whom you pin; nobody hates a bad cop more than a good cop.

Seven months of suspension is roughly a $25,000.00 fine, which fine already has been levied upon Sgt. Brennan for doing his job by protecting a sexual assault victim and by respecting her timeline and her mental health in mustering the courage to seek justice against one of the most powerful persons in this Town. And that isn’t the only “fine” Sgt. Brennan and his family have suffered. We all have had to sit idly by as we witnessed the completely inexcusable public flogging of Sgt. Brennan’s reputation in the press, which exposure initially intimated (in both its language and its suspiciously precarious positioning on the page) that there may have been some connection between Porter’s criminal matters and Brennan’s policy matter. To add insult to injury, a threat of termination by the Chief for a first-time policy violation of this kind? Have you all asked Kroll to do that research? That is, research into the way law enforcement typically deals with this is and similar types of policy violations? Had you wisely conducted that research, then surely you would have known that the Chief’s recommendation here of terminating a respected sergeant for policy infractions that routinely are handled with a simple letter of reprimand placed into the officer’s file, or maybe, in egregious cases, with a brief suspension, which, frankly, given the internal complexities of this matter and the victim’s needs, would have been too great a penalty for Sgt. Brennan (were any penalty to be imposed at all). This, Town officials and Town citizens, is an embarrassment of management (or, rather, the lack thereof). It’s amateur hour at the Desk of the Chief of Police, and everybody in Town knows it.

Since the beginning, Sgt. Brennan has acknowledged his less than by-the-book actions and has provided solid explanations for his concerns for the victim and for the uninfluenced authentic nature of her case, in this victim-centric crime. His actions were appropriate, guided by compassion, guided by his oath, and, as evidenced by the citizenry’s response, entirely understandable and expected. Policy does not cover every possible scenario. He acted as would be expected…not for the Board…not for the Chief…not for any agenda, but instead, for the victim, for all victims, for us, and for justice. And that is what the Chief currently is telling you to punish. Ask yourselves: Who would you want investigating this type of case were it your child? As the parents of three girls, it’s an easy one for us to answer. We’d want that cop to be Sgt. Tim Brennan.

Sgt. Brennan is an invaluable asset to the Town of Hopkinton. Please return Sgt. Tim Brennan to duty; our Town needs him now more than ever.

“Do your job” does not mean “do the Chief’s bidding.” May we remind you, Town officials, you work for us, the citizens of Hopkinton.

Tim and Dana Babbin
Hopkinton, MA