Dear Members of the Select Board:
It’s time to clean house. Your house.
Apart from Muriel Kramer, you, the members of the Hopkinton Select Board, have proved yourselves to be unprepared, incompetent, and devoid of compassion. Other than Muriel Kramer, all of you should show some class and resign immediately. On Friday evening, Jan 19, 2024, it appeared to those of us in the audience that Muriel Kramer was the single Select Board member who had read the material submitted by the parties involved.
Muriel, and only Muriel, clearly understood the gravity of the hearing. Sadly, the rest of you didn’t have any idea what the material contained nor what was at stake. In addition, Muriel was the only Select Board member to have prepared questions that made sense.
Under the stress, Shahidul Mannan became emotional and spoke of the hypothetical “silent victims,” yet failed to grasp the nuanced and competing pressures placed on Sgt. Brennan as a first complaint witness.
Sgt. Brennan was instructed by, among other things:
- His years of training and experience investigating sexual assault cases and working with victims;
- The victim’s mental and physical health and safety;
- His own safety (and that of his family);
- Preservation of evidence and testimony (for the eventual prosecution);
- Poorly drafted and highly ambiguous departmental policy that, at that time, did not offer to Sgt. Brennan appropriate options for reporting a fellow officer to an outside objective body (i.e., one not at all linked to or influenced by any member of Town government or Town offices); and, finally and most importantly,
- His oath to protect and serve.
For years, Sgt. Brennan shielded the victim from physical harm and public scrutiny (which, considering recent events, is more than I can say for the Chief and for you, Select Board).
Sgt. Brennan has served all of us by being the type of cop every town wants, that is, one that the most vulnerable victims will confide in and will entrust with the most humiliating and shame-inducing stories of violence that they ever have endured.
Sgt. Brennan did everything in his power to protect the real and known victim, not some hypothetical victim. She needed him, and he was there. He spent five years empowering the victim by giving her the courage to report, and, little by little, she developed the strength to tell objective professional investigators (complete strangers) about the intimate embarrassing details of how and when Jay Porter indecently assaulted her.
In 2017, the 28-year-old victim told Sgt. Brennan that the now-criminal-defendant, Jay Porter, had, in 2004 (13 years prior) driven the victim to a parking lot where Porter had, per the victim, kissed her and touched her chest. Despite Sgt. Brennan’s request that the victim report the crime, she refused. But that wasn’t all. The victim also displayed an intense fear of being “outed” when she warned Sgt. Brennan that, if he reported it, she would deny it and essentially would call Sgt. Brennan a liar. On August 21, 2022, the night before her SANE interview at the D.A.’s Office, the 32-year-old victim showed Sgt. Brennan that she had made some notes (presumably to help her get the words out to the SANE interviewer, as I can only imagine how hard that must have been to say to a stranger).
It wasn’t until Sgt. Brennan read her notes that he realized that Jay Porter hadn’t just (allegedly) kissed the victim and touched her chest on one date in 2004; Porter also had (allegedly) raped her. Brennan explained to the victim that (even though she may have not realized it) the facts she had noted amounted to the much more serious (alleged) crime of rape.
The next day, August 22, 2022, the victim was interviewed by a SANE Examiner at the D.A.’s Office. Since then, Sgt. Brennan has continued to respect the victim’s desire for privacy, while she navigates the criminal justice system and awaits Jay Porter’s trial.
Had Shahidul and others spent some time studying the social science of working with victims of violence and abuse, or maybe even just had allowed expert Elizabeth Keeley, former A.A.G. and Chief of the Attorney General’s statewide Human Trafficking Division, to speak at the Loudermill hearing, then maybe he and his colleagues would have arrived at a different conclusion. But then again…they would have been forced to listen (i.e., do their job), and they’d already written their decisions before showing up for the hearing.
Which brings us to Amy Ritterbusch. Amy, throughout the hearing, I had no idea what you were thinking; you had nothing to ask of the parties. You were silent. That is, until you made a motion to fire Sergeant Brennan. Clearly you were not there to listen to the parties or to the sole expert in the room, as you referred to your pre-written statement of your decision to vote in favor of firing Sergeant Brennan.
Amy, tell us, who wrote that decision? When was it written?
Mary Jo LaFreniere, you claimed to have read all the material. You even boasted that you knew the material so well, that you didn’t need to bring any documents with you. When it was your turn to ask questions, you asked if Sgt. Tim Brennan had called the victim’s mother. Seriously? The victim was well into her adulthood by the time she mentioned any criminal assault. Mary Jo, you were simply uninformed and unprepared. You must have skimmed over the important parts when you read the material.
Shahidul, Mary Jo, and Irfan all thought Tim Brennan should have told someone – the Chief, the Town Manager, or the Select Board – about the victim, thus outing her before she was ready. That is incomprehensible to us. By outing her, they would have set a precedent such that no victim ever would come forward again to a Hopkinton official. That is absurd.
When the Board appeared ready to vote to fire Tim Brennan, someone from the crowd mentioned that he was going to lose his pension. Shockingly, someone from the Select Board replied, “He’s not going to lose his pension!” How dare any of you entertain a motion to terminate, prior to Sgt. Brennan’s retirement, and not understand that that would prevent his ability to ever receive a pension? Termination! For a 22-year veteran of the HPD and a 36+ year veteran of law enforcement…with an unblemished disciplinary record! (That’s a lot more than I can say about YOU, Select Board, as it appears you’ve sullied your own professional records this week, quite egregiously!) Lest you forget, assuming a relevant and clear policy even existed at the time of the alleged policy infraction (which appears questionable), Sgt.
Brennan’s infraction would be for an ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY VIOLATION, that is, the type of infraction that cannot be used as a “fire-able” infraction in police labor relations.
Sadly, due to the ridiculous alleged policy infraction, Hopkinton will face a much tougher time trying to recruit young police officers, especially when they learn of this allegation and naturally worry that they’ll be held accountable for policies yet to be written. Again…absurd!
We also have some comments for your choice of Chief; perhaps you could share them with him. Chief Bennett, I would like to thank you for so succinctly making the case of why Sergeant Brennan didn’t trust you with confidential information concerning the victim of a sexual abuse case. Who would?
As you, Chief, proudly waved your little black binder in the air Friday night (an item not in evidence that evening, as, per records made public that night, the Town Manager previously had told the parties that they would not be allowed to present witnesses or exhibits), lecturing Tim Brennan and the rest of us about the policies and procedures contained therein, you ALREADY HAD OUTED THE VICTIM by posting the UNREDACTED TRANSCRIPT of Sergeant Brennan’s interview on the HPD’s your website. You even directed all of us to your website so we could read it!
I have a couple of questions for the Chief:
- How many policies and procedures have you violated, Chief? This week? This year? This decade? During your entire law enforcement career? (Brennan had ZERO.)
- WHY DIDN’T YOU PUBLISH YOUR OWN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT, CHIEF, AND THAT OF OFFICER MATTHEW MACNEIL? They are conspicuously absent. What have you to hide?
But wait! There’s more. On Sunday, January 21, 2024, Amy Ritterbusch, the liaison to the HPD, supposedly posted the unredacted transcript of Sergeant Brennan’s interview to a social media page, again fully outing the victim, reaching approximately 5,000 users. I did not witness this posting, but I have heard that many people saw it before it was taken down.
We know the Chief outed the victim. If true, and Amy did, in fact, post Sgt. Brennan’s unredacted interview transcript to a social media page, then they both committed an act that is far worse than the ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY VIOLATION that Amy, the Select Board, and the Chief wanted so badly to fire Sgt. Brennan for, not to mention, TAKE AWAY HIS PENSION! What the Chief did, is in fact, a CRIME.[1]
So Chief…will you fire yourself, as you told everyone you would have done with Porter, except, well, you didn’t do that with Porter, because you actually let him have enough time to submit his retirement papers?
Now that you all are facing your own fallibility, take a good hard long look in the mirror. Consider fairness. You haven’t exhibited any such fairness when it comes to Sgt. Brennan. You have exhibited nothing but cruelty, which makes people wonder…Why? The people you serve have spoken loud and clear; they want Sgt. Brennan back at work. So, people cannot help but wonder…what agenda do you have that we are missing?
None of your antics make sense. What is driving this – for lack of a better term – witch hunt against Sgt. Brennan? Why would Chief Bennett want to remove the best cop in this town? One who the entire town knows, likes, and trusts?
There is something rotten in the State of Denmark, oops, I mean the Town of Hopkinton.
Does Jay Porter have something on Joseph Bennett? Is Porter driving this? Tim Brennan is not only the nicest, most trustworthy guy in the room; he’s also the smartest. Sgt. Brennan kept that victim’s identity in a vault for seven years, and it only took moments for the Select Board and the Chief to blow it all up when they recklessly released an unredacted version of Sgt. Brennan’s interview, even linking to it on the Chief’s HPD’s website. And as others have pointed out…you can’t un-ring that bell.
We don’t believe this Chief’s actions result from any legitimate exercise of supervision. We think his vindictive motives for seeking Sgt. Brennan’s termination run deeper than that.
My husband and I strenuously request, and the people of Hopkinton immediately deserve, the following next steps, in this order:
- Reinstate Sgt. Tim Brennan ASAP;
- Fire the Chief Joe Bennett; and,
- Resign immediately from your positions on the Select Board (except Muriel Kramer).
The victim isn’t the only one who deserves healing; this Town does, too. But we can’t heal until you take the honorable and necessary steps listed above.
Paula and Walter Garland, Hopkinton, MA
I couldn’t agree more it’s a big farce let’s just get it done right
I can’t help but wonder if Chief Bennett is still responsible for negotiating with Brennan and his attorney for Brennan’s termination package (severance, pension, etc.) now that he broke the law by outing the victim and is now personally inv. Negotiations were supposed to be completed within 30 days. I don’t think Bennett should be involved anymore. He should be fired but until then, he shouldn’t be involved. Now the town will surely face a lawsuit from the victim Bennett outed, and if they terminate Brennan, they might just get sued by him. Brennan should be reinstated, the chief should be terminated and the HPD needs new leadership. The new chief needs to make some changes so that new recruits will want to work here.
Everything, ALL of this, I could not have said this any better.
Wasn’t Muriel the treasurer of the bail fund that bonded out a rapist and he raped again? Stopped reading after the first paragraph…
The SB, Chief, and town council have all gone silent on all this. I guess I am not surprised as, I am sure, the victim in this case, the girl, is probably tooling up for a pretty solid law suit against the town, Chief and Hopkinton PD. Which brings me to another serious problem with the SB. The amount of wasted money, tax payer money, the current SB has wasted over the past few years is significant. Although I may not be accurate as to the the amounts I mention here, and feel free to correct me, the total amount of tax payer money is, at best, concerning.
There was a trail committee that was approved by the SB that spent well over $100K on a study and recommendations that went nowhere. There was an article at the town meeting to disband the Trail Committee that past by the voters. The SB decided not to disband the Trail Committee even though the citizens voted to disband the committee.
The downtown Bike Lane that was approved by the SB is the biggest waste of money I have seen in years. I have heard that Legacy Farms donated $800K for trails in town. All that money, plus tax payer money, was used up on that ridiculous project. I also understand that that project has to be redone again because of safety vehicle accessibility. I think this will be the third attempt to do a project that will never be used by bicyclists or anyone else for that matter. Another waste of tax payer money.
Now, because of the SB’s incompetence of releasing the unredacted report that exposed the victims name in the Porter case, the town is sure to be facing a multi million dollar law suit. More tax payer money.
Why was Porter allowed to retire and collect his pension, or at least why didn’t the SB question this with the Chief and possibly put it on hold until Porter’s trial is concluded. More tax payer money.
If Sgt Brennan is ultimately terminated with or without his pension, I am sure the town will be facing yet another law suit for unlawful termination. More tax payer money.
It seems the SB has no concern for wasting tax payer money and apparently thinks the citizens of this town collectively are a bottomless ATM machine.
If the SB actually did their job and made informed decisions that included considering the financial impact to the town for these decisions, a lot of tax payer money would not have been and will be wasted. It is time for the SB to step down.
Ritterbusch’s own words while reading her clearly predetermined decision from a prewritten statement during the hearing; “good people sometimes make serious errors in judgement…….and this behavior erodes public trust” Amy has eroded any trust the public had by predetermining her decision prior to the hearing and then releasing the accuser’s name (a violation of MA state law). She must step down or be removed.
Mary Jo states emphatically “I have read everything”; then proceeds to ask a question about notifying a parent, which demonstrates a lack of reading comprehension and situational awareness. Mary Jo is unfit to make a decision in this matter.
I point out that a prior SB bears most of the responsibility for the Main St debacle.
Ed, I believe it was the state legislature that mandated the bike lanes.
Jim: Ashland, with their well designed, attractive new downtown, didn’t put bike lanes in. I think we were told bike lanes were a requirement, not sure that’s actually the case.
Thanks Peter, I haven’t seen it, but I did do a quick search online and it looks like Ashland took $’s from the state for their downtown project. It would be interesting to know the facts on what we were required to do and not do.
State said the same to Southborough and Upton, they went out and bought a few gallons of paint and presto, bike lanes!
They won’t resign. Recall petitions are what’s needed. Maybe the State Police should be brought in to oversee the day to day operations of HPD until this mess is cleared up.
Given the uniqueness of this situation and the multitude of details involved, with infractions and incompetence committed by so many [except Sgt. Brennan], I cannot imagine a more complete and accurate encapsulation of events and expectation of outcome than the superb letter by Mr. and Mrs. Garland. Bravo!!
“Consider fairness.”
That’s what this boils down to.
Well said.
Thank you, Jim, I appreciate your interest.
There are recent bike lanes in Upton, parts of Rt 135 in Framingham, I think on 126 in Framingham into Ashland as was mentioned by Peter LaGoy.
I do not believe the ‘raised, separated, two -way bike lanes’ as was done in Hopkinton, (and not in Framingham, Ashland, or Upton) are a State requirement.
Surely if I am wrong, someone will be along to set us (me, anyway!) straight.
I would like to convey my sincere gratitude for the time, effort, and research that Paula and Walter Garland put into their letter to Hopnews. You can tell that they not only broke down the open meeting of January 19th, but went beyond that with some additional research that caught my eye. However, they are among dozens of others who apparently, were paying attention and have offered their questions, concerns, and comments, in supporting one of the most valuable assets in our town, Sgt. Timothy Brennan.
I had to restrain a hearty laugh at the open meeting, when I heard some of the Selectmen state that, “Sgt. Brennan could have come to us…” or ‘Sgt. Brennan could have gone to Human Resources…” and that was before most of us were aware of just how the BOS tipped their hand.
Reminds me of a quote in the movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, when the principal, Ed Rooney stated “I’ll get you Ferris Bueller if it’s the last thing I do!” I know exactly how this situation evolved. The Selectmen were absolutely blinded by their need to retaliate against Sgt. Brennan. It was blatantly obvious that the majority of the BOS didn’t research much of the documentation that they were given, nor were they willing to listen to any testimony or comment that could have brought this whole event into perspective.
The BOS was hoping to have the Town’s legal expert on Sexual Assault victims, oh, excuse me, their labor attorney, ( silly me,) present the Town’s side, hear a rebuttal from Sgt. Brennan’s attorney, go down the line, and vote on the Chief’s recommendation, and then make it home for a late dinner. Although not excited to have such an event to go to on a Friday night, in retrospect I am so happy that it was a public meeting, and wasn’t buried behind the doors of an Executive Session. Most of those in attendance were there that night to be educated on the facts of the situation, and were actually hoping to understand how this may have transpired. The majority of the Board could have cared less. This was immensely disrespectful to the hundreds ( +/- ) of citizens who attended in person and another 1600 citizens ( correct me if I’m wrong ) that tuned in on cable. I saw one person suggest that this was nothing more than a “Kangaroo Court”, I wouldn’t be that disrespectful to kangaroos!
Unfortunately for the citizens of Hopkinton, this Board has shown a gross level of arrogance, immaturity, ignorance, selfishness, with an added lack of compassion and humanity. All over an administrative department procedure, seems kind of lame, no? This Board has hired expert consultants, who gave bad information, ( ie: suggesting violations that weren’t even applicable ), then another hired attorney runs with those recommendations. Now we take advice from a Public Relations Agency to release documents that out this victim, and yes I said “VICTIM”! With all due respect to Muriel Kramer, whom I understand why she wanted to refer to said victim as a survivor, this victim, was victimized again by this Board! Absolutely DISGRACEFUL! Was it truly unintentional, I pray to God that it was, however, this Board couldn’t see that Sgt. Brennan had nothing but the victim’s trust and confidence as his focus, and thankfully never gave up the trust of the victim, because we are all witness to how that would have came out. If the Board had a shred of compassion or human decency, they would have seen what Sgt. Brennan was trying to accomplish in assisting this victim after her horrible experience, and we wouldn’t be here today.
Sgt. Timothy Brennan violated a couple of vague administrative policies that weren’t really black and white given the complexities of this “once in a million”, “impossible to be foreseen”, situation as it played out. With his years of experience in Sexual Assault training, and dealing with other victims, he had to make a judgement call, and he has put his career and reputation on the line. This Board, on the other hand, without a qualified expert in the field, relied on a Public Relations Agency, to divert attention from their inept handling of this situation, and made the most egregious error imaginable! All for a policy violation, I hope that you all can sleep at night!
To come full circle, I would like to see what was so offensive to the Board that they wouldn’t allow the written document of Attorney Elizabeth Keely, a subject matter expert, formerly of the Attorney General’s Office. If we are having a public hearing to educate the citizens, what were the Selectmen afraid of us finding out, that may have outed their “bag job? I’m sure that no one in the room would have been upset to stay another 10 minutes to hear a true subject matter expert. I had occasion last weekend to run into one of the top retired prosecutors on the East Coast. And without going into detail, I asked the generic question: “What is the probability of a successful prosecution of a sexual assault case with an uncooperative victim?”
Their reply was immediate: ZERO
Good enough for me, to get an answer that I was pretty confident that I already knew!
And whomever may have dreamed that this question could even be entertained at this point:
USA: “Mr. Putin, we accidentally published our nuclear codes on the internet, would you promise not to look at them and send them back without making any copies?”
Russia: ( crickets )
The BOS has botched this entire situation like no one could even imagine:
You violated MGL regarding identifying Sexual Assault Victims
You hired consultants and then violated their policies about sharing their findings and your use of them
You have received bad information from legal consultants and run with them erroneously
You have been deceitful towards the citizens whom you represent and not shared all of the information and facts with them
You have tarnished the reputation of a 30 year law enforcement veteran who had nothing on his personal agenda, but protecting a victim of a horrible crime
Going forward, first and foremost, I pray for the victim of this horrible series of events, for her physical safety and emotional wellness. The Town needs to apologize to this victim, and support any effort for her to become a survivor, whatever it may cost.
The Town also owes the entire Brennan Family an apology, for this disaster that they have created, when Sgt. Timothy Brennan only had the best intentions for a victim of a serious crime. What the Town has done to his reputation, and public image is horrific, and no employee of this town should ever be subjected to any such witch hunt ever again.
I implore the Town to immediately reinstate Sgt. Timothy Brennan to his regular work schedule and to make him whole again financially, based upon his past three years average of overtime and detail pay that he has lost during this suspension.
I believe that this town needs to end the pettiness and put it all behind us, before we can move forward in a positive direction.
God forbid that there are any additional victims out there, but you can bet that based on the recent performance of our Board of Selectmen, they won’t be coming forward any time soon, if ever!
Sgt. Brennan never compromised anything about this case despite various outside pressure put onto him. He was unwavering as he would be charging into an active shooter scenario. He would protect each and every one of us whether he knew us or not, because Sgt. Timothy Brennan is the real deal, and there is nothing phony about him, nor his work ethic, nor his trust worthiness, nor his love of the Town of Hopkinton and its citizens, all of them!
Well said DON! And yes, I’m the one who referred to it as a Kangaroo Court and you’re right, I owe the Kangaroos an apology!
Yesterday there was an article posted on HopNews regarding the Select Board relinquishing powers that they have over the police department that they were granted in 1996. This article was posted for less than 10 minutes and then taken down. Did anyone else happen to see this? My guess is the Select Board has finally grasped the gravity of this situation and no longer want to be involved in police matters. I hope that the Select Board does not think that this will placate the citizens of Hopkinton. This Select Board as well as Chief Bennett need to be removed. Anything less is unacceptable.
Reinstate Tim Brennan now!
Thanks, Chris. Indeed the article was pulled following a telephone call with the Town Manager, who will be sending a written statement this weekend. We will repost when we receive it. Just want to make sure we incorporate the town’s official position into the article.
Well, the weekend has come and gone and no statement from the town. You should repost the article. The town has had ample time to provide you with their statement. The citizens have a right to know what is going on with the HPD and the Select Board. The people of Hopkinton need to be informed.
We received a comment from the Town Manager today and have incorporated it into the story. Please see here.
Yes.
I saw it,too. Read it and grabbed a screenshot of it.
Curious as to why the town would, at this seemingly volatile time, be seeking to further empower the Chief?
Kudos to HopNews for staying on top of this suspicious move by the Select Board.
Looking forward to the repost and any proposed rationale from the Select Board for the sudden change in the balance police administration powers.
Thank you Don. Well said.
Very much agree with this statement. As a former officer at HPD, I left due to the poor leadership that Bennett and Porter provided along with the town select board and town manager. The town has had close to 15-20 officers leave in the last 2 years.
The entire select board must resign
Chief of police must resign or be fired
Norman needs to slide on out to his new job
Lastly town council should have been sacked years ago. At best he speaks in nonsense riddle speak