Hopkinton chief pulls 3 officers' LTCs

JJ4

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This is interesting...

Metrowest Daily News article: Hopkinton police chief pulls gun licenses from three officers

The officers -... - have been on “injured on duty” leave for a year and a half and not working shifts, according to town officials.
...

Lee sent letters informing the officers of their firearms license suspensions to their respective hometowns on Dec. 14. As part of the suspension, the officers must turn in all licenses, guns and ammunition to their local police station.

“You are no longer deemed suitable as a result of post-traumatic stress related to injuries incurred while on duty,” the chief wrote to all three officers. “This is supported by medical reports.”


[Bolding mine. Full story in link.]
 
WOW, they are eating their own.

How do they ever get them back? (Court appeal?)
P.O.P.A. protections and privileges just got shut off

How can he pull a license issued in another town?

What a D*CK
 
Sure sounds like they were gaming the worker’s comp game and ol’ Chief-boy decided to go full tyrant on them as payback. It’s also pretty ridiculous to use post traumatic stress as the reason, and what medical records does the chief have access to? Medical records should only be visible to certain individuals.

Lastly, I’m a little confused about one aspect. He says he mailed the revocation orders to their hometowns. I guess they all lived in Hopkinton at one point within 6 years and he was the original issuer.
 
Good thing he doesn’t need to run down any criminals as chief
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I'm wondering if they were off duty claiming injuries while working lucrative full time security gigs on their ltcs. The chief would be stomping on this disability fraud by yanking their credentials.

Also I wonder in the grand scheme of things if this opens a lawsuit against suitability on the basis of discrimination against persons with disabilities? Denied a constitutional right due to a disability?
 
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Lastly, I’m a little confused about one aspect. He says he mailed the revocation orders to their hometowns. I guess they all lived in Hopkinton at one point within 6 years and he was the original issuer.

Chiefs routinely issue LTCs to their officers, whether they live in town or elsewhere.
 
Well, I hope no recently ETS’d young Veterans were looking to move to Hopkington. He just set the standard for asshattery in that town. I predict more to follow, hopefully, lot of questions can be raised here.

As a reminder, never take a right out of TJ’s if you’ve even had one beer.
 
Reading between the lines of the story, I'm guessing the three are claiming that they cannot return to work and perform their duties as officers because of PTSD on-the-job related injuries. They may even be claiming specific symptoms (For example, and I'm making this up here, shaky hands and blurred vision in stressful situations). The chief is then applying the transitive property from 8th grade algebra and saying, essentially, "if you have shaky hands and blurred vision in stressful situations, you clearly shouldn't be carrying a firearm". I suspect that the chief believes the PTSD claims are bullshit and he's trying to call their bluff.
 
Sure sounds like they were gaming the worker’s comp game and ol’ Chief-boy decided to go full tyrant on them as payback. It’s also pretty ridiculous to use post traumatic stress as the reason, and what medical records does the chief have access to? Medical records should only be visible to certain individuals.

Lastly, I’m a little confused about one aspect. He says he mailed the revocation orders to their hometowns. I guess they all lived in Hopkinton at one point within 6 years and he was the original issuer.
You'd be surprised at how employers get info that you'd think that HIPAA should protect.

Likely Hopkinton issues to their officers and some may live elsewhere, so notifying their hometown PD to go and confiscate is SOP.

Timing seems a bit suspicious however given they've been off the job for ~18 months. For those of us who read the entire article it does raise questions.

I'm wondering if they were off duty claiming injuries while working lucrative full time security gigs on their ltcs. The chief would be stomping on this disability fraud by yanking their credentials.

Also I wonder in the grand scheme of things if this opens a lawsuit against suitability on the basis of discrimination against persons with disabilities? Denied a constitutional right due to a disability?
LEOs don't work details on LTCs, they legally don't need LTCs at all. When I worked for the PD, my first chief couldn't convince 1/2 our officers to get LTCs even though he offered them for free back then (long before law changes that give them to their own officers for free).

This whole deal is suspicious especially since we aren't given a clue what event led to their injuries.
 
The waiting period and actions most likely clear them for SSDI and supplemental LTD payments.

When you have a medically documented issue you can only manage it.
 
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As a reminder, never take a right out of TJ’s if you’ve even had one beer.

I've seen Ashland PD sitting in the parking lot, and with the new station going in down the street, taking a left isn't a great idea either.

And who goes to TJs and drinks beer? You're not getting your money's worth if you aren't drinking the hard stuff there.
 
If the contention/reason for suffering ptsd was job related then the Officers just may still qualify for the -LEOSA- super permit ?
 
If the contention/reason for suffering ptsd was job related then the Officers just may still qualify for the -LEOSA- super permit ?

LEOSA IIRC requires that the Officers right to carry be in good standing, and a couple of other things.



I can not remember another instance, other than an Officer being accused or convicted of a serious crime, or being the victim of Lautenburg, where a LTC was revoked by a Chief. Even if this was a strong arm tactic by the C.O.P. to get the officers back to work or off the payroll and into retirement status, if this is his way of applying pressure, he is a d*ck, even if the officers are in the wrong.
 
The Chief may be a dick, but I have no issue with police getting the same treatment that a citizen gun owner would also be subject to in said town.

OK playing devils advocate, short of the new "red flag" type legislation, or a "pink slip" committal against ones will (involuntary admission to a mental health facility) , a revocation based on a response where a person was observed being a danger to him/herself or others, or a notification from a medical professional to the licensing authority that a LTC holder was a danger to himself or others based upon statements made, how would a C.O.P. have any knowledge of a reason to yank a LTC?

If an Officer went to E.A.P. and asked for help with a drinking problem, would a Chief bench them and pull their LTC?

Look, if you read my posts, you will find the boys in Blue and I are often at odds, but at face value this stinks.

A local cop that I had a long running battle with was the first officer into an office building where SEVEN people were killed. He walked in and the shooter was sitting there with the gun.... I know for a fact that that cop was never the same.. several reliable sources told me so, but he stayed on the job with his LTC... and he was the poster boy for PTSD IMHO ( and as much as I dislike the man, I would not wish upon my worst enemy what he went thru).
 
I've seen Ashland PD sitting in the parking lot, and with the new station going in down the street, taking a left isn't a great idea either.

And who goes to TJs and drinks beer? You're not getting your money's worth if you aren't drinking the hard stuff there.
He's not saying you should drink beer over hard liquor, he's just saying you shouldn't even so much as drink one beer if you're there given the amount of cops around that are just waiting to spring their trap.
 
Hopkinton, where the marathon starts and your license to carry ends.
Hope not. I had zero issues getting my LTC renewed prior to this guy coming in when I lived there. I hope it hasn't taken a turn for the that.
 
This is why "May Issue" and "suitability" needs to go.
The Chief should have the right to take their duty weapons and Police IDs, which he did 2 years ago.
But to take away their Second Amendment rights to keep a firearm in the home, with out due process, is bullshit.
These Cops are being treated worse than regular citizens, because a regular citizen wouldn't lose their civil rights over a dispute with there employer over an Injury or workers comp.
 
I still want to know what the original on the job injury event was that hurt three officers.

I looked at the logs for 7/24/17. The only incident listed with 2 out of the 3 officers was them bringing a guy in on a warrant. After that, they don't appear in the logs.

I don't know if they responded to, then suffered PTSD, from this accident

July 24, 2017 -- At about 5:53 p.m. Sunday evening, Massachusetts State Troopers from the Weston Barracks responded to a crash on Route 90 westbound, near the North Street Overpass, at mile marker 102.5 in Upton. The crash resulted in the death of a girl who had exited a motor vehicle that had pulled into a breakdown lane.

You'll need to scroll down.
Hopkinton News - only online !
 
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