LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — A Massachusetts police officer has been fired after his chief determined the officer violated state law by looking up women on a criminal justice database without valid justification.
Brennan Polidoro was fired this spring after then-Lanesborough Police Chief Timothy Sorrell uncovered a pattern of improper surveillance that he viewed as stalking and harassment, the Berkshire Eagle reported.
A probe revealed that Polidoro targeted women that he had current or past relationships with — or those he wanted to date.
Sorrell’s investigation produced a 58-page report covering actions by Polidoro from July 7, 2020, to Feb. 20, 2021. Despite months of work before his retirement, Sorrell is not sure that he fully mapped the extent of Polidoro’s possible misuse of resources.
“Once we found out there was an issue, we dealt with it,” Sorrell said. “If he’s a dirty cop, he’s going down. It’s all about the public trust. I did the best for my agency and recommended to the Select Board that he be terminated — and he was terminated.”
Polidoro’s attorney, Terence Coles, said that his client has appealed his firing.
“He has filed a grievance pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement which provides that officers may only be terminated for just cause,” Coles wrote in a response to the Berkshire Eagle’s request for comment. “Officer Polidoro’s grievance alleges that the town did not have just cause to terminate him.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
