Brookline’s new police chief is out — he’s been positioned on administrative depart following discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation complaints.
“This afternoon the Town has placed Police Chief Ashley Gonzalez on paid administrative leave,” Town Administrator Mel Kleckner stated in a Saturday assertion.
Kleckner stated that the city’s administration realized of the allegations in opposition to Chief Gonzalez final week and retained the Quincy-based Comprehensive Investigations and Consulting “to conduct a comprehensive review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations.”
The agency’s principal investigator Daniel Bennett, who along with being a former Worcester prosecutor additionally served for 4 years as secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, will lead the investigation. Bennett can be assisted by former Massachusetts State Police Col. Kerry Gilpin.
Gonzalez will stay on paid depart all through the investigation, Kleckner wrote in a press release.
“The Town has a strict zero-tolerance policy against discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation committed by or against its employees. We are committed to supporting the investigation, which will determine the facts, and responding accordingly.”
Brookline’s Select Board employed Gonzalez, a 33-year profession police officer, to the division’s high job in April after Kleckner really helpful him for the position the earlier month. Gonzalez got here from heading the Austin Independent School District Police Department in Texas, which he led since 2018, in response to a city information launch on the time.
Kleckner chosen Gonzalez resulting from his “long track record of progressive, compassionate and effective police leadership in partnership with communities,” he wrote within the city’s March information bulletin asserting the advice.
Before the Texas publish, Gonzalez was with the Norwalk, Conn., police division starting in 1988, the place he rose from a patrolman to the position of deputy chief.
Brookline’s final full-time police chief, Andrew Lipson, stepped down from the helm of the division in 2020 after two years.
In January, Kleckner appointed Deputy Superintendent of the Patrol Division Richard Allen, who had been with the division since 1989, to performing chief. Before that, Superintendent Mark Morgan served as performing chief.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”