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Westwood police use public safety money for clothes
The Associated Press
1/29/2004, 8:00 a.m. ET
WESTWOOD, Mass. (AP) -- Westwood police used a public safety grant to buy sweat suits, T-shirts and baseball caps, despite pledging to state officials that the money would be used to purchase a global positioning system, weapons and other gear, records show.
The department got the $75,000 federal grant in 2002, claiming it would be used to create a special response team. On their grant application, Westwood officials said they would use the money to purchase helmets, breaching tools and "civil disturbance protective gear," as well as the weapons and GPS system.
But a Boston Globe review of records provided by the Westwood Police Department showed that most of the items listed on the application were never bought.
Instead, $13,000 was spent on clothes - many of them bearing the department's logo. Officials also used almost $35,000 for 133 top-of-the-line duty jackets, and 133 high-visibility vests, paying extra for embroidered logos and patches, the records show.
Other portions of the grant money went toward the purchase of a rapid-deployment vehicle to be shared by other law enforcement agencies.
Westwood was awarded $1 million in grants in the last three months of 2002, when James P. Jajuga was the state secretary of public safety. Most of the money was to be shared among 40 cities and towns in the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, in which Westwood was the lead department.
The FBI is investigating federal grants awarded by the public safety department under Jajuga. Other portions of the grant money went toward the purchase of a rapid-deployment vehicle to be shared by other law enforcement agencies.
Use of federal grants for purposes other than those listed on the grant application violates the guidelines of the state's Executive Office of Public Safety, which administered the grant for the U.S. Department of Justice, the Globe reported.
But Christine Cole, deputy chief of staff for the office of public safety said the clothing could be used for "outfitting police officers coming from various police departments to be part of a rapid response team."
Westwood Police Chief William G. Chase said the sweat suits, polo shirts, shorts and other clothing are used when the police officers assigned to the rapid response team get together for physical fitness training.
Robert C. Haas was the Westwood police chief at the time the grant was awarded. He later left the department to join the Executive Office of Public Safety as a high-ranking assistant to state Public Safety Secretary Edward A. Flynn.
What a JOKE. We need $13,000 worth of fancy shorts so we can PT together. How about you buy that sh*t yourselves and not with federal money.
The Associated Press
1/29/2004, 8:00 a.m. ET
WESTWOOD, Mass. (AP) -- Westwood police used a public safety grant to buy sweat suits, T-shirts and baseball caps, despite pledging to state officials that the money would be used to purchase a global positioning system, weapons and other gear, records show.
The department got the $75,000 federal grant in 2002, claiming it would be used to create a special response team. On their grant application, Westwood officials said they would use the money to purchase helmets, breaching tools and "civil disturbance protective gear," as well as the weapons and GPS system.
But a Boston Globe review of records provided by the Westwood Police Department showed that most of the items listed on the application were never bought.
Instead, $13,000 was spent on clothes - many of them bearing the department's logo. Officials also used almost $35,000 for 133 top-of-the-line duty jackets, and 133 high-visibility vests, paying extra for embroidered logos and patches, the records show.
Other portions of the grant money went toward the purchase of a rapid-deployment vehicle to be shared by other law enforcement agencies.
Westwood was awarded $1 million in grants in the last three months of 2002, when James P. Jajuga was the state secretary of public safety. Most of the money was to be shared among 40 cities and towns in the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, in which Westwood was the lead department.
The FBI is investigating federal grants awarded by the public safety department under Jajuga. Other portions of the grant money went toward the purchase of a rapid-deployment vehicle to be shared by other law enforcement agencies.
Use of federal grants for purposes other than those listed on the grant application violates the guidelines of the state's Executive Office of Public Safety, which administered the grant for the U.S. Department of Justice, the Globe reported.
But Christine Cole, deputy chief of staff for the office of public safety said the clothing could be used for "outfitting police officers coming from various police departments to be part of a rapid response team."
Westwood Police Chief William G. Chase said the sweat suits, polo shirts, shorts and other clothing are used when the police officers assigned to the rapid response team get together for physical fitness training.
Robert C. Haas was the Westwood police chief at the time the grant was awarded. He later left the department to join the Executive Office of Public Safety as a high-ranking assistant to state Public Safety Secretary Edward A. Flynn.
What a JOKE. We need $13,000 worth of fancy shorts so we can PT together. How about you buy that sh*t yourselves and not with federal money.
