The town of Tisbury spent $17,463.95 to investigate the Tisbury Police Department relative to one of the department’s staffers, but has no report to show for it.
An invoice obtained by The Times through a public records request shows Tisbury paid private investigator Arthur Parker of Wellfleet to investigate “TisburyPD-Patricia Mark.” Mark sued Tisbury town administrator Jay Grande and former Tisbury Police Chief Dan Hanavan in Dukes County Superior Court on multiple allegations, including slander. The case was dismissed in 2018. Mark sought refuge under the Whistleblower Protection Act because she alleged she was reprimanded after bringing issues to Chief Hanavan.
Parker was the investigator who previously produced the internal investigation report on former Tisbury Police Officer Mark Santon. The report alleged, among other things, that Santon exhibited a “blatant disregard for the truth.” Santon was terminated following Parker’s investigation. Parker billed the town $7,888.97 for the Santon investigation on April 24, 2017.
Parker’s invoice for Mark is dated June 1, 2018.
Staffers at Tisbury Town Hall claimed there were no responsive records in the town’s possession after The Times submitted a records request for the report associated with the invoice.
Grande later told The Times there is no report.
“There was no report published, or produced or created,” Grande said. “The investigation did not conclude. The investigation was suspended.”
Asked what it was about, Grande said, “It was a personnel matter within the police department.” He declined further comment.
Parker said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on the investigation. He referred inquiries to the town of Tisbury.
Mark declined to comment.
What???! A missing gun valued at $500.00 and now a missing report valued at $17,000.00. How many guns could Tisbury purchase if they had that money available??? The gun is clearly the responsibility of the the police department, but, the Grande and his three blind mice have managed to lose a report valued at 17k??? What nefarious nonsense are they hiding now? It really must be worthwhile…keep digging Times!!!
How much are we paying Grande to lie to us?
I have a request for the Tisbury Police Dept.
Could you please obey all civil and criminal laws for one day at least, so that I may have a break from responding to these public interest matter?
Just one day, that is all I ask for.
Not a single login on my computer occurs without a fresh story about some new violation.
How much are you costing the MV Times in FOI request fees anyways? They too might appreciate the one day rest.
I previously commented on a earlier MV Times news article that if the Times keeps digging into all our town’s (for the lack of a better word) unethical situations that I would pay the fee to be able to read the MV Times in full online.
Well I just signed up for the yearly online subscription!! ;+)
Our other island newspaper rarely tackles these important issues especially political ones due to their biases.
I will `second` the above comment “keep digging Times!!!”
Amen. I’ve always thought of myself as an “I don’t do paywalls” kind of guy, but the MV Times is ON FIRE 🔥 with their investigative journalism, especially as it regards corruption in the Tisbury town administration, Board of Selectmen, and the appalling Tisbury Police Department, so I’m chipping in. KEEP GOING, MV Times.
DIG.
E X P O S E.
I think there is some confusion among the commenters here about a lost report .
The article says there was never a report.
The town just spent 17 k of taxpayer money for nothing.
Presuming the invoice was paid of course.
The Selectmen have no obligation to reveal personnel issues the the general public and in fact in many cases they are legally liable if they do so. Nosey public have no right to know everything the Police department does. There is no report that was lost. There was no report. They did an investigation based upon probable cause and it revealed nothing of consequence so they suspended. What civil and criminal laws did they disobey Mr Kozak, be specific?
Nosey!? They just spent a lot of our money for……..Nothing? That’s an expensive fishing expedition. This pattern of behavior is unacceptable.
Oldest trick in the book; don’t finish a report and it can’t be shared.
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