Breaking the law under color of authority and for years.
WORCESTER — Worcester State University police officers working the overnight shift routinely used their security keys to get into a locked campus café and help themselves to food and drinks without paying, according to university records and officials.
The practice came to a halt last fall after a police dispatcher watching security camera monitors later reported seeing two patrolmen and a sergeant, the ranking police official on duty that September night, taking sandwiches, chips and drinks from the locked café around midnight.
Recorded on security camera footage later reviewed by Chief Rosemary F. Naughton, Vice President of Student Affairs Sibyl Brownlee and other university officials, the three officers initially were suspended without pay for a week and given written reprimands.
But Chief Naughton later arranged to have the disciplinary action against them reversed after it became clear to her that the practice had been going on among officers with the knowledge of some police supervisors for a long time, perhaps years, she said.
“I honestly think the officers thought it was OK. I know them well. They also know there's a camera there. I just feel in my heart that they didn't feel like they were stealing,” Chief Naughton said in an interview this past week.
Worcester State spokeswoman Lea Anne Scales said the practice of officers letting themselves into the café late at night to take food began because the cafeteria is closed at night and officers on the night shift have nowhere else to eat on campus. Ms. Scales said the sandwiches taken by the officers likely would have been thrown out in the morning.
When initially contacted by the Telegram & Gazette last month about allegations that officers had taken food from Java Junction in Wasylean Hall, Chief Naughton said an internal investigation looked into the allegations and determined them to be “unfounded.”
However, police documents later obtained under the state Public Records Law, including Chief Naughton's own summary of the internal investigation, show that the actions of Sgt. William Marrier and Officers Andrew Wentworth and Jason St. Amand were captured on the department's digital video recording system.
On the day the video footage was brought to the chief's attention, Sept. 15, she sent an email to all employees of the police department instructing them never to enter a locked food service area on campus to take food or drinks.
“This is unacceptable and unethical for any employee from the police department to behave in this manner. Department members that are observed or are partaking in this practice will be disciplined accordingly up to and including termination,” Chief Naughton wrote in the email.
The chief and other university officials, including Director of Human Resources Russell E. Vickstrom, questioned the three officers in a meeting that afternoon, according to records.
“Sgt. Marrier stated that it was common practice and that ‘everyone' does it,” Chief Naughton wrote in her summary of the meeting. “When asked if any directive ever came down not to do it, Sgt. Marrier answered, ‘Yes, I remember but was told, ‘Just wait for things to cool down.' ”
The three officers were suspended without pay for five days beginning that day.
Two months later, on Nov. 9, the chief sent a letter to Mr. Vickstrom requesting reinstatement of the forfeited pay for all three officers and removal of the letters of reprimand from their personnel files. The chief wrote that it had come to her attention that Lt. Daniel Devine, the department's third in command, had once made a comment to Officer Wentworth while getting food at Java Junction that he should “wait until the students weren't around” or words to that effect.
Chief Naughton wrote in her letter to Mr. Vickstrom that the remark could have been interpreted as giving officers permission to enter the closed and locked café late at night to take food.
Worcester State trustees Chairman John P. Brissette said he planned to discuss the reversal of the disciplinary action with university President Janelle C. Ashley this week.
“I don't take this lightly. I don't think this is right. It's wrong, and the administration dealt with it in way that it thought was best. I will have a conversation with the president about that. If there needs to be further disciplinary action, we will do that,” Mr. Brissette said.
The dispatcher initially reported the incident to Lt. Devine, who summarized what he saw on the video footage in his report to the chief.
The footage, which the T&G also obtained through state Public Records Law, shows Sgt. Marrier walk into the dining area outside Java Junction, look around and then shine his police flashlight through the security gate into the locked part of the café where food and drinks are kept.
“Shortly after this, Officer Andrew Wentworth and Officer Jason St. Amand appeared on the video, entering through the locked side door to Java Junction,” Lt. Devine wrote in his report. “Both officers proceed to the refrigerated cooler, selected items and communicated with Sgt. Marrier on the other side of the security gate. They then proceed back towards the door and appear to be shopping by grabbing a bag of chips and a drink out of the Coca-Cola refrigerator.”
The video shows the two officers placing the items they gathered into white plastic bags. Footage from another security camera in the building shows Sgt. Marrier later waiting outside a set of glass doors. Officers Wentworth and St. Amand then exit through the doors carrying full white plastic bags.
Officer St. Amand is the son of Judith St. Amand, assistant to Worcester State President Janelle Ashley. In an email from Mr. Vickstrom to Chief Naughton, the human resources director said Officer St. Amand handled receiving his letter of reprimand well.
“He apologized again with a great deal of humiliation and sincerity. He spoke of his embarrassment and said that he asked his mom to ‘stay out of it,' ” Mr. Vickstrom wrote.
Police records indicate the security camera footage was recorded on Saturday, Sept. 4, at about midnight.
Java Junction is operated by New York-based Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services. Chartwells spokeswoman Kristine Andrews declined to comment on the incident, referring questions to Chief Naughton.
The chief said officers on the night shift now bring food from home or go off campus to grab a sandwich from a convenience store. She said she did not know officers were taking food from the café at night until the dispatcher reported what she had seen on the security camera monitors.
“I would have stopped it for sure,” Chief Naughton said, adding that she did not know exactly how long the practice had been going on. “Rumor has it that it was happening for years.”
http://www.telegram.com/article/20110619/NEWS/106199873/0/news04
