A report by the town of Blackstone found that a former campus police officer accused of sexual assault was able to resign without an investigation, only to get rehired elsewhere in the state. It’s one of over a dozen such examples at colleges around Massachusetts. WBUR reporter Walter Wuthmann talked with afternoon host Dave Fallon about the report, and how a new state commission aims to hold universities and officers accountable when dealing with accusations of misconduct.
TRANSCRIPT:
Dave Fallon: This is The Public’s Radio. I’m Dave Fallon. A recent investigation by the town of Blackstone found that the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth covered up sexual assault allegations against a former campus police officer. Since then, the college announced that it would be hiring an outside firm to review the school’s handling of the matter. Joining me now is the reporter whose work kicked off this investigation, Walter Wuthmann. Walter, welcome. Thanks for joining us.
Walter Wuthmann: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Fallon: Let’s go back just a bit and talk about the investigation, which involves former campus police officer David Laudon – [what he is] accused of doing at UMass-Dartmouth, and how did the university handle those allegations more than a dozen years ago.
Wuthmann: So this new report, as you say, was commissioned by the town of Blackstone, and it was into one of their former police officers, David Laudon, who used to be a police officer at UMass-Dartmouth. They found that he he engaged in multiple offenses of sexual assault while he was an officer at UMass-Dartmouth. And Blackstone, which went on to hire him, did not know about it. So they, you know, they commenced their own investigation. They hired a law firm to sort of dig into what happened a dozen years ago. And what they found is that Laudon had multiple sexual relationships with students on campus while he was on duty as a police officer. He was accused of sexual assault, that the school, UMass-Dartmouth, did not investigate it properly. And rather than you know, investigate and discipline him, they allowed him to resign in exchange for a neutral recommendation to future employers.
Fallon: “Inaccurate,” “misleading,” “incomplete” was the initial school reaction when the story came out. Since then, UMass-Dartmouth is hiring former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis’ consulting firm to again investigate how the school handled the matter. Potential consequences of this investigation?
Wuthmann: So they’re gonna go and probe all of this stuff on their own, they’re going to see, you know, who knew what, at what time, you know, they’re going to look at how this investigation in these how these claims of sexual assault were looked into. You know, there are open questions about, you know, who’s responsible, at what levels? Did people make decisions about not continuing an investigation, allowing someone to resign with a neutral recommendation? And who, you know, who enforced that that neutral recommendation going forward? And I think there are open questions about, you know, was this an isolated incident with one officer a dozen years ago, or was this a wider practice at the university.
Fallon: There are other cases in which campus officers have been fired or forced to resign because of alleged misconduct, but they’re rehired elsewhere in the state. You know, they’re given that that neutral, send off any steps being taken to prevent that from happening.
Wuthmann: In Massachusetts this is something that our new POST commission is is trying to stop – the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. It’s the new police oversight body the legislature created after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. They have the power to certify and decertify police officers based off of criminal prosecutions, misconduct, internal investigations. They’re still getting off the ground. They’re just finishing up going through officers whose last names start with A and go through H, so we’re far from being done. But when I when I spoke to the head of the POST commission, a few months ago, he said that this certification process really should stop this from happening. Another important reform is that, you know, something that happened in this UMass-Dartmouth case specifically is that, because the former officer, Laudon, resigned the investigation, it didn’t go anywhere, you know, it did not reach a conclusion. That will not be possible anymore. Even if an officer resigns. The department has a duty to finish the investigation, make a conclusion and send that to the POST commission. So the conclusion of that investigation will reflect on that officer’s certification going forward.
Fallon: And thus perhaps making a change in how universities in general address sexual assault on campus.
Wuthmann: Yes, there’s a stronger legal mechanism now to to make sure that these, once there is an allegation and investigation opened, that they need to be finished and that there is a state oversight body that’s expecting the result of that.
Fallon: We’ve been speaking with WBUR as Walter wolfman and Walter, thanks for joining us.
Wuthmann: Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.
Fallon: This is The Public’s Radio.
Click here to read Wuthmann’s reporting on the investigation into UMass-Dartmouth’s handling of sexual assault allegations against former campus police officer David Laudon.
