The rift between the Coogan administration and the city council over the police department’s execution of a search warrant against an anonymous Facebook user for comments made on the department’s page continued at this week’s council meeting.
Council president Cliff Ponte filed a complaint with the police department seeking answers to why police would investigate an individual for comments critical of police chief Kelly Furtado and her son, who is also a member of the department.
The mayor, two weeks ago, defended the department, saying no laws were broken. He referred the matter to the state attorney general and the city’s police officer standards and training process to see if proper conduct was violated.
During Tuesday’s meeting, city corporation counsel Alan Rumsey said the city did act on councilor Ponte’s complaint.
Councilor Ponte said he did not receive any details regarding the extent of the city’s investigation or plans to move ahead with the council to hire legal counsel and conduct its own examination to determine whether any policies were violated.
Attorney Rumsey feels the council lacks the authority to hire outside counsel for an investigation.
