Let’s make a deal

Officer says they were promised promotions if they gave chief their support

By George P. Hassett

   A Somerville police officer claimed that Acting Chief Robert R. Bradley promised the Superior Officers Union 20 promotions in order to gain support for a plan to remove the Chief‚Äôs job from civil service this week.

   ‚ÄúBradley stated that if we voted to support the re-organization and agreed to the mayor‚Äôs proposal to remove the chief‚Äôs position from civil service, the mayor would make as many as 20 promotions,‚Äù said Sgt. Joseph E. McCain in a letter to the Board of Aldermen.
   McCain said this offer came at the second meeting of the union where the chief‚Äôs position was discussed. At the first, the union voted to keep the chief‚Äôs position in civil service, he said.
   At the second meeting, the union voted to support the plan. McCain voted along with his union to remove the police chief from civil service. He said his vote was not a wise choice.
  ‚ÄúI believe I made a grave mistake in supporting the measure at this second vote. I was influenced by the desire to see fellow police officers‚Äô receive long overdue promotions. It was the wrong thing to do. I am opposed to the removal of the chief‚Äôs position from civil service,‚Äù he said in the letter.
  Bradley and Superior Officers Union President Charles Femino said they believe McCain has either misunderstood or misstated the facts.
  ‚ÄúSgt. McCain is certainly entitled to his own opinion but there was never any deal or understanding that if we supported the removal of the chief from civil service there would automatically be twenty promotions,‚Äù said Femino.
   Femino said many of the union members changed their votes from the first meeting to the next after gathering more information on the proposal.
  ‚ÄúThe first vote was taken based on erroneous information that the Board of Alderman was going to vote that night on a proposal to remove the chief from civil service. We moved quickly to prevent this,‚Äù said Femino. ‚ÄúBut before the second vote we had learned of the advisory committee findings and decided to endorse the removal of the chief from civil service,‚Äù he said.
   In addition, the promotion of 20 officers was never used as a bargaining chip by Bradley, said Femino.
   ‚ÄúThe twenty promotions will occur because once the chief is removed from civil service, the department will be reorganized. There will be two additional substations created and in order to staff those stations, the plan would call for 20 promotions,‚Äù he said.
   Bradley said McCain‚Äôs claim is incorrect.
   ‚ÄúHe has said there was a sort of quid-pro-quo deal where we gave the union something if they voted to support a particular plan. That is simply not true. I think he is the only one who heard that,‚Äù Bradley said.