Deputy Braintree Police Chief Karen MacAleese is complaining about the replacement chief selected by Braintree's mayor

News Notes 10/17/19 by Maya Shaffer

The Braintree Police Department are getting a new police chief and apparently there is unrest among the officers in the department because the chief will be someone from outside the department. Deputy Police Chief Karen MacAleese has urged the town council to reject the current pick for replacement chief.

The Braintree PD have had a series of issues that I reported on with my former outlet. They arrested a woman for filming them (despite that not being a violation of the state’s now overturned wiretap statute), they arrested a man for making his Maserati look like a transformer (charges were dismissed), they confiscated a man’s money and pot despite him having a medical marijuana card then refused to turn it back over to the despite a court order (eventually they relented and returned the money). Also they had an officer knock a man’s head into a cell wall because he was wearing two pairs of pants…  In all the department has been a mess so promoting from within that culture doesn’t make much sense to me.

I met, then Lt. MacAleese several years ago (see video above) after the department’s nonsensical arrest of a man for his transformer car. At the time of my visit to the Braintree Police Station she was the on duty LT and was presumably running the show. She quickly demonstrated that she had no respect for the first amendment or press, and had no knowledge of the actual wiretapping statute by ordering us to leave and cease recording her. She unlawfully refused to provide her ID upon request and eventually had her officers went to a back room and left the police lobby unattended.

It’s sad to see that she has risen in rank within the department and I hope the town council opts not to listen to her because, if she is able to rise within the department, then there can’t be much in house quality talent.