METHUEN, Mass. – An officer with the Methuen Police Department in Massachusetts has been reinstated to the agency and given back pay after he was suspended for allegedly mishandling evidence during a 2018 investigation.
An arbitrator overturned most of Officer Arthur Hardy’s 270-day suspension and ordered that the city “make Officer Hardy whole for all wages and benefits lost, including overtime, detail, and court pay,” according to the New England Daily News.
Mary Ellen Shea ruled that Hardy should only have to serve 60 days of the original suspension instead of 270 days, which essentially amounted to a full year of employment.
“The City is hereby ordered to rescind the 270-working day suspension and to remove any reference to it from Officer Hardy’s record,” Shea wrote in the decision.
Mayor Neil Perry defended his decision not to intervene in the case, something the City Council had urged him to do late last month.
“This process and arbitration was well underway before my administration took office,” said Perry, who was elected last fall and sworn in for his first term in January 2020. “As such my decision not to intervene in the matter was the correct one.”
The City Council urged Mayor Perry to reinstate Hardy. They said his suspension was primarily the result of a grudge held by Police Chief Joe Solomon against Hardy, who was, at the time, the president of the patrolmen’s union and had butted heads with Solomon over contract issues, according to The Daily News.
Perry refused the council’s request, saying the matter was up to the arbitrator, not him.
“I am glad the matter has been resolved and we can now move forward,” Perry said.
At-Large Councilor D.J. Beauregard said he was “happy for the people of Methuen that a good and decent officer is returning to duty during a very challenging time for everyone. However, I’m disappointed in the Methuen Police Department’s management.”
He noted, “Once again, we will have to expend taxpayer dollars to clean up after more mismanagement and incompetence from the top. … . The citizens of Methuen deserve better.”
Solomon said Friday that he had reviewed the decision, notably that the arbitrator “found Officer Hardy incompetent in his (2018) investigation. I was surprised she would reduce the suspension so significantly considering the extensive progressive disciplinary history.”
One of the primary reasons cited by the city in Hardy’s lengthy suspension was that he had a history of disciplinary problems.
The arbitrator agreed, but ruled that a 60-day suspension was more in line with the facts of the case and Hardy’s prior disciplinary issues.
“The 270-work day suspension shall be reduced to a 60-day suspension,” Shea wrote.
The arbitrator noted that the 2018 case was almost a textbook case of how not to perform an investigation.
