Patrol officers and dispatchers in Franklin's police department are accusing the city’s police chief of creating a hostile workplace through retaliation and intimidation, and are calling on department leadership to be held accountable for recent alleged failures.
Franklin's city manager, however, expressed “full confidence” in Chief David Goldstein and called the police union’s public critiques of his leadership disappointing.
Goldstein, who has been chief since 2009, did not respond to a request for comment. The city’s Mayor Jo Brown said she couldn’t comment on the pending matter, and no members of the Franklin City Council have yet weighed in publicly on the matter. With about 8,800 residents, Franklin is New Hampshire’s smallest city.
In a letter released Monday by the Franklin Police Patrolman’s Association, the unionized members of the department said “preferential treatment and cronyism run amok under [Goldstein's] supervision.” They also alleged that management has retaliated against officers who have voiced concerns.
The union also claimed Goldstein violated terms of the negotiated contract, including schedule changes and the “misuse” of part-time officers resulting in fewer available overtime shifts.
Of the nine members of the union who took part in the "no confidence" vote, seven officers said they lacked confidence in the entire command staff of the department, with two officers expressing support for leadership, according to documents released by the union.
Five members expressed "no confidence" in Goldstein, while three officers abstained and a single expressed support for the chief.
The union said it couldn’t disclose specific examples of alleged retaliation or unfair labor practices, as they remain active grievances.
The “no confidence” vote taken earlier this month came following what the union described as “dissatisfaction” with Goldstein, as well as Lieutenants Daniel Poirier and Ralph Hale, Jr., and City Manager Judie Milner. They said the vote was a culmination of three months of internal discussions.
“The hope is just to be heard,” said Officer Jacob Drouin, president of the patrolman’s association. “The majority of the voting members don’t feel that they’ve been heard, and that’s the action that we are hoping for.”
In a statement, Milner disputed the union’s characterization, citing Goldstein’s recruitment of “top officers” and “progressive policies.”
“The City of Franklin has full confidence [in] its police department under the leadership of Chief Goldstein,” Milner said. “Further, the City is disappointed that the union did not choose a more appropriate forum, such as the upcoming negotiations, in which to raise their concerns.”
The union’s three-year contract is set to expire this summer; negotiations on the next contract have not yet begun.
There doesn’t appear to be any recent precedent of a New Hampshire police union voicing a “no confidence” vote in its leadership, though other departments around the country have used the maneuver to express dissatisfaction. The New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council said it doesn’t track data and has no oversight of similar labor issues.
The union said the vote is unrelated to Goldstein’s public comments last week regarding his department’s handling of an investigation into alleged hate crimes involving a local restaurant.
Last summer, Miriam Kovacks, the owner of Broken Spoon, said she was targeted by extremists who made a series of critical and threatening messages after she expressed opposition to a regional hate group. Kovacks has expressed frustration with law enforcement’s response to the incident, including comments during a public forum earlier this month in Manchester.
In a Facebook message posted Feb. 16, Goldstein responded to Kovacks, defending his department’s handling of the investigation and noting that multiple outside agencies were involved. The post, which identified Kovacks by name, led to a wave of online comments from members of the community, including those who accused the chief of improperly targeting a resident of the city.
