Members of the Franklin Police patrolman’s union have expressed a lack of confidence in the department’s leadership to include the chief, two lieutenants and a sergeant, while former employees say they were subject to harassment while on the force.

Seven of nine of the union members supported the vote of no confidence in the department’s command staff and city administration that stated staff are dissatisfied with Chief David Goldstein, Lieutenant Daniel Poirier, Lieutenant Ralph Hale Jr., Sergeant Daniel Ball, and city manager Judie Milner. Five of nine specifically voted no confidence in the chief while three abstained.

“Chief Goldstein’s absentee leadership has created an atmosphere of hostility, retaliation and intimidating behavior, which has established a pattern and practice of inequitable treatment of union members,” the statement of no-confidence said.

“Preferential treatment and cronyism run amok under his supervision,” the letter stated. “Members have experienced a loss of earning capacity, assignments, training opportunities and low morale.”

In addition, union members complained of a lack of direction, retaliation, little compassion and an unwillingness to listen, according to the statement, which was made public earlier in February. Several employees have filed complaints both with the department and the city since 2020, most of which were dismissed.

“I have been with the Franklin Police Department since 2016 and this was the first time the union met other than for contract negotiations,” said union president Jacob Drouin in an email to the Monitor. “After the meeting agenda was published, it became common knowledge that the union may have a vote of no confidence.”

The night before the union meeting, Drouin was placed on administrative leave by Goldstein, which prevented him from attending, and an internal investigation was launched against him, Drouin said.

Milner, in a written statement, said she had full confidence in Goldstein and the police department and expressed her disappointment in the union’s decision to go public with their concerns rather than waiting for private negotiation. Union contract negotiations are slated to begin in the coming months. Milner declined to comment further.

Mayor Jo Brown expressed similar support for Milner and Chief Goldstein. The chief did not respond to requests for comment.

“A recent vote of no confidence of our Franklin Police Department leadership team and our city manager reflect the opinion of a minority of police department employees,” Brown wrote in an email to the Monitor. “The five votes of no confidence for Chief Goldstein represent only 32% of the union eligible employees and only 17% of the entire police force.”

When asked for additional comment, Brown noted an open investigation that limits her ability to comment further.

“Unfortunately, an open personnel investigation limits our ability to further comment at this time other than to say Chief Goldstein has proven that he holds the employees of the Franklin Police Department to a high standard which has led to fair and equitable treatment of the citizens he serves,” Brown said in a statement.

Since the vote was taken in December, union members have dwindled from eleven to eight as three additional employees have left the department, including two officers and one dispatcher, Drouin said.

The union’s vote mirrors the experience of others who have worked for the department in the last four years and have tried to reach Milner and Brown with their concerns. Several said they did not want to go on record because they were fearful of intimidation and retaliation from the department and their superiors.

Former Franklin officer Mark Faro joined the department in 2019 and left earlier in February after he resigned to take a position at Plymouth State University, he said. During his employment, he witnessed the mistreatment of his coworkers including a detective who was refused field training because she was part time, a lieutenant of 20 years who was heckled for her weight, a secretary who got in trouble for taking too much time off to treat her chronic illness and a dispatch supervisor that has since filed complaints of harassment against Lt. Poirier and Chief Goldstein.

Faro said he was subject to intimidation, retaliation and blacklisting during his time at the Franklin Police Department. It started with smaller disagreements in the beginning and ended with his removal from specialty units and the launch of an internal investigation.

Rachel Leclerc, a former dispatcher and Franklin native, said she was removed from her dispatch position without notice or warning while she was training in Oklahoma.

The reason, she speculates, was the result of a rumor alleging she had shared private information about an ongoing case against her family member.

“This is just another example of how the police department treats their employees. There was no notice, my coworkers found out I no longer worked there before I did and there was no explanation of my termination based on any factual evidence as no internal investigation was opened,” Leclerc said in an email to the Monitor. “They did not explain to me what policies I broke and this was all based on the chief’s opinion.”

Leclerc said she had to wait until her family member’s court case was resolved to speak about her experience with the department due to fear of retaliation from the department’s leadership.

Earlier in February, Goldstein took to Facebook to defend the department after a local business owner said the city’s police didn’t do enough after she was targeted by a white nationalist group this summer.

The purpose of the post was to address complaints made against the department, wrote Chief Goldstein. However, Miriam Kovacs, owner of the Broken Spoon, never heard anything from him prior to the post going live, which identified her and her business. Kovacs said it felt like retaliation and intimidation.

“I have a target on me and I can’t call the police to help me if something happens. I don’t have any support from the people in charge of the city,” Kovacs said. “I took steps to reach out to local government and even still, the only reason the mayor addressed it was because of the large amount of physical letters that went across her desk.”

Instead of assisting her and protecting her as a resident of Franklin, Kovacs said the department, specifically Chief Goldstein, attempted to invalidate her concerns and discredit her within the community she’s called home for the last four years.

Around the same time Kovacs began to publicly speak out about her dissatisfaction with the police department, the working environment at the department deteriorated for Faro, who is in a relationship with Kovacs. He was removed from special operations, including assisting on mental health calls, without reason or warning. He filed several grievances against the department, which were dismissed, he said.

According to a letter sent from Chief Goldstein to Faro in December, his relationship with Kovacs supported anti-Franklin Police Department and anti-law enforcement attitudes and behaviors, which was deemed a violation of the departments’ rules of personal conduct.

“I realize that your relationship with Ms. Kovacs presents you with a conundrum, however the challenges presented by your affiliation with Ms. Kovacs are unacceptable as they exist and the solution is completely up to you,” the letter read. “The purpose of progressive discipline is to assist a department member with recognizing their errant behavior and work toward acceptable change.”

Faro said he had to choose between his job and Kovacs.

“They were basically telling me to end the relationship if I wanted to stay at the department,” Faro said.

Milner was recently given a second five-year contract to remain the Franklin city manager. It is unclear if the vote of no-confidence will resonate with city residents.

“They were a great police department before there was targeting and retaliation and I’d like to see things change and get the garbage out of there,” Faro said.

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