Pittsfield Fires Police Union President For 'Misconduct'
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Police Department fired Officer Jeffrey Coco after finding him guilty of multiple misconduct charges.
The Pittsfield Patrol Police Union president was investigated internally and terminated on Monday. According to an internal affairs report, Coco took some $150,000 from union bank accounts by writing checks to himself and his wife.
"The cash withdrawals and the checks written out to Officer Coco and his wife shows that the money withdrawn from the union account was not for ligitimate union business but instead for personal use," wrote Lt. Michael Grady in the report.
The department found Coco guilty of conduct unbecoming of an officer and criminal conduct. For that, he was fired.
"The City of Pittsfield and the Pittsfield Police Department take any and all acts of police misconduct and/or violation of criminal laws by our personnel extremely seriously. Such acts reflect not only on the involved individual, but also on the office and reputation of the vast majority of police officers here in Pittsfield and across the nation, who perform their duties every day honestly and with extreme dedication. Service as a police officer requires a high degree of public trust. On those rare occasions, as is the case here, that trust is violated, severe sanctions must be imposed," wrote Chief Michael Wynn on Monday.
In July, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers in Springfield notified Wynn and Mayor Daniel Bianchi about the accounts. Then, it was reported that there was an internal affairs investigation and an officer was placed on administrative leave.
The district attorney's office also launched a criminal investigation, though there has been no word on the outcome of that.
Read the entire internal affairs report below.
Pittsfield Police Internal Affairs Report
Tags: criminal investigation, firing,
