HINSDALE, Mass. — Broken trust, cavalier officials, no faith in the town, and the need for accountability and change were sentiments that bellowed in the town hall on Tuesday during the community information session on the police department organizational analysis. 

 

Eric Daigle, Daigle Law Group principal attorney, stood before more than 30 community members who vociferously criticized the Hinsdale Police Department and public officials' reaction to past incidents. The meeting lasted more than an hour and 40 minutes. 

 

The meeting commenced with Daigle emphasizing that the firm was retained to conduct an organizational analysis, not to investigate the fatal police shooting of 27-year-old Biagio Kauvil during a mental health crisis in January. 

 

Early on in community comments, residents made it clear that the January incident and others are deeply intertwined with the analysis.

 

"This is an organizational study on how the department is operating, where it is, and where it should be, and how they get to those areas. The incident was the catalyst for the town in retaining the consultant," Daigle said. 

 

Although the aim of hiring a consultant was not to investigate the incident, it still needs to be taken into consideration when developing solutions to improve the department, attendees said. 

 

Some attendees emphasized that people do not feel safe calling 911 if they are experiencing a mental health crisis. More often than not, incidents that police are responding to involve people in desperate need of mental health services.