By Steve Landwehr
STAFF WRITER
October 07, 2008 06:49 am HAMILTON — Hamilton residents asked tough questions about their embattled Police Department at last night's selectmen's meeting. In the wake of a medical training records scandal that shut down the police-operated town ambulance on Sept. 24, they seem satisfied Lyons Ambulance is picking up the slack. Among other things, they want to know which officers had the "serious deficiencies" in their training records uncovered by a state investigation. They also want to know how much money those officers were paid to take required EMT training courses that may not have been held. They also want to know what liability the town is exposed to from health care providers who come calling for reimbursement for runs they paid for in an ambulance that may not have been staffed by two properly certified EMTs, as required by law. Selectmen Chairman Dick Low said the town bills insurers $150,000 to $175,000 annually for ambulance runs. "Clearly, it could be a substantial number," Low said of the possible liability. Low wouldn't answer a question about how many officers had deficient training records, nor would he speculate about how long the problems had been going on. However, a former police employee, emergency dispatcher Mary Ruth Stocking, has told The Salem News she and her lawyer met with Town Administrator Candace Wheeler in the fall of 2000 and told Wheeler police officers were signing attendance sheets for training courses that were not being held. Stocking said she also told Wheeler someone had forged her (Stocking's) signature on a medical dispatcher course exam that Stocking never took. Police Lt. Robert Nyland said that, at least on some occasions, officers had signed attendance sheets for courses they took twice in one year, though they were only required to take them once every two years. Nyland said the course duplication, which included Chief Walter Cullen, wasn't about the money. "We weren't double-dipping, we were making up courses we knew we didn't have (in-house)," he said. Cullen nodded his head in agreement. Resident Bob Burr had a slew of questions, most of which Low deflected until ongoing investigations, including one the town commissioned itself, are completed. Cullen, however, answered one of Burr's question. "Is it fair to say there was a specific person who was supposed to be giving training who wasn't?" Burr asked. "That would be fair to say," Cullen said. Both Stocking and Officer Michael Marchand, who is currently on paid leave from the department, have said that person was Officer David Mastrianni, Cullen's son-in-law, who no longer works for the town. Resident Laura Jones told selectmen last night she called the state Office of Emergency Medical Services looking for answers to a number of questions and was told the agency was, indeed, investigating allegations the improprieties went back at least eight years, as Stocking and Marchand said. "You have information we don't have," Low said. In the wake of the state investigation, Cullen took the town's two ambulances out of service until all police officers complete 54 hours of refresher courses. Residents had questions about who was paying for the additional training. Low said the certified instructor hired to teach the courses is being paid about $5,000. Cullen said all of the officers, even those whom OEMS found to be in compliance with the law, were taking the courses with no pay. In response to several murmured, "Why would they do that?" questions from the audience, Cullen said it was part of an effort to demonstrate the department's resolve to regain public trust. Similarly, Low tried to convey the selectmen's determination to do the right thing. "Rest assured that if people were paid (for courses they didn't take), we will look into it," he said. "There are additional questions we'll come back to."
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