Mayor Wants to Petition State House to Keep Interim Police Chief

Originally published April 28, 2017

BRAINTREE, MA — If interim Police Chief Paul Shastany wants to become the town’s permanent chief, it’s going to take an act from the state to make it possible.

Tuesday night, the town council referred a motion to the ways and means committee which would authorize Mayor Joseph Sullivan to petition the state legislature for special legislation which would allow Shastany to work a full-time schedule. Shastany, who entered retirement as the chief of the Stoughton Police Department last year, is limited by state law when it comes to work hours.

“Chief Shastany is uniquely qualified to manage the department based on his previous experience as the Stoughton Police Chief, where he successfully led the Stoughton Police Department, a department that had been plagued by years of mismanagement, to statewide accreditation in just three years. In addition to his unique leadership experience, Chief Shastany possesses over 40 years of law enforcement experience and has held nearly every police rank throughout his career. He has also demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the police department throughout the past six months as our chief. Chief Shastany's distinctive qualifications provide the crucial leadership necessary for the Braintree Police Department at this time,” Sullivan wrote in a memo to the town council.

Shastany was up for appointment for the full-time role at the council’s Feb. 28 meeting, but the concerns over how many hours he could work forced the ways and means committee to recommend tabling any possible action.

According to state law, a person who retires from a state or municipal job and takes a new position at another state or municipal organization post-retirement cannot work more than 960 hours a year, possibly making Shastany a part-time police chief without an exemption from the state.

Shastany was named the interim chief last October.

Image via Stoughton Police Department