Halloween Pics Cost Medford Police Union President

MEDFORD, MA – A Medford police officer paid a civil penalty for taking pictures with a person dressed as Hillary Clinton in prison attire and a person wearing a Donald Trump mask and business suit at a Halloween event in 2016. Ethics officials said Harold MacGilvray, president of the Medford Police Patrolmen’s Association, admitted to violating the conflict of interest law while on duty and in uniform.

MacGilvray has paid a civil penalty of $1,500, the ethics commission said Wednesday.

While working at a community event on Oct. 29, 2016, MacGilvray and another officer took a picture acting as if they were restraining a person wearing a Hillary Clinton mask, shackles and a prison jumpsuit, according to the commission. MacGilvray posted the picture to the MPPA's Facebook page with the caption, "Look who the MPD grabbed at the Fall Festival in Haines Square Today…."

The commission said MacGilvray also asked another officer to post the picture of him and a person wearing a Donald Trump costume to the MPPA page with the caption, "Making American GREAT again in West Medford Square!!"

MacGilvray removed the photos the same day after they began circulating on social media and gained media attention, ethics officials said. He later issued an apology, saying he used "poor judgement" and did not intend to make a political statement.

"These were Halloween costumes. It was meant totally as a joke," MacGilvray wrote at the time in an email to the Boston Globe. "I apologize if this offended anyone in any way. I never expected this sort of reaction. It was poor judgment on my part."

The conflict of interest law prohibits public employees from using public resources – in MacGilvray's case a uniform and work time - to engage in private political activity. The ethics commission determined that "posting or otherwise causing the publication of photographs and captions that demonstrate support for one candidate over another, even if done as an attempt to amuse others, is private political activity."

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