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Suspended cop who was charged with stealing a cruiser checks into rehab

A Boston Police officer on leave and without a valid driver's license was released on personal recognizance today on charges he stole a cruiser from the C-11 police station in Dorchester over the holiday weekend, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Dorchester District Court Judge James Coffey let Patrick Donovan walk after Donovan's attorney said he was checking into a substance-abuse program today. Prosecutors had asked for bail of $2,500 and revocation of his bail on a 2013 case in which he was charged with using a stolen license plate and registration sticker on his personal vehicle.

Coffey ordered Donovan to undergo random drug tests while his case is pending.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

BPD has been trying for many months to fire the guy, so now taxpayers get to pay for his rehab and extended employment as he buys time trying to keep his job, pension etc..

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he gets a second chance with the Arlington P.D.

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No, his HEALTH INSURANCE pays for his rehab...looks like he's one of the many millions of Americans who are hooked on Rx pain meds that have been so popular with the doctors these last few years....

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following a plea and/ or conviction, then Marty Walsh should be.
There has to be some accountability somewhere. Anybody have any better suggestions on how to get violent thugs and criminals out of the police department? And I'm still curious about the fate of the "G-O-N-E" cop who sent Yvonne Abraham the racist email about the Harvard professor. Anybody know if he's still a police officer?

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Yeah, that makes perfect sense, because the guy who's been in office for six months is completely responsible for the union rules that determine whether this guy can get fired or not.

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should be sufficient. In all honesty, Scratchie, I'm open to other ways of getting accountability. I just don't know how to efffect that. Complaining on the internet isn't cutting it, clearly. A new state law, perhaps?

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To fire this guy, or the guy who stalked a woman a few months back? It's absurd.

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unions? The patrolman's union has a lot of pull.

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To save Barrett's job over what seemed to be a "speech crime". Yet cops who commit actual crimes, sometimes while on the job, somehow keep their jobs. That's the baffling part.

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The presence of crimes probably makes it harder to get rid of him in the short term. In the case of sending stupid e-mails to Globe columnists, the lack of crime means the internal process can go quicker.

I'm no lawyer or employee of the Boston Police Department on either side, but I am willing to bet that they are waiting for the charges to go through the system before dealing with him. And the move to work the substance abuse angle could muck things up. I've seen it happen in other places, so it is possible.

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When a non-cop allegedly commits a crime, how long does it take their employer to fire them?

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If you were a good employee they valued.

stealing a company car to go visit your boyfriend on the North Shore? Yea, that would probably get you fired

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I'm willing to bet that aside from the cop car part, these would only be an issue if the employer dislikes the employee.

I think employment law in general would draw a line between actions while working and actions outside of work. That doesn't mean anything goes, but it's tougher to get the evidence. I worked with a guy who had his work computer seized to search for porn, not criminal porn but scuzzy porn. They couldn't get his home computer, but were he a porn star on the side, who knows.

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Can fire somebody for anything or for nothing so long as they're not discriminating against a protected class. Not a lot of union protection in the private sector- at least that's my understanding.

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Just ask this transit cop.

And that is why I, unlike you, am afraid to post under my own name.

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... to remind myself that anything I post onine (in a public setting) can be traced to me -- and to remind me to "pull my punches" accordingly.

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Looking at the series of posts here, I know both you (from church) and Dan (for the longest time I couldn't figure out how, but perhaps church though now through our children's day care (yes, Dan, it's me)), but I work in an environment that even the most fleeting thing can be used against you. I currently am not in the poor graces of the powers that be, but who knows in the future. Look at this boloco employee and what almost happened to her, and boloco seems to be a good employer. I can't track it down, but there was a flight attendant about 10 years ago who griped about his job, without even noting the airline, and got shitcanned for that.

So, no, I will stay anonymous, though the next time I see you (you might only know me by sight, but not by name) I will introduce myself as Waquiot.

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... that anything I say or write in public might get back to my employer, so I avoid saying/writing anything that I wouldn't _want_ to get back to my employer.

Looking forward to meeting you at some point or another -- under one name or another. ;-}

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Hey sir how you doing! :) "Waquiot" it is...

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True to form, Michael Kerpan now knows my true identity.

Keep on keeping on.

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... and no torture could ever pry your true identity from me. ;~}

But I forgot to ask, what's the significance of your nem de forum?

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The only Mass-bred to win the Massachusetts Handicap, in 1987.

And being sloppy, I spelled it wrong (Waquoit)

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Mystery solved....

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