I-Team

• Mar 10, 2008 10:00 pm US/Eastern
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  'Big Dig' Driving Range Hidden From Inspectors

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'Big Dig' Driving Range Hidden From Inspectors

I-Team Acquires Results Of Internal State Police Probe

BOSTON (WBZ) ― A Massachusetts Turnpike official hid a make-shift golf driving range installed by State Police underneath a Big Dig building from Federal Highway inspectors, according to an internal probe State Police brass tried to keep secret for six months.

The WBZ I-Team first reported the existence of the driving range last May, prompting an infuriated then-Turnpike Chairman John Cogliano to order an immediate probe. Gov. Deval Patrick said the idea state police were playing golf on Big Dig property when they were on-duty "disgusted" him. Six motorcycle troopers were given "warning letters" by police brass at the conclusion of the internal probe in June.

Among the findings of the internal investigation, the driving range was hidden from Federal Highway inspectors during a visit to Boston in July, 2006. (Read Results Of State Police Investigation)

"It was an inappropriate use of a federal facility. We wouldn't expect this to recur in the future," said Nancy Singer, a spokeswoman for the Federal Highway Administration in Washington D.C.

State Police Sgt. Richard P. Hiller and other members of the motorcycle unit hit golf balls into a 20 x 20 foot net installed in the East Boston vent building, while on duty, as part of their paid exercise routine. State Police are permitted four hours of exercise each work-week as part of their contract. Golf is not an approved exercise, the internal report states.

The golf equipment was installed in a cement bay in an exhaust fan room on the building's second floor, adjacent to another area which the motorcycle unit members used for exercise, the report states. The equipment was paid for by the motorcycle unit members and its installation and use was approved by the then-head of maintenance for the Turnpike, the report states. Sgt. Hiller and another trooper set the equipment up in either late 2003 or early 2004 and it is unclear when it was removed, the report states.

Police officials fought for six months to keep the results of their investigation secret following a public records request by the I-Team. In its July 3, 2007 denial of the request, state police associate Chief Legal Counsel Sean W. Farrell said the issue involved a "non-police personnel matter." Police officials even defied an October 24, 2007 order from the state Supervisor of Public Records to turn over the investigative report. Police finally released the report to WBZ in December only after Attorney General Martha Coakley's office stepped in.

"The fact that it happened is outrageous," said Turnpike Executive Director Alan LeBovidge in an interview with the I-Team last week. "It's public property and people should not be using it for private purposes."

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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