Jun 5, 2007 8:36 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: Troopers Disciplined For Driving Range
By Maggie Mulvihill, I-Team Producer and Joe Bergantino, I-Team reporter.
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
State police who for at least three years were playing golf on Big Dig property - actions Gov. Deval Patrick said "disgusted" him - were given a slap on the wrist by department brass on Tuesday.
A warning letter was put in the personnel file of six Motorcycle Unit troopers who department investigators found had set up and used a driving range they installed in 2004 in the East Boston ventilation building, said State Police Spokesman Lt. William Powers.
The letters were the result of a two-week internal investigation triggered by last month's I-Team report exposing the range.
A sergeant and five troopers used the makeshift driving range, which included a 20' by 20' fishing net hung on a cement wall on the second level of the building, Powers said.
And even though Massachusetts Turnpike Authority workers asked the state police to remove the netting several times since 2004, its existence was never reported to Troop E commanders, Powers said. The motorcycle unit is part of Troop E and stationed at the East Boston ventilation building.
Some troopers, in interviews during the investigation, tried to justify their golfing as part of the daily exercise time they are guaranteed under their contract, Powers said. Department officials disagreed.
"Its installation and use was inappropriate," Powers said in a statement issued late Tuesday.
Pike Chairman John Cogliano last month issued a policy requiring Pike employees to immediately report any misuse of authority buildings. No employee had ever documented the existence of the driving range, said Pike spokesman Jon Carlisle.
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