QUINCY - The police chief has revoked the gun permit of an officer he wants to fire for a history of conflict with neighbors, and he has ordered a routine patrol of the Houghs Neck neighborhood where the officer lives.
Chief Paul Keenan has also filed a new complaint against the officer, Joseph McGunigle, alleging that he disobeyed an order to stay away from the police station without clearance while on administrative leave.
Mayor Thomas Koch is reviewing the new complaint, for which Keenan recommends termination.
"As was the case with the previous complaint ... it will be taken very seriously, reviewed fairly, and determinations will be made," Koch spokesman Christopher Walker said.
On March 9, McGunigle was given a 30-day suspension after six months of leave because of a dispute with a neighbor. That dispute, which related to a traffic cone, occurred last summer.
Keenan is now alleging that McGunigle, on Oct. 17, failed to comply with the directive to stay away from the station. He alleges McGunigle entered the station on that date and went to an ATM.
At the time, a witness in the case against McGunigle was in the station, the chief said.
"Basically, he walked to an ATM, but I don't believe he conducted business," Keenan said. "We don't believe that he had a legitimate purpose to be in there. I believe it was in an effort to intimidate the witness in the previous disciplinary actions."
Speaking for her husband, Diane McGunigle said her husband entered the public lobby of the police station to make a withdrawal from the ATM.
"My husband has every right as an employee of the city to use the ATM, which is not part of the police station," she said. McGunigle did not see the witness during the visit, she said.
Neighbors of McGunigle, who lives on Post Island Road, met with Koch on Monday and expressed that they were fearful of him, Keenan said.
The meeting resulted in Keenan ordering a routine patrol of McGunigle's neighborhood.
Diane McGunigle called the patrols "a total waste of police work and taxpayers money."
"He never threatened these neighbors," she said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "This is just a desperate ploy by the chief's office because he is just relentless to fire my husband."
An independent hearing officer reviewed the last complaint against McGunigle, which alleged untruthfulness or improper evidence handling. Hearing officer George Lane found that "credible evidence indicates McGunigle's attitude and gestures caused concern with his neighbors."
McGunigle was suspended for a personal-conduct breach and ordered to attend anger-management classes.
The case revolved around whether McGunigle took a traffic cone and other items from neighbor Michelle Webber's property. McGunigle argued that the items rightfully belonged to a utility company, not Webber, and that he took them so no one would be charged with theft.
McGunigle has clashed with previous police chiefs over neighborhood spats, including his ticketing of neighbors for letting their dogs defecate on a public beach.
Reach Jack Encarnacao at [email protected]
Copyright 2012 The Patriot Ledger
