Police chief prominent in heroin addiction debate fired
BOSTON — A police chief who was honoured by the White House for his pioneering approach to heroin addiction was fired on Monday after the mayor accused him of misleading investigators looking into allegations of improper behaviour with two women.
Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken said she lost confidence in police Chief Leonard Campanello after he destroyed cellphone evidence and took other steps to deceive investigators looking into the complaints. She said she made the decision to begin the termination process “with a heavy heart” but Campanello’s actions during the investigation were “entirely unethical and unacceptable.”
Campanello gained national recognition for launching the Angel program, which connected heroin addicts with drug treatment without arresting them. The program has helped hundreds of drug addicts get into treatment and has been replicated in dozens of police departments across the country since its June 2015 launch. Campanello was honoured in Washington, D.C., as a Champion of Change in April.
Theken said Campanello erased the memory on his city-issued phone and suggested someone else in the police department had taken the phone without his permission and tampered with it. The city’s special legal counsel, Lenny Kesten, said investigators later determined Campanello’s statements were false and recovered more than 600 text messages between the chief and one of the women.