It has been alleged that B. Tracy was not the unanimous pick and there were even those that attempted to warn town officials of Tracy’s alleged criminal activity during his career as a Westfield police officer.
What follows is an anonymous letter obtained by The Fact of The Matter that details alleged misconduct, criminal activity, and warnings to town officials in the months leading up to Tracy’s promotion to police chief.
The letter is allegedly the work of a group of WPD officers that sought to keep Bernard Tracy from grabbing the reigns of the police department and turning it into his own haven of corruption, cronyism, favoritism, and misconduct where he could control and manipulate the outcome of anything he put his hands on.
It is alleged that Barney Tracy’s Department personnel file was obtained by the letter writer(s) in an effort to expose Tracy’s past and the coverups that took place that allowed him to be promoted through the ranks without allegedly ever taking a promotional exam.
The recipients of the letter are alleged to have been (then) Mayor Tom Jardim and Westfield town council members. Mayor Jardim was quoted, “Barney will make a terrific chief.”
Wow. That's some letter. Although one is innocent till proven guilty, this letter suggests that this guy was probably very far from being squeaky clean. And yet they gave him that position in the department. That's terrible. Thanks for the good reporting here.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Greg! Clearly, the letter was quite the prophecy of things to come. I am quite interested in part 2 of this story. Keep up the good work!
DeleteEverything in is letter is 100% accurate, I spent 27 years at WPD. Thanks FOTM!
ReplyDeleteGreg there will still be people in town that won’t believe this. Nothing surprises me here. I just hope the current Chief can bring some respect back to the WPD. The department was a joke under Parizeau and Tracy. I do hope the rehab stint helped his addictions.
ReplyDeleteThere are people that are close to Tracy that will read this and know it’s true......including the detective that was in the car with him at that Newark basketball game, his son that was allegedly driving the car away from the scene of punching out the homeowner who’s property Tracy urinated on, the Clark cops and other Westfield detectives that witnessed him assault the suspect in custody, and the list goes on and on.
DeleteThose that don’t believe are probably shocked to think this all actually happened.
When this story is done being told, what will be hard to believe is that there were Town officials that ignored the warnings, the writing on the wall, and allowed Tracy to become police chief, Parizeau to follow, only to keep the seat warm for the ultimate poster child of misconduct, corruption, cronyism, and lawlessness, Wayman. There’s one person that facilitated the mayhem that the police department was subjected to......that will be made clear.
While very interesting and sad at the same time - this whole "expose" begs the question - why now? This is now 20+ years old, and clearly things have recently improved. Why the endless obsessive effort to expose someone/something that is literally decades old? We all know the pattern of problems inherent in the WPD - but YOU are the only person keeping this alive - but cannot change anything about it. What benefit can now come from this? Again it is very enlightening as to the true nature of small town bullshit, power hungry small town cops and political favoritism, but what is the end game here? It has been abundantly obvious that this blog, while occasionally posting about non-police issues, exists to get even with the players who seemingly wronged one of their own - the Admin of this blog. Is this really about exposing the facts to influence future behavior or is this really an avenue to get even? Either way -it no longer matters as ALL the players in this saga are long gone. Except of course the resentments being carried by the story teller, and the endless pensions being paid to them and to you - despite misconduct and the documented breach of public trust you all participated in. Remember - resentments are only hurting YOU. The players in this story are living rent free in your head Greg. Maybe time to let them go.
ReplyDelete“All the players” are not gone. A significant player is still “In the game.”
DeleteThe reason why this is now surfacing is because this blog recently obtained the letter that is posted above. Consider it a missing piece of a puzzle that has been in the making. Another letter will be exposed shortly. The knowledge that the “powers to be” had but chose to ignore begs the question, why were the likes of Tracy and Wayman allowed to rise through the ranks to become police Chief. That question, and others, will be answered.
I’m happy that the WPD is finally on the right path and that this blog exposed the criminal conduct that forced Wayman out.
However, there are others that took part in allowing the WPD to suffer the consequences of corrupt police chiefs and one person that turned a blind eye still looms large.
More to come.
Thank you for your thought provoking question.
Trying to silence a whistleblower exposing corruption, with trumped up departmental investigations and charges, is corruption in and of itself.
There are those that don’t want this information exposed, I live rent free in their heads.
Go ask Gildea where the testing results are from Tracy to Chief and Wayman to Captain advancements are: Oh they are misplaced! , MISPLACED? I guess Gildea had to shred them so no one knew both of them failed the tests miserably!
ReplyDeleteBTW as per AG guidelines all disciplinary records must be kept indefinitely Why when Tracy became Chief was one of his first acts to vacate all negative discipline in Wayman’s personal file, that’s a lot of files to shred, wonder if Gildea helped? Missing Town Tax money funded tests results and illegal removal of negative discipline from Wayman’s file allowed these two to advance to Chief, Gildea had to be aware of all of this!
BINGO
DeleteSpeaking of rent, thank you GK for evicting Wayman from our station house.
ReplyDeleteBiggest freeloader ever.
FOTM,
ReplyDeleteHow is it that test scores are missing? How is it Chiefs can retire and receive large pensions and medical benefits while under investigation for criminal acts? How is it that during the Second stage of the Wayman investigation the UCPO took a sworn statement from a Westfield Police Sergeant who in detail, reported his assistantance in the theft and return of numerous items from the secured property room. The Sergeant that aided Wayman surely gave more then enough probable cause to continue on a path of a grand jury presentation and criminal charges. Odd how after all this officially recorded criminal facts, Wayman was allowed to retire, Sgt T was allowed to go on his merry way at WPD and the Property Room Clerk was never questioned, Is that because the Sergeant and Lieutenant are related? How is it Gildea wouldn’t demand a Departmental investigation into these crimes and WHY didn’t UCPO finish their criminal investigation?
Sgt. John Tango continues to be employed by the WPD.
DeleteHis cousin Nicole Tango Stivale was recently promoted from Sergeant to Lieutenant. She was the property room clerk.
I asked AP Melissa Spagnoli how Wayman could’ve possibly retired with a pension during the investigation into his crimes and both she and Det. Colin McNamara refused to disclose any information.
She was VERY adamant about me bringing it up when I was interviewed regarding the DPW OT thefts.
I’ve OPRA requested the taped interview that took place between myself and the UCPO’s office and so far I’ve been denied a copy.
I continue to pursue the truth.
Jim Gildea has lied his way through investigations, requests for information, departmental hearing testimony, and can’t be trusted.
DeleteHis value to the last administration was as corrupt as those he allowed to be promoted.
The current Mayor, Shelley Brindle, relied on Gildea for guidance when she first took over as mayor. Now that she has been in office over 2 years, it’s time for the town to show Gildea the door and move in a different direction.
His “behind her back” subterfuge is known.
It's no secret that Gildea knows where all the bodies are buried. The bigger question is how Gildea benefitted from those bad appointments to chief? Was it just small town political cronyism? Or was there financial reward? Clearly, the town cannot go forward with Gildea still in the position he holds.
ReplyDeleteWhile the present mayor was new when the Wayman hit and run occurred, she was fully informed of the video evidence concerning the Evidence Locker. She wanted desperately to get rid of Wayman and appoint her own nominee from outside the Department. She was so new, and so misled, she didn't realize she had to appoint within the Department.
ReplyDeleteShe was out-gunned in legal advice and fell for the "EASY WAY OUT". She now can claim that she can't discuss Wayman because of the "confidentiality clause" the Town insisted upon. The Town's insistence on confidentiality supplies it with the excuse it needs when asked to defend itself.
However, the Mayor can be asked to explain how SHE allowed the author of the false report to remain a member of the Department. SHE can be asked why the co-signer of the false report received no punishment. SHE can be asked what example SHE gives to the rank and file when they see their superiors remain in office. SHE can be asked how any evidence in the Locker could ethically be used in Court without revealing to defence counsel the problem of security and the chain of possession of evidence stored in a locker frequently used by the PD for extra-department reasons.None of these points would involve the Wayman confidentiality agreement.
The Town is generally run better than ever. It is such a shame that quick decisions of expediency result in twisted results.
The Mayor had a clean slate. Why she chose the EASY way out is baffling. Any scandal belonged to others. Now she has to cover up and evade the transparency and candidness on which she won. The same holds true for the team she heads known as the Town Council.
They should start looking at the questions asked in this blog. They hold the answers.
To anyone questioning whether or not all this is true, 100% absolutely true. I worked at WPD.
ReplyDeleteAgain, 100% true and the players now it.
I can’t imagine that Barney Tracy or Dave Wayman would’ve ever made it to Chief had their disciplinary file been made public. Wayman’s file was purged of any complaints and discipline.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, how did Westfield Town Administrator Jim Gildea ever recommend or show approval for the promotion of either of them, unless his head was in the sand or he was complicit in the coverup of a corrupt officer becoming police chief.