A Canton Police Division investigation will go away no stone unturned, aside from perhaps the rock that the 46 items of damaged taillight are hidden below.
If you wish to cover one thing actual good, simply stick it in one of many Canton PD’s crimson Solo cups, after which they’ll stash all of them in a brown Cease & Store bag and go away the sack in an unsecured fridge on the police station.
Fill in your individual Barney Fife joke right here. Immediately Barney Fife could be the police chief of Canton. He solely had one bullet, however at the very least Barney by no means bought drunk and left it in one other division’s cruiser.
Simply whenever you assume there’s no worse doable legislation enforcement company wherever than the Mass State Police, alongside comes a witness for the Canton PD, a retired lieutenant named Paul Gallagher.
Think about him the CPD’s designated fall man.
In 2023, Gallagher, who on a superb day has the IQ of a soft-boiled egg, made $322,389.05.
You don’t make that form of cash as a cop by rocking the boat. You go alongside to get alongside. There’s an awesome novel referred to as “Pop. 1280” by Jim Thompson a few crooked Texas sheriff who may very well be Paul Gallagher’s non secular mentor.
Right here’s what the fictional sheriff stated about making the large bucks.
“I had it made, and it seemed like I may go on having it made… so long as I minded my very own enterprise and didn’t arrest nobody until I simply couldn’t get out of it they usually didn’t quantity to nothing.”
You already know, like Karen Learn.
That’s fiction from 1964. This was Paul Gallagher testifying Tuesday within the Karen Learn homicide trial, about how he dealt with the investigation of the homicide of a Boston police officer at one other Boston cop’s home at 34 Fairview. Protection legal professional Alan Jackson was cross-examining Gallagher about his reluctance to do something.
Jackson: “The very fact is you didn’t search a search warrant?”
Gallagher: “Appropriate.”
Jackson: “The very fact is you by no means searched the home?”
Gallagher: “That’s right.”
Jackson: “The very fact is you by no means searched the basement?”
Gallagher: “That’s right.”
Jackson: “The very fact is you by no means searched the storage?”
Gallagher: “That’s right.”
Excuses? Gallagher has bought a couple of. For one factor, he says, the State Police’s crack crew of detectives from the Norfolk County district legal professional’s workplace handles homicide probes within the White Trash Capital of Massachusetts.
This is similar MSP crew that in 2021 dominated the homicide of a pregnant 23-year-old a suicide, after claiming they couldn’t discover 32,000 textual content messages between the lady and her boyfriend, one more native cop and good pal of the crooked MSP crew.
That Stoughton cop, who was cleared by the Norfolk County DA’s workplace, is now in federal custody, awaiting trial on homicide fees.
However there was another excuse why Gallagher’s Canton sleuths handed on the homicide probe. You see, the demise home, 34 Fairview, was owned by Brian Albert, a Boston cop, whose brother is Canton PD Det. Kevin “Fats” Albert.
“We must always recuse ourselves as a result of our greatest detective was Kevin Albert.”
Their “finest” detective, Kevin “Fats” Albert, was disciplined final 12 months after getting so drunk in a State Police cruiser that he misplaced his gun and his badge. His consuming buddy that day (and night time) was Trooper Michael Proctor, who was simply fired from the State Police for his disgraceful habits on this similar kangaroo-court trial.
Gallagher was giving each cop a superb leaving alone. That’s the way in which you do issues in Canton, at the very least if you wish to make $322,000 a 12 months.
Heck, he knew Brian Albert, the slimy Boston cop. He knew the drunk cop, Kevin. The Canton selectman, who managed the police funds, was Jailbird Chris Albert, who did six months for hit-and-run manslaughter himself.
Who’s anyone in Canton to forged the primary stone? Particularly about boozing it up.
And Gallagher was even friends with one other one of many drunk cops within the demise home at 34 Fairview that night, a fats slob named Brian Higgins who labored, in a way of talking for Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) largely A, at the very least after hours.
Jackson requested Gallagher about Higgins:
“You take into account him a superb pal?”
Gallagher: “Sure I do.”
And good buddies don’t trouble different good buddies, even when, or perhaps particularly if one other cop is lifeless.
Jackson: “You didn’t interview Brian Higgins?”
Gallagher: “I didn’t, no.”
Jackson: “You wouldn’t interview Brian Higgins as a result of he’s your private pal? Is that right.”
Gallagher: “Appropriate.”
Once more, the $322,000-a-year peace officer is channeling the fictional sheriff from the 1964 novel.
“I in all probability ain’t actual good – who needs a sensible sheriff? – and I determine it’s so much nicer to show your again on hassle than it’s to have a look at it. I imply, what the heck, we bought sufficient hassle of our personal with out butting in on different individuals’s.”
Isn’t that the reality?
However when Gallagher stumbles throughout a lifeless physique within the snow, he gained’t look the opposite means. He’s a law-enforcement skilled, in spite of everything.
He searches the scene together with his educated eye for proof of a criminal offense. He makes use of the very best forensic instruments out there – a leaf blower.
“I wasn’t gonna miss something with a leaf blower,” Gallagher stated.
He borrowed the leaf blower from the neighbor throughout the road – one other cop.
Within the snow, together with his trusty leaf blower, Gallagher discovered a transparent cocktail glass. However he by some means missed these 46 items of crimson taillight from the demise SUV, which had been discovered days and weeks later by the aforementioned Michael Proctor, now fired from the State Police for gross misconduct.
Jackson: “You didn’t see a single piece of shiny crimson plastic taillight materials?”
Gallagher: “No sir, not in that space?”
Jackson: “As a matter of reality, you didn’t see 46 items of taillight materials both clear or shiny crimson?”
Gallagher: “No.”
Like Barney Fife, Paul Gallagher retired with a full pension. How Canton is it?
(Observe the Karen Learn trial on Howie’s radio present at howiecarrshow.com.)
