As of June, Dukes County Sheriff Robert Ogden’s office has declined to release police audio recordings requested by Martha’s Vineyard Times. The audio recordings are being sought as part of an ongoing investigation by The Times a response from the Tisbury Police in 2011 As a result, a family babysitter was raped.
The Dukes County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) manages Vineyard’s police, fire, and EMS communications through its communications center and enables emergency calls. The audio recordings may include broadcasts from the sheriff’s brother, Scott Ogden, a Tisbury police officer, and one of the officers who responded to the 2011 incident.
Former Massachusetts Police General Counsel Jack Collins has represented DCSO on Times appeals to the state’s Supervisor of Records. When asked about any potential conflicts he and the sheriff might have, Collins said he hadn’t seen any for himself even after it was pointed out that he had previously advised the Tisbury Police Department on Scott Ogden’s discipline in the case.
Collins said it was new to him that Robert Ogden and Scott Ogden were brothers.
When asked why he hadn’t forwarded the file request to a third party like the state police given his brother’s connection to the files, Sheriff Ogden partially replied that his office was doing everything in its power to comply with the law.
The records the Times searched for – emergency calls, radio transmissions, and business calls – are from a July 2011 night when Tisbury police, against the wishes of an abused mother, left a nanny and three children unguarded in a house with a suspect, David Thrift by and large. The police searched for Thrift but could not find it and left the scene. In the absence of a police presence, Thrift returned to the house and raped the nanny with the knife. Scott Ogden was one of three officers disciplined that night following an internal investigation and arbitration award for police failure.
Among the arguments put forward by DCSO to justify the reluctance to record audio is the view that the equipment used for recording is old and not conducive to the necessary editorial work.
In a phone conversation with the Times Monday morning, Collins said it was a revelation to him that the sheriff was related to one of the officers answering the July 2011 domestic battery and sexual assault incident.
“I didn’t know,” said Collins.
Collins, who was once the interim chief of police for Edgartown, has represented multiple cities and law enforcement agencies at the winery. Still, Collins insisted that until speaking to the Times on Monday, he was unaware of the sibling relationship between the sheriff and the longtime Tisbury police officer.
“I didn’t realize that Jack Collins didn’t know Scott Ogden was my brother to this day when you told me he didn’t know and I asked Jack Collins directly,” Sheriff Ogden wrote on Tuesday. “To the best of my knowledge, we did not have an opportunity to discuss Scott prior to your inquiries on this particular matter, as your inquiries were not directly related to my brother.”
Records show that Collins was familiar with the July 2011 domestic battery and sexual assault incident and the discipline Scott Ogden received.
Tisbury Selectmen Executive meeting minutes recently received by The Times show that Collins allegedly helped shape or influence Ogden’s discipline for his failures during police response in 2011.
The minutes of the January 24, 2012 meeting show that former Tisbury Police Chief Dan Hanavan was talking to Collins, known as a “special investigator”.
“Chief Hanavan reported that years of training and departmental guidelines had been disregarded, adding that after consulting with Special Counsel Jack Collins, a 5-day suspension was recommended and implemented,” the minutes read.
“I’ve never worked for the city of Tisbury,” said Collins on the phone with the Times. He suggested that he may have given an opinion through his role with the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association.
“I didn’t make a recommendation,” said Collins. “I may have got a call from the chief.” He continued, “I did not give legal advice.”
Elsewhere the transcript reads: “City Administrator John Bugbee pointed out that for the boss, attorney Jack Collins, and himself the main reason in this case is the fact that Mr. Thrift had fled the house and was still at large Fuß was when everyone left the scene, adding that, in short, they shouldn’t have left. He went on to state that Jack Collins held a 5-day ban on the role of Officer Ogden in this matter. “
When asked if his name in the logs, which is closely associated with Officer Ogden, was in conflict, Collins described the situation as “less than poor” and said “there is no connection at all”.
A series of minutes of the March 6, 2012 meeting described Collins working with Tisbury labor attorney Brian Maser to develop a “strategy” for hearing another officer involved in the case.
Despite appearing on minutes of meetings, Tisbury could not find any invoices relating to Collins. In an email to the Times, Suzanne Kennedy, the accountant for the city of Tisbury, wrote that the city “never” made a payment to Jack Collins or his company, Collins Associates.
When asked if he knew Collins had appeared in the minutes of the executive’s meeting, and if so, why would he allow Collins to attend a defense of files in which he might have had a conflict, Sheriff Ogden wrote that he was aware of the minutes and being unaware of Collins’ place. He added that he still doesn’t see any conflict.
“I was not privy to the minutes of the Tisbury Selection Committee nor to Jack Collins’ active advisory role in connection with this 2011 police response,” Ogden wrote via email. “I’m going to inquire about the Massachusetts State Ethics Committee, but since neither I nor Attorney Collins knew about it until you informed us that he was quoted a decade ago, presumably by the former police chief, I don’t see a conflict of interest in a public petition.” Records.”
Sheriff Ogden’s full response to why he did not select a third party to respond to the request is as follows: “The Dukes County Sheriff’s Office is making every effort to comply with all legitimate requests for information made to that office in each area of its operation if it does not violate the law and / or violate a person’s legal rights. The letter of the law must be strictly observed, which prohibits this authority from revealing the identity of persons who are involved in a sexual assault. Over a decade ago, when this horrific crime was committed, I was not the Dukes County Sheriff, nor did I have any direct oversight / command role in relation to this incident. All the decisions made at that time were made by my predecessor and his administration. ”
When asked why a department that has recently upgraded its communications infrastructure and has qualified technical staff cannot provide blackened audio from an old device, Sheriff Ogden wrote that he was proud of the regional communications upgrades that were under his supervision were carried out. He also wrote, “The current system is light years ahead of the old and can do many things that the previous system could not. It is my understanding as a mere layman; Redacting confidential parts of outdated records is currently not possible. If the decision is legitimately made that we should devote our limited and valuable resources to using technology on a properly edited version of the requested record, we will do our best to comply. “
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