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Judge Says Duggan to Attend September Police Academy
(Published 06/15/01)
by Dalia Diaz
Newburyport Superior Court judge Robert Welch told city
attorneys last week that Rumbo columnist Tom Duggan has
waited long enough. Duggan has been suing the city for
eleven years for the right to serve on the Lawrence
Police Department as his father Tom Duggan, Sr. did
before losing his life in the line of duty. Duggan is
also suing the city for 1.2 million dollars for
falsifying documents to keep him off the police
department in 1992.
City attorney Tom Bowers stood before Judge Welch to
argue that Duggan had to take more physical examinations
before attending the Police Academy despite the fact that
previous court orders stated that Duggan had passed all
physical requirements to become a police officer.
"Unfortunately, the Criminal Justice Training
Council which runs the police academy and the Department
of Personnel Administration have changed the regulations
on physical requirements for entrance to the
academy," Bowers said. "We cannot send Mr.
Duggan to the academy because he is refusing to take
these physicals."
Duggan, who represented himself at the hearing argued
that the new physical requirements were enacted in 1996,
after he was originally supposed to be hired. The new
requirements state that physical examinations and a
physical aptitude test must be conducted less than six
months prior to attending the police academy. "Your
honor, this is an ex-post facto law that went into effect
long after I applied for the job. I should have been
hired in 1990, and the city illegally denied me this job.
If they had hired me when they were supposed to I would
not have had to meet the 1996 requirements."
Judge Welch agreed saying, "Given the history of
this case (Tom Duggan vs. The City of Lawrence) I
can’t imagine if Mr. Duggan went for another
physical exam the city would pass him. Then he would have
to appeal that physical to Civil Service as he has in the
past, and this would start the appeals process all over
again. I think Mr. Duggan has waited long enough. So,
what I am gong to do is this; I am going to enjoin the
Department of Personnel Administration and the Criminal
Justice Training Council as defendants in this case and
order that the new 1996 physical requirements be waived
for Mr. Duggan so that he can attend the September class
at the police academy."
Welch then scheduled a hearing date for July 9, 2001,
where he ordered the Department of Personnel
Administration and the Criminal justice Training Council
to appear before him to settle the matter and clear the
way for Duggan to appear at the Police Academy and
finally become a Lawrence Police Officer.
After the hearing, Duggan said he was excited this case
was coming to a close after eleven years and that he will
accept the job as a Lawrence Police Officer. "The
city of Lawrence has been fighting my appointment since
1990 and I’m thrilled that Judge Welch has taken a
personal interest in my plight against the city. My
father served this city well for 18 years and died
protecting our citizens. Often, during the last eleven
years I’ve wondered if I would even want the job
when the case came to a conclusion," Duggan said.
"I always knew this was going to be a long fight,
but I am happy to say that I feel no different today than
I did when I first applied for the job."
Duggan says his appointment to the Lawrence Police
Department does not change anything as far as his million
dollar lawsuit against the city is concerned,
"Employees for the City of Lawrence falsified
documents and committed fraud. They claimed I was too
dangerous to carry a gun. They claimed I was not
psychologically fit to be a cop. They conspired to
pervert the hiring process and in doing so they have
damaged my reputation, denied me eleven years of income
and cost me positions on other police departments. There
must be an atonement for what has occurred here. And
I’m not the only one. I’m not just fighting for
myself at this point I am fighting for all the other
police applicants who were illegally passed over and
didn’t have the will or the resources to stand up
and fight."
Duggan said he has hired a personal trainer to get him in
shape for September and will request Chief Romero to take
his father’s badge number out of retirement so that
he can wear it when he is sworn in.