The Berkshire Eagle reports It appears that an independent probe of the Williamstown police department might happen after all, but not in the form many called for weeks ago.

After former Police Chief Kyle Johnson’s resignation Monday and the dropping of a lawsuit against him and the town manager, the Select Board might move forward with an “independent investigation” of the police department.as a result. They haven’t had the time to discuss the topic and consider the nature of such an investigation, which residents of the town had repeatedly requested in the weeks after the lawsuit was filed.

McGowan claimed he was retaliated against for decrying racial and sexual harassment in the Police Department by the police chief and that McGowan was denied a promotion to lieutenant as a result.

The harassment charges refer to incidents more than a decade ago in which McGowan charges that Johnson, on occasion, engaged in sexual harassment of employees, that he made jokes at the expense of a Black officer, and that a dispatcher used a racist epithet in the presence of that officer, who was giving a tour of the station to a Black college student.

 

But, all of that is speculation, she noted. The Select Board still has to deliberate on the matter and set things in motion.

Follow this and many other stories on The Berkshire Eagle now.

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