Search for new Chicopee Police Chief moves forward

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) -The halted search for Police Chief in Chicopee is now moving forward, following the arrest of Chicopee’s School Superintendent, who was accused of lying to the FBI about threatening texts she sent to one of the candidates for Chief.

Western Mass News is getting answers about where the selection process stands.

Chicopee Mayor John Vieau said they’re down to two candidates for Chicopee Police Chief. This comes after the selection process was delayed back in November.

“We’re actually having interviews with two candidates tomorrow for Police Chief,” said Mayor Vieau.

Mayor Vieau spoke to Western Mass News about where they are in the selection process for the city’s Chief of Police. It was paused back in November after one of the candidates at the time received threatening text messages, from who Federal Authorities now said is Chicopee School Superintendent Lynn Clark. She was arrested on Wednesday for lying to the FBI about it.

According to Court documents:

“In November 2021, Individual 1, the unnamed candidate for Police Chief, received numerous text messages from anonymous numbers containing threats to expose information that would cause reputational harm. If individual 1 did not withdraw his/her application.”

They also say:

“As a result of the threats, individual 1 withdrew his/her application.

Mayor Vieau told us how they restarted the process.”

“We’ve offered all three candidates the opportunity to sign. Two of them have chosen to. And we’re moving forward with that process. The Police Department was cleared over a month ago,” said Mayor Vieau.

“Do you think this taints the process in regards to applying for Police Chief? The fact that someone resigned based on these threats?” We asked.

“I don’t. The person has chosen to resign. That person also had an opportunity to re-sign and that was just a couple of weeks ago,” explained Mayor Vieau.

Court documents say:

“The Mayor informed agents that he was concerned that the threats and Individual 1′s subsequent withdrawal unfairly affected the integrity of the selection process, so he delayed selecting a new Chief.”

Mayor Vieau explained to Western Mass News what happened during the pause period.

“There was a 10-day process where those three candidates who went through the assessment center, could again re-sign for continuing the process in moving forward,” explained Mayor Vieau.

At Lynn Clark’s Federal hearing Wednesday, she was asked not to have any contact with anyone involved in the investigation. Her next federal court date is April 27th. Her attorney, Jared Olanoff told Western Mass News that he plans to make a comment in the coming days.

Copyright 2022. Western Mass News (WGGB/WSHM). All rights reserved.