By KENNEDY GRIFFIN
(Greenfield, MA) Update 10/4/2022 – Greenfield Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. has been “conditionally recertified” after initially receiving a full recertification letter from the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission on September 14th.
In a notice from the POST Commission dated September 14th, 2022 it is stated that the “Commission has not found it necessary to attach any limitation, condition, or restriction to [Chief Haigh’s] recertification.” However, there was a second notice on October 4th stating that the POST Commission received additional information it will need to review before finalizing the recertification.
According to the POST website, a “‘Conditional Certification’ is functionally the same as a certification but is a temporary certification.” Both Chief Haigh and Lieutenant Todd Dodge have recertification cases pending before the POST Commission.
POST is a new state commission established in 2020 tasked with recertifying all police officers in Massachusetts.
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(9/16/2022) Greenfield Police Chief Robert Haigh and Lieutenant Todd Dodge’s recertification status is pending. After the criminal justice reform acts passed in 2020, the Peace Officer Standards and Training, also known as POST, commission was formed for the purpose of certifying and rectifying Massachusetts police officers.
Officers with last names beginning with A through H needed to submit recertification paperwork by June 30th of this year. Under this process, officers may be certified, conditionally certified, or not certified and therefore unable to perform police duties. Typically, individuals on leave may be classified as conditionally certified and have 90 days to submit paperwork when they return to active service. However, Chief Haigh and Lieutenant Todd Dodge have not been conditionally certified, suggesting POST has “determined their case merits further review” according to their policy.