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WEBVTT MARIA: EXPOSING SECRET DEALS OF POLICE OFFICERS, SOME OF COMMITTING CRIME. ED: THE PROBLEMS OF OFFICERS GIVING A FRESH AND START. HOLYOKE POLICE OFFICE SEAN SHATTUCK, A POLICE ACADEMY INSTRUCTOR ACCUSED OF MAKING INAPPROPRIATE, OFFENSIVE AND DEMEANING COMMENTS TO MANY RECRUITS AND PHYSICALLY ASSAULTING A RECRUIT DURING A TRAINING SESSION. PROSECUTORS AGREED IN THIS DOCUMENT KNOWN AS A CARNEY LETTER NOT TO CHARGE SHATTUCK WITH A CRIME AND LET THE POLICE DEPARTMENT DO ITS OWN INVESTIGATION. >> CARNEY IS ACTUALLY A WAY TO HOLD POLICE OFFICERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR ALLEGED WRONGDOING WHEN THERE ISN'T A WAY TO PROCEED CRIMINALLY AGAINST THAT OFFICER. REPORTER: THE CITY WOULDN'T SAY IF SHATTUCK WAS DISCIPLINED, BUT HE RETIRED FROM THE FORCE WHILE ON UNPAID LEAVE. AND THE CONTROVERSY DIDN'T PREVENT HIM FROM GETTING ANOTHER JOB IN LAW ENFORCEMENT. HE'S NOW AN OFFICER WITH THE WORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE. THE UNIVERSITY DECLINING TO TALK ABOUT THE ALLEGATIONS, BUT CALLING SHATTUCK AN EMPLOYEE IN GOOD STANDING. FIVE INVESTIGATES FOUND HE'S NOT THE ONLY OFFICER TO LAND A NEW JOB AFTER BEING GRANTED IMMUNITY WITH A CARNEY LETTER. >> YOU WERE GOING TO GET CHARGED TODAY WITH A CRIME. REPORTER: THAT'S FORMER NEWBURYPORT POLICE SERGEANT STEPHEN CHAISSON BEING QUESTIONED BY HIS OWN DEPARTMENT AFTER A WOMAN COMPLAINED THAT HE COMMITTED A LEWD ACT IN FRONT OF HER IN DOWNTOWN NEWBURYPORT. >> I DON'T KNOW THE ONLY WAY I , CAN REALLY PUT IT IS I WAS PLAYING WITH MYSELF. REPORTER: CHAISSON MADE THAT ADMISSION AFTER GETTING A GRANT OF IMMUNITY, AND WAS ALLOWED TO QUIETLY RESIGN FROM THE FORCE. THAT CLEARED THE WAY FOR HIM TO LAND A SENSITIVE TOP JOB WITH THE STATE AT THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AS DIRECTOR OF COMPLIANCE AND INVESTIGATIONS AT THE MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA PROGRAM. OUR INVESTIGATION FINDING ABOUT TWO DOZEN POLICE OFFICESR GRANTED IMMUNITY IN MASSACHUSETTS OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS, SOMETIMES FOR ALLEGATIONS OF SERIOUS WRONGDOING INCLUDING SEVERAL FOR EXCESSIVE FORCE. >> I APPROACHED HIM, SAID, "SIT DOWN." USED MY HANDS, PUT THEM ON HIS SHOULDERS AND SAID, "YOU'LL SIT." REPORTER: HAVERHILL POLICE OFFICER DENNIS MORIARTY WAS GRANTED IMMUNITY AFTER THIS INCIDENT WITH A PRISONER. THE DEPARTMENT FOUND HIS USE O FORCE WAS NOT JUSTIFIED, BUT HE REMAINS ON THE JOB. IS THIS A SEPARATE SET OF RULES FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT? >> I DON'T THINK IT'S NECESSARILY A SEPARATE SET OF RULES. CASES ARE NOT PROSECUTED ON DAILY BASIS. HUNDREDS OF TIMES THROUGHOUT THE COMMONWEALTH. REPORTER: BUT FORMER BOSTON POLICE LIEUTENANT AND POLICING EXPERT TOM NOLAN SAYS THE SECRECY OF THE DEALS CAN RAISE QUESTIONS WITH THE PUBLIC. SHOULD THIS PROCESS BE MORE TRANSPARENT TO THE PUBLIC? >> I DON'T THINK IT COULD HURT TO HAVE A STATEWIDE, CENTRALIZED CLEARINGHOUSE TO VET SOME OF THESE REQUESTS. REPORTER: NOLAN SAYS A MORE OPEN PROCESS WOULD HELP ELIMINATE THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION THAT SOME OFFICERS ARE GETTING SPECIAL TREATMENT WHEN THEY'RE GRANTED IMMUNITY. STEPHEN CHAISSON, BY THE WAY, IS

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Police officers accused of misconduct can cut little-known immunity agreements that are allowing officers to avoid criminal charges. 5 Investigates' Mike Beaudet found, through a series of public records requests, records of nearly two dozen immunity agreements, known as Carney letters, given to police officers across the state in the last five years. But the system for keeping track of these cases is disorganized, making it likely there are still more immunity deals that have been cut. Supporters of these agreements, including Attorney General Maura Healey, say they are a way for police departments to investigate suspected police wrongdoing when the case is not prosecutable or the officer plans to invoke his or her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The case of the now-former Newburyport police Sgt. Stephen Chaisson highlights the issues raised by these immunity agreements. Chaisson was accused of exposing himself to a woman and committing a lewd act, but denied even being in the area. "I wasn't there that day," he told a police investigator in a recording obtained by 5 Investigates. "If you were going to charge me today, what charge would it be?" he asked an unidentified investigator. "Lewd and lascivious," the investigator replied. "The victim is a very credible witness." But Chaisson changed his story, after he got a Carney letter. "It's embarrassing," he admitted in a follow-up interview, going on to say it was him but he wasn't actually masturbating. "The only way I can really put it is I was playing with myself," he said. Chaisson was allowed to resign from his job for "personal reasons," and until 5 Investigates uncovered the Carney letter and underlying investigation the reasons for his departure remained a secret. That in turn helped clear the way for him to get a sensitive state job at the Department of Public Health as director of compliance and investigations at the Medical Use of Marijuana Program. He has since left that job. The other Carney letters revealed a host of accusations. Some were minor, like one officer trying to steal another officer's raincoat and badge. But other were serious, including leaving the scene of a late night accident that resulted in property damage, obstruction of justice, and excessive force -- all accusations that by virtue of the Carney letters left the police officers immune from prosecution. "Is this treatment special treatment for officers?" Beaudet asked AG Healey. "No. To the contrary, I think all of these situations are taken very seriously," Healey replied. "Carney is actually a way to hold police officers accountable for alleged wrongdoing when there isn't a way to proceed criminally against that officer." In another case, Haverhill police Officer Dennis Moriarty talked only after being granted immunity about accusations of assaulting a prisoner. The encounter, captured by jail security cameras, showed Moriarty grabbing the prisoner, who was refusing to sit down, and forcing him to take a seat. "I approached him, said sit down. Used my hands, put them on his shoulders and said you'll sit," he told an investigator. The department found Moriarty's use of force was not justified, but he remains on the job. In Beverly, police Sgt. John Vitale was cleared of accusations of sexual misconduct made against him by a woman he pulled over. He talked to his department about it after prosecutors gave him immunity. "The allegations were pretty serious. Why no criminal charges?" Beaudet asked Beverly police Chief John G. LeLacheur. "It was fully vetted out by several different investigative teams. The person involved was just extremely uncredible." But investigators did find problems. Among them, the woman who was known to police, already had had consensual relationships with two other Beverly officers, but no one was fired. "There was discipline given out in a lot of different areas. People made mistakes. People were punished for their mistakes," LeLacheur said. Retired Boston police Lt. Tom Nolan, now a professor at Merrimack College, said immunity can be a useful tool in police internal investigations but that the secretive process can fuel suspicions. "Is this a separate set of rules for law enforcement?" Beaudet asked him. "I don't think it's necessarily a separate set of rules," Nolan replied. "More transparency would eliminate the perception on any member of the public that there is a dual system that exists." 5 Investigates looked at the case of former Holyoke police Officer Sean Shattuck, a police academy instructor, accused of making "inappropriate, offensive and demeaning comments" to many recruits, and "physically assaulting" a recruit during a training session. Prosecutors gave Shattuck a Carney letter and the police department did its own investigation. He retired from the department while on unpaid leave and got a new job as a police officer at Worcester State University. The university declined to talk about the allegations, but called Shattuck "an employee in good standing." Nolan says one option would be creating a centralized system for vetting and tracking all immunity requests, so information about who's granted immunity and why is located in one place and accessible. "Should this process be more transparent to the public?" Beaudet asked him. "I don't think it could hurt to have a statewide, centralized clearinghouse to vet some of these requests," Nolan said.