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Firm chosen for Canton police audit in the wake of Karen Read, Sandra Birchmore cases
5 Stones intelligence said it will launch its independent audit of the Canton Police Department in the coming weeks.
Canton has selected a firm to lead an independent audit of its police force amid ongoing controversy and debate surrounding the department’s handling of the early investigation into John O’Keefe’s death.
5 Stones intelligence will be paid $198,000 to conduct the Canton Police Department audit, as NBC10 Boston first reported. Brian McKnight, 5Si chief innovation officer, told Boston.com the audit will begin sometime in the next couple of weeks, possibly the week of Nov. 18.
Canton residents voted last year to allocate a maximum of $200,000 for the audit following a heated debate that spanned several hours. Per the terms of its contract with the town, 5Si’s final report is due to the Canton Police Audit Committee by April 1, with a community presentation expected to follow by April 30.
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5Si estimated a 12- to 14-week timeline for its audit, according to a copy of the firm’s contract and bid materials.
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In a Sept. 28 letter included with the proposal, CEO Brian Talay explained the firm’s team includes some current and former Massachusetts law enforcement officers. 5Si was also selected earlier this year to complete an independent audit and compliance review of the United States Capitol Police regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Talay wrote.
Per Canton’s request for proposals, the audit’s scope will include police policies and procedures; crime scene protocols; professional standards and accountability; management and culture; conflicts of interest; and Select Board oversight, among other categories.
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“Recent events involving the unfortunate and untimely death of a Town resident have sparked concerns regarding how the department operates not only in its response to such events, but more generally in how the department operates every day in police matters,” the RFP reads.
The Canton Police Department’s crime scene protocols in particular were the subject of scrutiny during Karen Read’s first murder trial last spring, when officers testified about using plastic Solo cups as improvised evidence collection containers during their investigation into O’Keefe’s death. One photo displayed during the trial showed several Solo cups that contained frozen blood samples sitting inside a Stop & Shop grocery bag.
Read, O’Keefe’s girlfriend of two years, is accused of drunkenly and deliberately striking him with her SUV and leaving him to die on a snowy lawn in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022. Her lawyers maintain she was framed in a law enforcement coverup and have sought to emphasize alleged conflicts of interest between witnesses and first responders.
Read is expected to stand trial again next year following a July 1 mistrial.
The Canton Police Department was also looped into public discourse surrounding the Sandra Birchmore case, involving a 23-year-old pregnant woman found dead in her Canton apartment in 2021. While state investigators initially ruled Birchmore died by suicide, federal authorities later charged Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton police detective, in her death. Federal prosecutors have accused Farwell of strangling Birchmore to cover up a years-long sexual relationship that allegedly began with statutory rape when Birchmore was underage.
Speaking during the Police Audit Committee’s Oct. 18 meeting, 5Si Director Matthew Germanowski reviewed the town’s RFP and outlined his firm’s proposed approach.
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“There are several things on here that we feel get to the heart of what it is you want, which is a transparent, competent, fair, objective department that has the trust and belief of the public, that can work hand-in-hand with the public,” he said.
Asked how the firm would be able to comply with any future court orders — particularly in the Read or Birchmore cases — Germanowski vowed to stay within the confines of the town’s budget.
“We’re career and lifelong law enforcement officers, and we believe in rules, and we believe in the law, and we believe in justice,” he said. “So if there’s a court order, we’re going to meet that court order. We’re going to answer it, and that would not be affected by budgetary constraints. That’s handled by obligation and a sense of duty and integrity.”
Germanowski also held up 5Si’s review of the United States Capitol Police as an example of a project similar in scope, recalling how bitter political divisions on Capitol Hill impacted others’ audit expectations.
“Here’s what I can tell you: I have absolutely no idea what your final report will look like, and I won’t know until I start to work,” he said. “The only thing we have is our integrity, and everything that we do will be objective, fair, and transparent out in the open.”
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