Police Chief's Attorney Seeks Lie Detector Tests for Accusers

To "set the record straight" about why the East Providence police chief was put on administrative leave last spring before being reinstated by the Budget Commission, the attorney for Joseph Tavares wants the police chief, the city manager and the two city councilors at the center of the controversy to take lie detector tests.

Attorney Thomas McAndrew said in a letter sent to Patch that the four people, including City Manager Peter Graczykowski and City Councilors Thomas Rose Jr. and Chrissy Rossi, should be willing to “go on the box” if they speak the truth.

The two city councilors allegedly have been pressuring Graczykowski to terminate the police chief, with the possibility of a quid pro quo “contract” with the city an eventual outcome of the city manager’s cooperation. 

Graczykowski took the position with East Providence several years ago without a contract he desires and he still works at the will of the City Council.

The two city councilors reportedly did not cooperate with a RI State Police investigation into their alleged interference with personnel matters – a misdemeanor violation of the city charter that could force their ouster as councilors. 

Their lack of cooperation, according to the State Police, “hindered” the investigation and basically brought it to a close without criminal charges being filed, according to an announcement on the results of the probe requested by the Budget Commission after it reinstated Tavares. 

McAndrew also said that Tavares claims Graczykowski told him there was an inordinate amount of pressure from certain city councilors to have the chief removed from his position. 

He also questions the so-called investigation into allegations made against the police chief that was reportedly conducted by Human Resources Director Kathleen Waterbury and attorney Michael Ursillo under Graczykowski’s direction. The results of that investigation were turned over to the Budget Commission, which found no basis whatsoever for the city manager’s decision to suspend the police chief.

McAndrew also repeated a claim that Tavares was actually presented a “separation agreement” that was intended to have him resign before he was put on leave even though the allegations against him were not made known then and still have not been made known.

McAndrew also questions how information from Tavares’s confidential personnel file ended up in the hands of the city councilors – a charge he makes in one of the two letters he sent to Graczykowski in late May to try to “clear the air” about the situation.

The attorney for Tavares also hints that the situation between Tavares, Graczykowski and the two city councilors may end up in a lawsuit. 

But what he really seems to want at this time are lie detector tests for all of them, McAndrew said.