The Valley Patriot has posted a headline on its website that is factually incorrect and leads to an inference in the smaller print that needs correcting. The headline:
With Chief’s fate “officially” undecided Methuen Posts Chief and Deputy positions
Methuen has not posted (which means that the City is declaring the position vacant or soon to be vacant) either position. The State’s Human Resources Division has posted civil service promotional exams, which have nothing to do with Methuen. The position of Deputy Chief of Police is not, and since its re-introduction, HAS NEVER BEEN a civil service position. Additionally that position (of Deputy Chief) has been phased out by Chief Katherine Lavigne
(Please read my posting of March 4th, which details the administrative changes in the Police Department, including the abolishing of the position of Deputy Chief of Police.) I am not sure why I would “post” a position that has already been abolished.
As far as the Chief’s position goes Methuen’s City Council voted to take that position OUT of Civil service by Home Rule Petition, legislation which is pending in Boston. That means that any potential successor to the Chief’s position would not be part of the civil service system and hence would not need to take the promotional exam posted by the State. I do not know why anyone would post a position inside civil service when the facts show that the position will be OUTSIDE of civil service.
The facts outlined here are public record and hopefully will get my friend “the chief” Tom Duggan to issue the necessary correction.
Bill Manzi.com 
I recall the controversy ten years ago when Chief MacDougal, a good and competent Police Chief, made the decision to disband the Arlington Neighborhood Community Policing unit and turn the entire department into adopting the mission of that unit.
Then, as now ,there was much dissension within the ranks because overtime and specialty assignments were nor equitably shared within the department. Within a year after the controversy Chief MacDougal found it necessary to resign rather than continue the political fight.
Those responsible in Methuen’s political life need not be reminded by me of their involvement and level of advocacy.
However, now that it appears at least, that we are seeing somewhat of a return to the organizational mission, if not structure, of the DeSantis-MacDougal era,it would be interesting to know what the manpower and rank structure was of the department the years ago compared to today.
Clearly the goal of the administration is stated to be transforming a “dysfunctiona” department into a “functional” one. Such lofty goals require an exposition of the definition of what constitutes a ‘functional” department and how its manpower allocation is established to achieve specific goals which would encompass both crime prevention and aprehension.
Not an easy task, but one which our Mayor is clearly up to!
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Thank you Bob. Back in the MacDougall era I was supportive of a community policing division, and felt that they had done a good job in applying some needed pressure on the very young crime fighting effort going on in some of our problem neighborhoods. That unit in fact was disbanded after a management study commissioned by Chief MacDougall. It was brought back again later under a different name, and the results were not what this community wanted, nor what any good manager would expect. I believe that we are on the way to functionality and a better mix of officers to serve our residents.
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