Flawed process taints Rescue probe

When a Milton Police Officer was involved in a crash with a civilian vehicle in January, New Hampshire State Police were immediately notified so that they could begin an investigation into who was at fault.

It’s standard procedure. How can an organization investigate itself?

It has a vested interest in its preservation, in the status quo.

Why? Because any wrongdoing reflects poorly on the whole.

Obviously, dear readers, you realize we’re not talking about the Milton Police Department here. They did it right.

We’re talking about the Lebanon selectmen’s office.

They did it wrong.

They had one selectmen investigate another selectman with the help of the town attorney who freely acknowledges he works for – you guessed it – the selectmen.

Whether Rescue Chief Samantha Cole or Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole did anything wrong is not the point here. It was how it was determined.

Selectmen Chairman Bob Frizzell, with years and years in the construction industry, interviewed five former Rescue Department volunteers who complained of shoddy leadership and safety issues with regard to an ambulance service and surmised the claims of all five were groundless.

Mr. Frizzell was able to make his summary

judgment with no input from an ambulance regulatory body which would have been readily available to assist in determining due cause.

So what was the process of the probe?

As Mr. Frizzell says in his 116-word ruling on “the probe,” he conducted the interviews with all complainants and then gathered and reviewed “certain” information.

Since he admitted he never took advantage of opinions from medical experts neutral to the case, what information is there left to gather except from the Coles.

Beyond that, Mr. Frizzell rendered his decision without consulting Selectwoman Karen Gerrish, who had expected to be part of the summary finding.

Almost six months after the probe began - and a week after The Lebanon Voice broke the story – we’re told the grievances were groundless.

According to Mr. Frizzell, we can now rest assured that the Rescue Department is in capable hands. That’s a good thing if you ever need an ambulance.

However, it’s not the judgment that disturbs us as much as it is the process by which that judgment was made. - HT