WARE — After conducting a preliminary inquiry into whether or not Police Chief Shawn Crevier violated the state conflict of interest law, the commission decided to resolve the matter through a public education letter.
For background, on June 20, the commission voted to find reasonable cause to believe that Crevier violated conflict of interest laws and authorized adjudicatory proceedings.
The inquiry was to see if Crevier uses his position as chief to engage in political activity.
In summer 2023, House Bill No. 4420 or H. 4420 an Act Modernizing Firearms Laws, was filed which was aimed at reforming the commonwealth’s gun laws.
The public education letter read that H. 4420 came to Crevier’s attention after a private organization of law enforcement officials, of which Crevier is a member, sent an email to its membership in July 2023 containing a summary of the bill with the organization’s concerns.
After receiving the email, Crevier told a Ware Police Department administrative officer that he wanted to write something public about the proposed law. The statement was drafted by the officer and reviewed by Crevier before posting it in on the Ware Police Department page in July 2023.
The statement said the Ware Police Department wished to bring H. 4420, which it referred to as “the proposed anti-gun Bill,” to the public’s attention because it “has raised concerns among law abiding citizens who value their Second Amendment rights.” The statement asserted that “the right to bear arms is a fundamental aspect of our nation’s history and an essential component of personal and collective security” and declared that as “members of the police force, [the Ware Police Derpartment is] committed to upholding the law and defending the rights of community members.”
The statement challenged the House bill’s constitutionality, declaring, “A plethora of blatantly unconstitutional proposals litter this travesty of a Bill,” and decried the creation of “prohibited locations” to carry firearms, even for those who are licensed, as particularly egregious. The statement asserted, “Gun free zones have been proven to have no effect on stopping crime, in fact they embolden criminals to seek out these areas as soft targets of opportunity … This bill does not address criminals. Rather it focuses on making criminals out of law-abiding citizens and further hampers police agencies from combating true crime.” The statement included a list of actions for its readers to take “to safeguard [their] rights” against “the proposed anti-gun Bill,” including “[s]tay connected with local gun rights organizations and be prepared to mobilize if necessary.” The statement concluded, “We are committed to maintaining the safety and security of our community while upholding the rights enshrined in our Constitution,” and was signed “Ware PD.”
The statement included an image of the Ware Police Department letterhead and Crevier’s name and title. The post was shared on Facebook about 7,600 times and discussed on the local news channels.
Later in July 2023, after Crevier learned the Senate was working on its own bill on “gun control,” another statement was drafted, reviewed and submitted on the official Ware Police Department Facebook page.
Two more statements were reviewed, approved and posted on Oct. 11 and 18, 2023, opposing the legislation.
The public education letter discusses the conflict of interest law and why it was wrong what Crevier did.
It further read, “Going forward, while you serve as police chief, you may, consistent with the conflict of interest law, engage in political activity in your private citizen capacity on your own private time using your own private resources. You may not, however, use public resources, including your police chief title and badge, the WPD Facebook page, WPD letterhead or other WPD resources, to advance your personal opinions, or the opinions of any other person or entity, on matters that are not within the purview of your public agency, the WPD.”
It also said that Crevier fully cooperated with the investigation and “the Commission decided to resolve this matter through this Public Education Letter because this area of the law is complex, easily misunderstood, and in need of further public clarification. The Commission expects that by resolving this matter through this Public Education Letter, you, and other public employees in similar circumstances, will have a better understanding of the conflict of interest law and how to comply with it.”
Crevier reciprocated that point and said, “I fully cooperated with the investigation and their findings is the end of the investigation.”
When asked about receiving the letter, Crevier said, “The bill does very little actually to address gun violence, all it does is penalize the current and future law-abiding gun owners, which only emboldens criminal offenders to increase gun violence. The focus of this bill should have been on the criminal element. As a law enforcement official, one of my primary objectives is the safety of my residents, and this new law takes minimal strides to achieve that.”
