Brattleboro Police chief fired, in part over Taser incident

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The police chief in Brattleboro, under fire for his handling of a July 24th incident in which two non-violent protesters were stunned with a Taser, has been fired.

The town’s Select Board voted 3-2 Wednesday to terminate John Martin, a 31-year veteran of the Brattleboro Police Department. Martin had been chief since 2001.

Town Manager Barbara Sondag announced Martin’s firing yesterday after a closed-door meeting of the Select Board, which found that morale was low, officers were uncertain about their leadership and the department was “dysfunctional.”

Martin had been put on administrative leave last month, pending disciplinary hearings. Sondag says he failed to provide effective leadership to the department.

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