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CANTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The town of Canton released the results of an independent audit of its police department Tuesday that looks into, among several items, how the department handled the Karen Read and Sandra Birchmore cases.
The town ordered the audit of the department shortly after Read's first trial ended in a mistrial. Her second trial started the same day the audit was released. Prosecutors charged Read with hitting and killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, but Read's lawyers argue she's being framed by the Canton Police Department and Massachusetts State Police.
The audit found Canton Police officers did not follow proper policy and procedures when preserving and collecting evidence at the scene of O'Keefe's death. However, the report said there was no evidence to support claims that Canton Police officers tampered with evidence at the scene.
The audit argued that Canton Police officers should have photographed O'Keefe's body where he was found and not after he was moved to the ambulance and that a police presence should have been maintained at the scene until State Police crime units arrived. It also said all witness interviews should have been conducted at the Canton Police Department after O'Keefe was taken to the hospital.
Read More: Jury Selection Begins In Karen Read Murder Retrial
As for recommendations, the audit calls for the department to provide more crime scene management and witness interview or interrogation training. It also calls for officers to not use their personal cell phones at crime scenes and for patrol vehicles to be equipped with full crime scene kits.
The Canton Police Department came under more scrutiny after federal prosecutors charged Stoughton Police officer Matthew Farewell with killing Birchmore in her Canton apartment and staged it to look like a suicide. Canton officers first discovered her body and originally ruled her death as a suicide. The audit calls for all death reports to be reviewed by the Chief of Investigations Division before being finalized.
There will be a community meeting at Canton High School on Saturday, April 5 to go over the audit and allow the public to comment.
WBZ's Brooke McCarthy (@BrookeWBZ) reports.