This is FU

In the fewer than 6 months of 2022, the Framingham Police Department have exceeded $200,000 in Law Enforcement Trust Fund (LETF) expenditures. The LETF is a fund of monies seized by law enforcement investigations, or from the sale of property associated with a criminal act, such as cars involved in drug dealing. Participating law enforcement agencies put monies collected through such activities in a fund from which they get a share available to them.

Currently the Framingham Police have around $268,000 available to spend, and as stated before they have spent well over $200,000 thus far this year.

What is the concern with these monies. First off – there is no oversight here. This money can be spent on just about anything. Secondly, it’s budget season, and the Framingham Police are asking for a increased budget from the city for necessities, when we now know that the department has been making wasteful purchases in the background.

Essentially this is money that the police spends without any oversight from the Mayor or the City Council. The US Justice department as well as Mass General Laws do limit what these funds can used for, and what they cannot be used for. Read page 14-18 in the document in the grey box at the bottom of this page for more information on what the funds can be used for and what they cannot be used for.

We at FU are more concerned with the needless and wasteful spending of LETF funds on items, while the police department brass is asking tax payers to cough up more money in the upcoming year for ‘necessities’, when based on LETF spending it is apparent that the FPD has been wasting money that could have been used on these necessities.

We have been regularly requesting documentation of LETF spending by the FPD and have found periods of responsible spending, and periods of spending which is disgusting. For example radio communication equipment leases have been paid out of the LETF, and those leases have been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gym equipment and office furniture, also has been purchased out of LETF funds.

Steve Trask, former police chief, in the weeks leading up to his retirement, he obtained four undercover cars to be gifted to each of his deputy chiefs for their exclusive use. The vehicles topped $100,000. The most expensive two vehicles were 2020 Ford’s, pimped out with upgrades and comfort packages. The other two vehicles were an 2015 Audi with 40k miles and a 2018 unknown vehicle with deep tints.

This year we were tipped off that the LETF spending was exceeding any year prior, and told that items purchased were wasteful. A couple months ago we requested LETF spending on purchases over $1000, with receipt documentation. Today we received the information.

The Framingham Police are apparently spending $1,667 per month to lease space for the Metrowest Drug Task Force – Satellite office. Click to enlarge the lease.

Three vehicles have been purchased for over $90,000 including a 2022 Ford Explorer, a 2020 Ford Explorer, and a 2022 Harley Davidson FLHTP – police bike. Click to enlarge images below.

Also this year was an annual subscription to the LEFTA Shield suite of 10 applications, with licenses for 140 users. The service started on 5/1/2022 and for the year, totals $11,400.

From Staples, in January the police ordered a $1000 filing cabinet. Click to enlarge the invoice.

While the police order many small items from Home Depot out of the LETF, such as hardware, Flex Seal, and Gorilla Glue, the big purchase thus far was a January 28th purchase of 8 chair for their conference room at $229 each, totaling $1,832. Click to enlarge to see these Home Depot LETF expenses

While Framingham’s drone program (SUAS Team) was supposed to be a grant funded expense, and it was purchased expecting that… the city for one reason or another failed to pay the $21,000 bill on time, and being the LETF is essentially a free checkbook for the police, they converted that purchase out of the trust fund. The email thread below shows a alert from the company supplying the drones, notifying the police of non-payment, and shows how quickly the LETF can be tapped for just about any unexpected expense.

The police ordered three drone from EmpireDrone out of Syracuse. Each drone came in a package deal containing all required accessories. The Autel EVO II V2 Dual 640R (FLIR Radiometric), shown below is the costliest package, at over $12,000.

The two less expensive drone packages were of the Autel EVO II Pro 6K model. Each just over $3500

Additional accessories purchased included Colorado Drone Chargers PRCS Elite Charging System for Autel Robotics EVO2 for $540, and 6 additional batteries at $209 each. Click to enlarge the invoice pages below.

Also ordered in February was 500 police challenge coins. Each cost $4.54, for a total price of $2,270. Challenge coins are often designed with a logo, shield, or gun an flag design. They are used to instill unity among unit members and to recognize excellent work. Traditionally, challenge coins are passed from one person to the other via a handshake, with the coin in the palm of the hand. It is intended to not be seen, following with the idea that the challenge coin is an informal tradition and award.

There was money used for police investigations – drug buys. $8000 taken in petty cash, and authorized by the Chief for this purpose. Click to enlarge page

The most concerning expense purchased out of the LTEF thus far this year is nearly $90,000 in uniforms. There were two separate purchases made. The smaller purchase in February from Trippi’s Uniforms in Shrewsbury for just shy of 70 items totaling $4430. This line item was described as “Dispatch New Uniforms”.

A larger purchase from Neptune Uniforms & Equipment in Haverhill was made a month before, on January 14th, consisting of over 1000 items totaling over $82,000. The largest individual batch of items was 123 navy single-breasted blouse coats, at $350 each. Most of the items in this large purchase seem to be dress attire, likely for very occasional use in honor guard functionality. The purchase has very limited usefulness beyond very occasional use.

Uniforms are budgeted items. The police get a ‘uniform allowance’. Additionally the police themselves per their contract have a cleaning and clothing allowance, a 2% increase rolled into base pay. Dispatch uniforms are also built into their contracts. When hired, new dispatchers are given a one time $550 stipend for the purchase of their initial uniforms to comply with the uniform policy.

At a time when the police are requesting a $17,350,000 budget, nearly 1 million dollars more than last year, the police should really be considering what are necessary expenses. It’s hard to stomach NEEDS such as an increase of $4000 for meals during meetings, or transitioning to hybrid vehicles, when the police are on pace to spend half a million dollars on WANTS such as challenge coins and dress uniforms.

Its time to respect the taxpayers. It’s unfortunate that those out to protect the people is spending on a tear on wants, and billing the people for needs. We are watching.