BANGOR, Maine – Taxpayers of Knox County will have to pay more than $3,000 for an independent investigation into a stun gun caper allegedly executed by Knox County deputies last fall while they were off duty.
Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn C. Ross on July 22 sent a $3,210.13 invoice to Knox County Sheriff Donna Dennison for an internal affairs investigation conducted by Penobscot County Detective Frank Jennings.
The bill covered 149 hours of investigation for a total of $2,890.60 and $319.53 for fuel reimbursement. The invoice states that payment must be made in 10 days.
The Penobscot County report of the investigation, concerning off-duty Knox County deputies allegedly involved in shocking another off-duty deputy with a stun gun during a bachelor party in Camden last August, has been in the hands of Dennison for nearly a month. A county official said Dennison chose not to release the report to the public, pending her own personnel review of the incident.
The Bangor Daily News has filed a Freedom of Access request for the report.
Knox County Commissioner Lawrence F. Nash on July 8 at a public meeting challenged Dennison’ s decision to hang on to the report and invoked the county charter to assert the commissioners’ role as the ultimate authority in the shire.
Nash was making a point that Dennison exceeded her authority by withholding from the county commissioners the report prepared by the Penobscot County Sheriff’ s Department.
“The bottom line is, we are the elected officials who run the county,” Nash said.
Knox County Administrator Andrew Hart said Wednesday that he has received the report from Dennison. Because the report involves personnel, state law will not allow him to make the information public at the moment.
Penobscot County Sheriff Ross said Friday if someone is disciplined in the matter, under state law the report must be made public.
If no one is disciplined, the report could remain sealed.
Hart said Dennison was following collective bargaining rules, which dictate a personnel review must be completed before any disciplinary action can be taken.