Canton Police Official Placed on Leave Following Misconduct Allegations

A Canton Police Department employee has been placed on paid administrative leave amid misconduct allegations. 

Officials in Canton have not released the investigation's status or findings publicly, stating that updates will come as the case develops and that they could not “share confidential personnel information due to laws governing employee privacy,” Town Administrator Charles E. Doody said in a statement released on Monday, Nov. 3, from MassLive.

When town officials learned about the allegations on Oct. 24, they hired an independent investigator to explore the claims.

“Members of the Town's Police Department are expected to perform their duties in a professional manner,” the statement reads. “We will take the necessary steps to ensure that actions by individual officers do not jeopardize that quality and level of service.”

According to MassLive, the “allegations of misconduct” were reported to the department the same day Norfolk County prosecutors reported the discovery of “highly sensitive information” during a search of former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor's phone. 

Proctor served as lead investigator in the death of John O'Keefe, a Boston Police officer found dead outside a fellow officer's Canton home in January 2022. The investigation into O'Keefe's death and the prosecution of Karen Read shook the town of Canton.

According to NewsCenter 5 Boston, in Read's first trial, Goode, an 18-year veteran of the department, testified that he'd served as a patrol supervisor the night O'Keefe died. He was identified as a possible witness for Read's second trial.

NewsCenter 5 reported that acting Canton Chief Joe Perkins said he learned about the allegations against Goode during an investigation of a former member of a separate law enforcement agency. However, he did not state whether Goode's alleged misconduct was related to the Read case.