UPDATED: Mayor In "Constant Contact" With Bunnell, Meeting Set For Monday

UPDATE: Thursday, June 28 at 12:20 p.m.: Mayor McDaniel said the town is meeting with Bunnell Monday.

"We've been in constant contact. Yes, we had a meeting set. We'll see how that moves forward," McDaniel said. 

UPDATE at 2:26 p.m.: CSP spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said he doesn't know if any charges will be filed as a result of investigation findings; he has yet to review the report. Montville Patch filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the investigation report and as soon as we get that information, we'll update the story. 

ORIGINAL STORY:

A state police investigation of Monvtille Police Lt. Leonard G. Bunnell has concluded and a report was issued to Mayor Ronald McDaniel, but the town’s top cop has declined to comment pending discussions “with our legal counsel.”

“I’m very, very carefully (proceeding) here with personnel matters…they’re (personnel) entitled to that,” McDaniel said. He said he has been given the internal affairs investigation “report” by the Eastern Major Crime Unit and is “trying to reach”  lawyers for the town “now, but they are out of town.”

Major Crimes Commanding Officer Lt. John S. Eckersley declined to comment on the investigation conclusion calling it “inappropriate.” He deferred comment to McDaniel and the CSP public information officer, but said to “start with” McDaniel.  

Bunnell, who was not placed on leave during the probe, could not be reached for comment.

A call to Town Attorney Eileen Duggan was not immediately returned.

in connection with the alleged improper use of the state police background-information database. According to an early April letter from Lt. John S. Eckersley, major crimes commanding officer, Bunnell was accused of not following proper procedures  for requesting criminal background checks on 38 occasions, between October of 2011 and January of 2012.

Troop E commanding officer Lt. Samuel R. Izzarelli lodged the complaint against Bunnell after getting a report by a system auditor. The Connecticut On-Line Law Enforcement Communications Teleprocessing (COLLECT) System lets users find information that the state has about people, and find motor vehicle and criminal history data on the national and international level. The auditor said she was informed by Montville Police Officer Robin Salvatore that “she had reviewed the log and discovered misuse by Lt. Leonard Bunnell.” 

One of the allegations was that Bunnell documented a criminal history request by a town employee even though Bunnell was told he was not allowed to “give criminal history information for Town Hall and City Hall requests during his recent re-certification class in August.” 

Check Patch for updates.