Saugus police officer nomination raises concerns

SAUGUS – Selectman Michael Serino said he was “concerned” to hear that Town Manager Andrew Bisignani has nominated a new police officer to the Saugus Police Department who was arrested on domestic assault and battery charges in 2010.Matthew Christiansen, 25, of Stoneham, was arrested in May 2010 after police reports filed in Lynn District Court say he kicked in his girlfriend?s door and shoved her multiple times. The charges, however, were dropped when the case went to court.?I wouldn?t say I?m against it,” said Serino. “I?m concerned. The problem was that (the charge) was dismissed. You don?t know if it?s true or not. The charge itself is concerning.”Recently Saugus received a grant to hire three new police officers, two of whom are from Saugus.Police Chief Domenic DiMella said he did not recommend hiring Christiansen, a veteran who served in Iraq, based on his residency, but said he also had concerns about the assault charge.?I sent the letter to the manager bypassing because of residency,” said DiMella. “We interviewed him and the manager felt that he answered the questions regarding this incident satisfactorily. The domestic incident, there were some issues there that bothered me, but mostly the residence.”Police responded to a domestic dispute between Christiansen and his girlfriend at a home at 10 Summit Road at 2:40 a.m. on May 10, 2010. The report states that Christiansen?s girlfriend told police he was drunk, kicked open the door and began yelling at her and then started shoving her when she asked him to leave.?(Christiansen?s girlfriend) stated that when she asked Mr. Christiansen to leave, he got upset and started to shove her around,” according to a police report filed by Officer Anthony Gaieski. “(She) stated that while she was on the phone with the police, Mr. Christiansen continued to shove her around before he left the residence.”The officer stated in his report that he could see the front door had been forced open.The woman declined to comment when reached Wednesday and Christiansen could not be reached for comment.Bisignani said Christiansen?s name first came up for consideration in 2010, while the assault charge was pending, and he was disqualified.But now that it was dismissed, Bisignani said Christiansen?s high score on the civil service exam and his combat experience made him a top candidate.?When someone has those kind of credentials, you don?t brush them aside,” said Bisignani. “It was alleged. You can?t convict the guy. If someone accuses you of something, and you go to court and the charge is dismissed ? what do you do, consider the person convicted of a crime? That?s not the case. I can?t in all good conscience reject someone just for that reason when there are so many other mitigating factors.”According to Bisignani, Christiansen was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Global War on Terrorism Medal.Bisignani said Christiansen was at the top of the certified Civil Service list, which is sent to the town when it is looking to hire.?You better have a good reason if you?re going to jump someone on the list,” said Bisignani. “The reason you have a civil service entity is so that it keeps the politics out of it. You take a list and hire off that list in order of their grade scores.”While he didn?t recommend Christiansen, DiMella said Bisignani has the final say as to who is appointed.?If there is a felony or certain things in their background to disqualify them, you move past them on the list,” said DiMella. “The domestic was dismissed so that was not a disqualification. (Bisignani) is the appointing authority so he can appoint whoever he wants. We agree a lot and sometimes we don?t.”Christiansen has not yet been hired by the department, and must pass psychological and physical tests before heading to the Police Academy for 20 weeks in November.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter at @MattTempesta.