AUBURN – A city investigation of the police department demonstrated possible abuses of police authority, according to City Manager Pat Finnigan.

The investigation concluded that several officers used their authority to “embarrass, intimidate or discredit” Mayor Norm Guay because of tense labor negotiations, Finnigan said.

Those actions resulted in Guay’s Aug. 4 arrest for drunken driving despite a low blood-alcohol content, she said. The charges were later dropped.

“This is very disturbing for us, for the entire city,” Finnigan said. “There has been damage to the city’s relationship with the police and we need to figure out how to fix that.”

Finnigan issued a five-page memo Wednesday detailing her concerns about the results of the investigation. She declined to release the full 80-page report, however, because it contains names of police officers who were interviewed and investigated by the Portland law firm hired by the city to conduct the investigation.

Finnigan briefed the City Council on the report during an executive session Monday, but councilors were not given copies of the report.

The full report likely would be made public after all personnel matters – including possible disciplinary action and appeals – have been settled, Finnigan said.

Only she and Police Chief Richard Small have seen copies of the report.

Guay was arrested on Aug. 4 after a tense council meeting with police union members. Guay had gone to Gipper’s Sports Grill after the meeting and drank three light beers, according to the report. He then returned to the Auburn City Building before heading home.

Several off-duty officers had stayed behind after the meeting and claimed they saw the mayor fumbling with his keys. They notified on-duty officers that the mayor could be driving drunk. He was pulled over and given a roadside sobriety test, which officers said he failed. A Breathalyzer test showed he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.01 percent, one-eighth of the legal limit of 0.08 percent. The mayor was issued a summons anyway.

The state attorney general later dropped the charges.

Finnigan hired the Portland law firm of McCloskey, Mina and Cunniff later that week to investigate the police handling of the arrest. The firm gave Finnigan their report on Nov. 5.

According to Finnigan, the report highlights several instances of questionable behavior:

• Off-duty officers allowed Guay, whom they suspected of being drunk, to get back into his car and drive off. “They should have approached him then,” Finnigan said.

• Off-duty officers congregated in the Police Department to listen to the police radio as Guay was being questioned and cheered when he was arrested. “They turned his arrest into a sporting event,” Finnigan said. “That by itself is entirely inappropriate.”

• Arresting officers did not keep their notes from the arrest and a video camera in the car was not used.

• Officers did not consult the city’s drug recognition expert after the mayor passed the Breathalyzer test.

• An unidentified officer in the police union notified the Sun Journal and another media outlet of the mayor’s arrest. The investigation report identifies that officer, Finnigan said.

Another officer leaked a copy of the police report to the Sun Journal. The report does not identify that officer, but the city will continue to investigate, she said.

“I understand that the media has a duty to uncover news, but the police have strict polices against this,” Finnigan said.

She expects Chief Small to issue a review of the report next week. That could include steps needed to fix the public trust in the department.

“We have police officers in our schools teaching kids about dealing with peer pressure and exercising good judgment,” Finnigan said. “It seems like peer pressure won out over the good judgment of the police in this instance.”

Detective Chad Syphers, president of the Auburn Police union, objected to Finnigan’s take on the report.

“It sounds like every instance critical of the police has been taken out and highlighted,” Syphers said. “But we don’t know if there was any criticism of the city manager or the mayor.”

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