Former Wayland Chief Among Police Not Certified By State

WAYLAND, MA — Wayland's former police chief is among the hundreds of officers statewide who are no longer certified to work in law enforcement, according to the state Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission.

A majority of the 267 officers who were not re-certified are on excused leave from their jobs, according to data released Wednesday. Gibbons was not re-certified because he resigned from the job before possible discipline, the POST Commission said.

Gibbons was hired as chief in 2021 after years in the department, but shortly after was accused of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment, leading to him being placed on leave in April 2022.

After months of negotiations, the town settled with Gibbons in December, agreeing to pay him about $400,000 over the next two years in exchange for his resignation. The town sought a settlement with Gibbons rather than termination to avoid a legal battle and internal strife in the department, according to closed-door Wayland Select Board meeting minutes released in December.

Those minutes also showed then-acting town manager John Bugbee said he would not be willing to sign off on Gibbons' re-certification as part of the severance package.

In a statement after the settlement was made public, Gibbons denied the accusations against him.

"I very much wanted to return to the Wayland Police Department as chief to lead our department forward. I am confident that if I fought for my job I would have been vindicated. However, I decided that it was in the best interests of the police department, our town, and, most importantly, my family to move on to the next phase of my career," the statement said in part.

The POST Commission was created following George Floyd's murder in 2020 as part of a wider set of policing reforms in Massachusetts. So far, the commission has re-certified over 8,200 police officers whose names end in A through H. The next set of recertifications for names ending in I to P will be released in the coming months.

The POST Commission has suspended 22 officers over a range of misconduct issues in recent months. Three new officers were suspended this week were working in Hudson, Rowley and Mendon.

Other officers not re-certified due to discipline-related issues include Boston officer Shana Cottone, the leader of an anti-vaccine movement; former Cambridge police union leader Athanas Darviris; and Matthew and William Farwell, twin brothers and former Stoughton officers who had a relationship with a teen girl they met in a youth program who later died by suicide.