Officials in the city of Newton are investigating the former longtime technology director after they say he shut down the police website. It turns out, the former tech director owned and had sole control over the domain and not the city of Newton. A screenshot captured by the Boston Globe shows what users saw when entering the website URL for about a week in late June. The website showed a grey screen with red text that said, “This site is not experiencing technical difficulties.”The message went on to say, “NewtonPolice.com has provided the residents of Newton information for the past 20 years at no cost to the city. Please ask Mayor Fuller to have this site restored.”The employee, who has since taken a new job, contends that the city owes him about $137,000 in pay for accumulated comp time over the past 20 years.Newton city officials say there is no documentation that anyone official from the mayor’s office ever signed off on that. In a statement, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller told WCVB that she and the current police chief are committed to transparency and have launched a full investigation of the matter, as well as a review of police department policies, procedures and controls. In the meantime, the city has launched a new police website. WCVB has been unable to receive a response from the former city IT director.
Officials in the city of Newton are investigating the former longtime technology director after they say he shut down the police website.
It turns out, the former tech director owned and had sole control over the domain and not the city of Newton.
A screenshot captured by the Boston Globe shows what users saw when entering the website URL for about a week in late June.
The website showed a grey screen with red text that said, “This site is not experiencing technical difficulties.”
The message went on to say, “NewtonPolice.com has provided the residents of Newton information for the past 20 years at no cost to the city. Please ask Mayor Fuller to have this site restored.”
The employee, who has since taken a new job, contends that the city owes him about $137,000 in pay for accumulated comp time over the past 20 years.
Newton city officials say there is no documentation that anyone official from the mayor’s office ever signed off on that.
In a statement, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller told WCVB that she and the current police chief are committed to transparency and have launched a full investigation of the matter, as well as a review of police department policies, procedures and controls.
In the meantime, the city has launched a new police website.
WCVB has been unable to receive a response from the former city IT director.
