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Crime & Safety

Hattrick Seeking Answers on Broich Firing

Southampton Village trustee candidate rekindles controversy.

Southampton Village's Citizens with Integrity Party has gone unchallenged at annual elections for the past few years with one exception, former village police Sgt. Christopher Broich, and now a challenger has stepped in who is making Broich’s firing a tent pole of his campaign.

, the mayor from 1985 to 1989 and a village trustee for the four years after that, said during a recent interview that one of the primary reasons he is seeking to become a trustee again is so he can be in a position to demand answers regarding the events that led up to Broich’s 2007 dismissal from the police department.

“I don’t even want to run for trustee,” Hattrick admitted. “I’ll be 76 in July. I’d rather play golf.”

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He said he believes that Broich was fired in retaliation for whistleblowing on village and police officials. He compiled a list of “whistles,” including allegations of ticket fixing, inappropriate gifts, filing false information, running a security firm without a license and a superior officer doing work for a side business while on duty.

“He undoubtedly is the biggest whistleblower the Hamptions has or ever will see,” Hattrick said. “No one has ever done what he’s done — turn on his superiors.”

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He said the rather than confront Broich at the time of the incidents that led to his firing, the police department stockpiled them. “They were trying to make a bunch of venial sins into one mortal sin and one package that looked so derelict that they fired him for it,” Hattrick said.

Mayor Mark Epley categorically denied the charge of retaliation Wednesday. “Chris Broich has already filed his complaint about being a whistleblower and it was thrown out of court,” he said.

Epley also pointed to Broich’s other state and federal lawsuits and complaints against the village and village officials. “He’s lost 13 times in court,” Epley said. He added that court proceedings with Broich have cost village taxpayers $500,000.

Broich was fired in December 2007 after a lengthy administrative hearing. The charges all related to his conduct as a police officer; none were criminal charges.

“Bill Hattrick is defending a guy that’s been found guilty of 16 out of 18 charges,” Epley said. “He’s defending a guy that sexually harassed a female police officer.”

Epley said Broich received a seven-day suspension for the alleged harassment incident and was forced to attend counseling. The sexual harassment charge was not among those at his administrative hearing. Broich said Wednesday that no such incident occurred and that he was not disciplined. “I was not charged with any sexual harassment charges ever,” he said.

The accusations of lying go both ways.

Broich says Southampton Town Police Chief William Wilson, back when he was a village police lieutenant, left while on duty to work a private security gig. It is one of the “whistles” that Hattrick points to.

“It’s not true,” Epley said. “Wilson was not on the clock.”

But one “whistle” has been substantiated: Det. Sgt. Herman Lamison was fined by the state for running a security firm without a license, and Epley said he was disciplined by the village as well.

“I find that when Broich shoots he hits the target,” Hattrick said. “This is not a guy that’s careless.”

Hattrick went before the village board on April 26 to implore the members to ask Wilson, the village police chief at the time, a series of questions regarding missing blank traffic tickets that were the subject of a 2006 state investigation and how many were found in Broich’s police locker.

But as far as Epley is concerned, the matter is settled. He said the police department had “sloppy” ticket-keeping practices but a new electronic system is in place with greater accountability and the state found no wrongdoing. He also admitted that village officials previously overstated how many tickets were found in Broich’s locker.

Hattrick said he understands that as a minority member of the board he would not have much power. “I can’t outvote anybody, but I can expose things,” he said.

Epley said it comes down to Broich being jealous over not getting promoted, then underperforming.

“Before I was on the board, members of the village board promised Chris Broich that he would be the chief of the police department, then that didn’t happen,” Epley said. “Then they promised him that he would be the detective sergeant, and that didn’t happen. And he quit working.”

“He’s lying, number one,” Broich retorted. “And number two, prove it by releasing the statistics for the whole police department.” He said the accusation is not supported by his personnel records, which he said included an above average employee review.

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