Mayor Paul Coogan defends city actions after council seeks outside probe into search warrant

Mayor Paul Coogan and the city’s corporation counsel, Alan Rumsey, said the administration followed legal process after a search warrant that led to the identification of an anonymous Facebook poster, and they rejected a city council effort to retain outside counsel to investigate police conduct.

Coogan told reporters the dispute began after a March 20 social-media post alleging the Fall River Police Department misused a search warrant to reveal criticism of the police chief’s son. "I do not believe there's any basis to investigate the conduct of any policeman in the city of Fall River involved with this," Coogan said, while adding that he nonetheless asked the Massachusetts attorney general to review the matter to remove public suspicion.

Rumsey, the city’s corporation counsel, said the legal question centers on whether the city council has authority to hire outside lawyers to investigate police officers. "When I read [the resolution], I realized that there was an issue that I did not believe that they had the legal authority to retain their own outside legal counsel," Rumsey said, describing a hurried opinion he issued after seeing the resolution and later confirming his conclusion with further research.

Coogan described the council resolution — filed by Council President Cliff Pont and Councilor Chris Peckham and passed by a majority at a council meeting — as an attempt to authorize the council president, vice president and the public-safety committee chair to retain an investigative firm or outside counsel. Coogan said the administration opposed using funds earmarked for the city’s annual financial audit to pay for such an investigation.

The mayor said he forwarded a letter to Attorney General Andrea Campbell asking her office to review the facts; Coogan quoted the attorney general's initial text to him: "I'm swamped right now. I'll get back to you at the beginning of next week." Coogan said he did not invite the police chief to the briefing and that he had not seen evidence of wrongdoing by officers but wanted an outside review to settle public questions.

Reporters pressed officials about the search-warrant affidavit and routine practice. Coogan said he had read most of the warrant but stressed he is not a law-enforcement officer and that judicial review by a clerk magistrate validated the affidavit's probable-cause finding. He also acknowledged an apparent delay in returning the executed warrant to court — saying state law generally requires return within seven days, and that in this case the warrant was not returned for about three and a half months — and called for tightening procedures if necessary.

Rumsey explained prior occasions when the council retained outside counsel, saying past arrangements had not always integrated outside counsel with the city’s legal team and raising concerns about divided loyalty. He said his office represents the city and sometimes individual employees, but that allowing the council to unilaterally retain counsel for an investigation of police officers would conflict with the charter and state law.

Coogan also alleged that Council President Cliff Pont had an undisclosed involvement with a company tied to the Facebook poster who publicized the story; Coogan said that relationship was not disclosed at the council meeting. The council’s perspective — including its rationale for seeking an independent probe and the council members’ rebuttals to the mayor’s claims — was not presented during this briefing.

The mayor's office provided reporters with a packet of documents it said included the legal opinion, relevant letters and related materials. Coogan closed by saying he hoped the city could repair its working relationship with the council and move on to other priorities.