Politics & Government

Lower Merion FOP: Allegations Against Township Officer are Slanderous

The local Fraternal Order of Police president said he would not sit still for people "trying to get recourse by slandering" an officer.

Responding to  against Lower Merion Police Officer Robert Montgomery, a police union representative said today that the matter was a simple neighbor dispute, ratcheted up to the level of slander.

“It’s a neighbor dispute against one of the officers who happens to live in the township,” said Sgt. Gavin Goschinski, president of the Lower Merion Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 28. “Apparently, the [Board of] Commissioners meeting is the new source to air your grievances against any police officer in Lower Merion Township, rather than the appropriate complaint process we have.”

Goschinski was referring to recent allegations of sexual assault lodged against a Lower Merion police officer, made public at . That matter is now being investigated by the Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman’s office.

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Ferman told Patch on Thursday that no criminal charges have been filed, but that the investigation is ongoing and she could not comment further.

Likewise, Lower Merion police officer Kerry Goldbold (related to a civil service exam and his failure to be promoted) public at a Board of Commissioners meeting. (Coincidentally, it was the same evening that the case mentioned above came to light.)

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The complaints, directed at the Board itself, are now being looked into by the NAACP, which has been representing Godbold in public since then. The FOP continues to support Godbold’s promotion, but is not involved in the racial discrimination matter.

Wednesday night’s complaints were made by Kamal Kamara, a lawyer speaking on behalf of his mother, Carolyn Kamara who is Montgomery’s next-door neighbor on the 1400 block of Greywall Lane in Wynnewood.

He called Montgmery’s behavior toward his mother “abusive and threatening.” Kamara requested that the Commissioners “launch an inquiry into Officer Montgomery's actions, and an additional inquiry into why Officer Montgomery's chain of command did not address the Officer's behavior when alerted to the fact numerous times…”

Lower Merion Police Superintendent Michael McGrath who was present for Wednesday’s meeting, told Patch he was aware of the allegations, that it had been investigated, and that,  “It will be reopened and reviewed."

Goschinski said Montgomery is “a fine member of my lodge, with three decades of police service and three decades of service to volunteer fire companies in Lower Merion. I stand behind him 100 percent.

“This was a completely inappropriate use of the Commissioners forum. If we are going to start using the Commissioners forum for neighbor disputes, we’re going to have some really long meetings. There are thousands of them that go on in the course of a year.”

Like McGrath, Goschinski acknowledged the past Kamara complaints, but said they had been properly resolved. Montgomery was never disciplined by the department as a result of the complaints, Goschinski said. Therefore, it has not been a matter for the union to consider.

“They’re probably upset with the result of the internal investigation as a result of claims they made against the officer in the past, based on this ongoing neighbor dispute,” Goschinski said of the Kamaras. “So now they are trying to get recourse by slandering him at a public meeting.”

“I can’t stand behind this member strong enough,” Goschinski said. “If there’s anything he needs, he will have it.”

Later in the day Thursday, Goschinski said he intended to speak with an FOP’s attorney about what he sees as a potentially dangerous trend—police officers being accused of serious crimes, in public, with no forewarning and no legal representation.

“If this keeps up, if people are going to stand at a public meeting and make allegations against our members, they better be willing to back those allegations up in a court of law,” Goschinski said.

“Our members are private citizens, they’re not public figures—I could bring a slander case.”


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