“We as a board, whenever there is a personnel decision, we collect the evidence, discuss and debate it among ourselves, and as a board make a decision on what we think is the best and most appropriate course of action given all the evidence we have and the information we have,” he said.Įmails to Sinai and McGrath Thursday seeking further comment were not returned.Īccording to Braun, a few years ago, after receiving numerous complaints from both current and former officers regarding McGrath, Lower Merion Township commissioned a survey to look into the matter. In response to Braun’s comments, Commissioner Todd Sinai, president of the board of commissioners, said it is a matter of policy and law that they do not discuss personal issues publicly.Īccording to Sinai, he and the board vice president met with the FOP to discuss their concerns earlier this year and then “internalized” them, and those internal discussions are not appropriate to be shared publicly. Your officers deserve better.” Braun said. “Mike McGrath has single-handedly destroyed the integrity and reputation of the Lower Merion Police Department. “I would ask you tonight to listen closely to all interested parties here and do what’s best for this organization and its police offices,” he said.īraun said now Lower Merion officers find themselves addressing questions from other police departments about what is happening in the township. Joe Regan, who retired from Lower Merion’s police department in 2011 and served four terms as the Lower Merion FOP president and is now president of the state FOP, said going to the public was their last resort.

While Braun made his comments, more than 40 members of the FOP, some in uniform, stood in the audience behind him. Tuesday, in a vote of 73 to 0, the FOP members issued a “no confidence” vote for McGrath. McGrath has been with the department for about 40 years and became superintendent after the former superintendent, Joseph Daly, left Lower Merion to become the police chief in Springfield. purposely put those actions on the shoulders of patrol, again to cover up the actions of his command staff.” Braun said. In our hallways and in his unit, he is addressed as lieutenant, not officer.

“He is a lieutenant and a member of his command staff. Since the commissioners have to approve the suspension of any officer, Braun said when McGrath brought the issue up at the board meeting, he (McGrath) referred to the lieutenant as “an officer” rather than calling him by his rank.

Lower merion township police