Mr, Sutherland, ‘The members of the Command Unit and Patrol Unit's both wish to express our disappointment in today’s news that Ray Demers and Corey Huntress have both been exonerated and will be returning to duty. For them to have been exonerated tells us that we have gone unheard and we are offended at this outcome. ‘The vast majority of members met with the investigator and expressed significant issues within the agency. The depth of the issues, and the volume of complaints brought to the investigator would have led any reasonable person to understand that Ray Demers and Corey Huntress are unfit to lead any organization, especially a police department. {As you are aware, on March 22m! we delivered a vote of not confidence letter to Mayor Lovell. This letter named both Ray Demers and Corey Huntress. The Command Unit and the Patrol Unit both met separately and held votes, which were unanimous. To emphasize the significance of this, every officer, detective, corporal, and sergeant at The Saco Police Department has no confidence in either of them having the ability to lead this organization, ‘We expressed to you our concerns about continued attrition from the agency. In less than 8 years over 50 people have left this police department. The entire agency, top to bottom is 54 people. Those of us who have shown loyalty to the city by staying at the department and tolerated the toxic environment fostered by both Ray and Corey deserve better leadership. As we have already discussed, we have employees telling us that they will leave this department if they return; this will happen. We have been short staffed for years and have been unable to fill our vacancies. Our neighboring police agencies do not suffer this issue. ‘The working relationship between the sworn members of our department and Ray Demers and Corey Huntress is irreparable. The hostility, degradation, and belittling we have received from them over the years has left wounds that cannot be healed. We expect that whatever terms are set for their return to work will be met out of necessity, but as soon as the dust settles we will be right back where we were 4 months ago. Despite our efforts we have again gone unheard again. We believed in the process that was brought to us. We had faith in you and the investigation. To hear that they have been exonerated publicly is further continuation of the abuse we have already suffered. Iam sincerely concerned that their exoneration injures the credibility of our staff unnecessarily. Like we discussed, these complaints are not sourced from a couple disgruntled employees. These complaints came from respected, tenured employees of all ranks. ‘The reference to this as a “communication issue” tells us that the investigation did not properly shed light on the hostile work environment that exists under theircommand. Having not read the report that was provided from by the investigator ‘we are unable to know what information was provided. It is our understanding that the council received an “executive summary” of the report, and that none of the direct information, and supporting documentation was provided to you or the council. ‘The loyal employees of this agency are begging for positive change here. We desperately want and deserve to have positive leadership. In the time that Ray and Corey have been on administrative leave, we have received exemplary guidance from Deputy Chief Jack Clements. He is the leader we need. Deputy Chief Clements has managed to raise morale despite this tough time. He has exercised fair and consistent authority of the agency. We have never been happier or more productive than we have under his leadership. Deputy Chief Clements has given us the autonomy to do our work without the micromanagement we receive from Ray and Corey. Having now had such a positive influence at the helm, we worry that morale here is going to take a considerable dive. We wish to continue to proudly provide police service to our city, and promise that the police department will continue to do so. We regret, however, that many of the current members will likely be providing their service to another jurisdiction. Respectfully,