TOWN OF HINGHAM
Thomas Mayo,
Town Administrator
Michelle Monsegur,
Assistant Town Administrator

Hingham Town Hall
210 Central Street
Hingham, MA 02043
(781) 741-1451

STATEMENT
Recently a citizen alleged that undue influence was exercised by a member of the Board of
Selectmen (Mary Power) involving a member of the Hingham Police Department (Chief Olsson)
regarding a dispatch call log entry. The Town took this allegation seriously and referred the
matter to the Attorney General and retained an outside investigator (Matthews and Matthews,
LLC) to review this matter.
The attached final report, from Matthews & Matthews, establishes and confirms that Mary
Power did not exercise undue influence in this matter and that the Chief of Police acted on his
own and within his authority regarding this matter.
The Matthews & Matthews investigation reviewed the actions of the Hingham Police
Department and Town officials concerning a dispatch call log entry where a vehicle registered
to, but not operated by, Mary Power was entered by a dispatcher on June 5, 2020 based upon a
police officer’s observations. The dispatch call log entry stated that while parked the operator
of the vehicle held a Black Lives Matter sign pointed in the direction of a police cruiser.
However, the vehicle was never stopped by a police officer, no police officer issued a ticket or
any citation to the operator of the vehicle and there was no direct communication between the
operator of the vehicle and any police officer. At the time of the incident, Chief of Police Olsson
instructed the dispatcher to remove the words “Black Lives Matter” from the dispatch call log
entry narrative. Chief Olsson did not direct or request any other changes to the dispatch call
log entry. No other changes were made to the dispatch call log entry.
In summary, Matthews & Matthews concluded that Mary Power as a member of the Board of
Selectmen did not exercise undue influence in this matter and was not aware of the matter
until several weeks later and that Chief Olsson acted on his own and within the scope of his
authority in this matter.
The Town has received and accepted the report and findings of Matthews and Matthews and
considers this matter concluded.