Wayland Police Chief: ‘I Am Confident If I Fought For My Job I Would Have Been Vindicated’

In full transparency, the following is a statement from Wayland Police Chief Sean Gibbons. He announced last month he would resign as chief later this month. he was promoted to Chief by former Town Administrator Louise Miller, who is now the CFO for the City of Framingham. The current acting Police Chief is former Framingham Police Officer Ed Burman.

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WAYLAND – After careful consideration, I have made the extremely difficult decision to retire from the Wayland Police Department because a drawn-out hearing process would not serve to benefit anyone in our community, particularly my family and the Department. I know I have served our Town honorably for two decades and I am profoundly disappointed to be leaving the Department of which I have been a proud member,

I have dedicated the last 20 years of my career to serving the residents of Wayland and have been recognized for my leadership as I was promoted through the ranks from Patrolman to Sergeant to Administrative Sergeant to Lieutenant, and in 2021 as the Chief of Police. During the promotional processes, there were no allegation brought forward by the current complainants. Indeed, prior to promoting me to Chief, Town Administrator Louise Miller vetted me through a very thorough and transparent process over the course of 13 months. Ms. Miller met with many officers at the Department, including those who recently made the allegations against me, to obtain their input. No one brought forward any of these allegations. The complaints were suddenly raised after the Town
chose an outside candidate for the position of Lieutenant. In fact, the Wayland Police Officer’s Union, Department members, and many residents of our community expressed their support for my promotion to Chief. I believe that it was no coincidence that the allegations against me were made shortly after some of the complainants were not chosen for promotion.

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I want to make it clear that I take full responsibility for exercising profoundly poor judgment by having consensual sexual relations with two of my co-workers on two separate occasions – 19 and 12 years ago.

These transgressions occurred during a very difficult time in my personal life, including an acrimonious divorce, and off-duty alcohol abuse. I am not proud of the person I was then, It should be noted that during the investigation I was forthright and candid. I described the unvarnished truth to the best of my memory. This process has brought back painful memories from this difficult time in my life. I also want to point out that at the time of these incidents in 2003 and 2010, I was a Patrol Officer and Sergeant, not the Chief.

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A lot has changed for me since then, both personally and professionally. My life partner, Erin, and I have built a loving, close-knit family, and I have grown as a person over the last twelve years. Those regrettable decisions do not reflect the person I am today.

I very much wanted to return to the Wayland Police Department as Chief to lead our department forward. I am confident that if I fought for my job I would have been vindicated.

However, I decided that it was in the best interests of the Police Department, our Town, and, most importantly, my family to move on to the next phase of my career. I know that the Wayland Police Department to which I have devoted much of my professional life will recover and flourish.

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