North Branford Police Chief Matthew Canelli Cleared

The Board of Police Commissioners presented its findings regarding complaints concerning North Branford Chief of Police Matthew Canelli this afternoon, finding that Canelli "acted appropriately." The findings will now be presented to the Town Council.

"It's wasting the town's time, it's wasting the taxpayers' dollars for frivolous complaints," said Canelli. "We put it to bed. It was easy to see through the lies."

Commissioner Chris Cozzi read a statement by Chairperson Dan Troiano that recapped accusations made against Canelli by Victor Pietrandrea. On March 15, Pietrandrea shared a letter he wrote to the North Branford Town Council accusing Canelli of "slandering, embarrassing and harassing him." The letter was printed in the New Haven Register on March 17.

Canelli did investigate a complaint against Pietrandrea, which is detailed in the full statement (see PDFs).

The statement concluded with "Given Mr. Pietrandrea's words and actions, we find him not to be a credible person. We find further that Chief Canelli acted appropriately, and did not embarrass, harass or slander Mr. Pietrandrea. We conclude that the investigation of the Town Hall incident was absolutely appropriate and necessary, and that it was conducted properly."

After the motion to adjourn, a friend of Pietrandrea asked if there was room for public comment, citing Freedom of Information Act Section 1-225a, but after consulting with Town Attorney John Gesmonde, the Commission declined his request.