PETITION: Independent Investigation of the Shelburne Police Department (MA)
The Issue
PETITION: Independent Review of the Shelburne Police Department (MA)
Initiated by John F. Sendelbach · Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts · Updated October 2026
To: Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell · Massachusetts POST Commission · Northwestern District Attorney's Office · Shelburne Select Board · Buckland Select Board
Summary
For six years, the police serving Shelburne and Buckland treated me as the problem in an ongoing local dispute. They acted on complaints against me without hearing my side, sent the complainant to court for orders against me, and failed to preserve evidence when I was the one assaulted. On July 28, 2026, the two people who attacked me on State Street on November 30, 2025, each admitted in Greenfield District Court to facts sufficient for a finding of guilty on assault and battery, and their cases were continued without a finding. For years before that, the department's handling of the dispute centered on complaints against me. I'm asking for an independent review of how complaints in this matter were taken in, investigated, and acted on, so the same process doesn't fail someone else.
The Buckland Police Department merged into the Shelburne Police Department on July 1, 2023, under Chief Gregory Bardwell, and the merged department now serves both towns. Some events below predate the merger. The officers and practices involved carried over into the merged department.
Where something is documented, I cite it. Where something is my own account, I say so.
The 2021 Report
On July 13, 2021, Kurt Gilmore, then a Buckland police sergeant and now a sergeant in the merged department, filed a narrative (Report 21BUC-54-OF) about an email complaint against me from Catherine Hennessey. He did not interview me. He wrote that he had spoken with me in the past about other issues, that "speaking with him doesn't work and he continues his behavior," and that he advised her "that the best course of action would be for her to seek a Harassment Order at the Greenfield District Court." [image of report]
On the strength of one email, a sergeant decided that hearing my side was pointless and pointed the complainant toward a court order against me. In my experience, that decision set the pattern for the years that followed.
The Pattern, 2021–2023
On March 2, 2023, Officer Christopher Pettengill and Detective Tucker Jenkins responded to a complaint from Catherine Hennessey. They went to her home and took her account. According to Pettengill's narrative (Report 23SHL-8-AR), they then "advised Mrs. Hennessey of her option in filing for a Harassment Prevention Order in which she did so." The order was granted the next day. The narrative records no interview with me. It charged me with criminal harassment based on "all eight dated incidents documented by Mrs. Hennessey."
On June 5, 2023, a clerk-magistrate held a hearing, viewed video I provided, and on June 6 found no probable cause (Docket 2341AC000088).
Taken together with the 2021 report, the record shows officers twice taking the same complainant's account without interviewing me and twice advising her to seek a protection order against me. The person officers twice advised to seek orders against me, in 2021 and 2023, is the same person who on July 28, 2026, admitted in Greenfield District Court to facts sufficient for a finding of guilty on assault and battery against me (2641CR0158).
When I brought the 2023 charge to Chief Bardwell, he told me he trusts his officers and directed me to the District Attorney's office. In my account of that conversation, the DA's office told me it sounded like a matter for the chief.
November 30, 2025
On the night before, November 29, I emailed the department and both select boards naming the person I was concerned about and saying I intended to take legal action.
The next evening, outside Floodwater Brewing at 40 State Street, Buckland, I was shoved into the street and struck repeatedly. My phone, which was recording, was thrown into the Deerfield River. Zachary Livingston, the brewery's owner and an uninvolved witness, gave a written statement to Sergeant Gilmore on December 9, 2025. He reported that Brook Batteau told him, "You don't understand, John has been after my family for five years," and that he replied Batteau still shouldn't have pushed me.
On July 28, 2026, before Judge William Mazanec, Catherine Hennessey (2641CR0158) and Henry W. "Brook" Batteau (2641CR0159) each admitted to facts sufficient to warrant a finding of guilty on assault and battery. Each case was continued without a finding for six months, with a 50-yard stay-away and no-contact order, under probation supervision. Hennessey's malicious destruction of property charge was continued generally, with $429.99 in restitution for the phone.
How the Investigation Was Handled
What follows is my account, checkable against the department's own reports. After the assault I went first to the State Police barracks on Route 2, then to the Shelburne station, where I was told someone would meet me. The station was dark, and I waited outside for about fifteen minutes with no phone. Gilmore's report shows he spent part of that time calling Zachary Livingston. He then interviewed me and went to the defendants' home to interview them.
The next morning, December 1, Hennessey filed for a harassment prevention order against me. That day, Gilmore called to tell me papers had arrived, and said he had expected my petition, not one against me. I can't prove what was said in the defendants' living room. But in 2021 and again in 2023, officers of this department documented in writing that they advised the same person to seek an order against me. Whether the 2025 timing reflects that same practice is exactly the kind of question an independent review can answer and I can't. On December 15, 2025, Judge Mazanec declined to extend her order after reviewing video evidence I presented.
Before the assault, another man came out of the brewery shouting at close range. I pointed him out to Gilmore that night. He appears in the report only as "a male" and was never identified or interviewed.
To my knowledge, three nearby cameras were never checked: a gas station, a law office across State Street, and a business at 40 State Street with a view of the riverbank. The brewery's interior footage was requested nine days after the assault and had already been overwritten.
Records Not Produced
On August 25, 2025, I filed a public records request with the department (SPR25/2545) for records on complaint handling and officer communications related to these matters. The Supervisor of Records granted the department an extension in September 2025, and that deadline passed in October 2025. As of this writing, no records have been produced.
A Second Case
In Mlynick v. Town of Erving et al. (No. 3:24-cv-30108, D. Mass.), a different resident alleged that Detective Jenkins left exculpatory facts out of his reports and supplied misleading information that led to an arrest without probable cause. On March 12, 2026, at the motion-to-dismiss stage and taking the plaintiff's allegations as true, Judge Mark G. Mastroianni allowed the false-arrest claim against Jenkins to go forward. He declined to grant qualified immunity at that stage, finding it plausible that probable cause was clearly lacking. The court dismissed the other claims, including those against the chiefs and the towns. The case remains pending. Nothing has been proven, but a federal judge found the allegation of a one-sided investigation by the same detective serious enough to proceed. Thirteen days after that ruling, the Shelburne Select Board approved a merit raise requested by Chief Bardwell's department.
Accountability
In 2025, the Berkshire DA's office reviewed the relationship between Detective Jenkins and a Mohawk Trail student. It found no crime, but concluded the relationship went "beyond that of a teacher/student." The superintendent told families that "inappropriate conduct did occur." Both had deleted their texts, and Jenkins declined through counsel to be interviewed by State Police. The school removed him permanently. Chief Bardwell, who conducted the initial investigation himself, called it "a rumor that spiraled out of control," and the Select Board retained Jenkins, citing his "excellent record," despite a 218-signature petition. [Greenfield Recorder, April 4, 2025] Separately, former Buckland officer Jacob Wrisley, from before the merger, was convicted on child sexual abuse material charges and permanently decertified by the POST Commission (Case No. 2025-020).
I include these because they show how this department and these towns respond when one of their own is questioned, and that response is the subject of this petition.
It Hasn't Stopped
In August 2026, after the dispositions, an officer of this department again called me a "harasser" and threatened me with arrest for disorderly conduct while I sat in my vehicle recording and speaking about a road closure. [video link]
What This Has Cost
I'm a metalworker and public artist with about thirty-five years of permanent public work in this region, and I've lived in Shelburne Falls for eighteen years. Over these six years I lost my studio and stopped making art. I live with atrial fibrillation, and my episodes have tracked these events.
What I'm Asking For
First, an independent review by the Attorney General of the handling of complaints involving me from 2020 to 2025 by the Buckland and Shelburne police departments and the merged department, covering how complaints were taken in, whether both parties were given a chance to respond, how evidence was identified and preserved, whether officers referred complainants to protection orders during open investigations, compliance with public records law, and supervisory oversight of all of the above. It should specifically include Report 21BUC-54-OF, Report 23SHL-8-AR, the November 30, 2025 investigation, and records request SPR25/2545, and it should produce a public report with recommendations.
Second, a POST Commission review of the department's practices in light of these matters and the officer conduct described above.
Third, a public accounting by the Shelburne and Buckland Select Boards, on the record, of what review was conducted before retaining Detective Jenkins and before approving the 2026 merit raise, and of how the shared-services agreement provides oversight of the merged department.
Fourth, written department policies requiring that both parties in an ongoing dispute be heard before a complaint is acted on, that available camera footage be identified and preserved within 24 hours of an assault, and that officers not advise parties in an open criminal investigation to seek protection orders before the investigation is complete.
If This Has Happened to You
If this department acted on complaints against you without hearing your side, or let your own reports go nowhere, I'd like to hear from you. You can also file a complaint directly with the state POST Commission at policecomplaints.mass.gov.
Attorney General: mass.gov/ago · POST Commission: mass.gov/post
The phone is in the Deerfield River. The record is not.
John F. Sendelbach · Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts
22
The Issue
PETITION: Independent Review of the Shelburne Police Department (MA)
Initiated by John F. Sendelbach · Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts · Updated October 2026
To: Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell · Massachusetts POST Commission · Northwestern District Attorney's Office · Shelburne Select Board · Buckland Select Board
Summary
For six years, the police serving Shelburne and Buckland treated me as the problem in an ongoing local dispute. They acted on complaints against me without hearing my side, sent the complainant to court for orders against me, and failed to preserve evidence when I was the one assaulted. On July 28, 2026, the two people who attacked me on State Street on November 30, 2025, each admitted in Greenfield District Court to facts sufficient for a finding of guilty on assault and battery, and their cases were continued without a finding. For years before that, the department's handling of the dispute centered on complaints against me. I'm asking for an independent review of how complaints in this matter were taken in, investigated, and acted on, so the same process doesn't fail someone else.
The Buckland Police Department merged into the Shelburne Police Department on July 1, 2023, under Chief Gregory Bardwell, and the merged department now serves both towns. Some events below predate the merger. The officers and practices involved carried over into the merged department.
Where something is documented, I cite it. Where something is my own account, I say so.
The 2021 Report
On July 13, 2021, Kurt Gilmore, then a Buckland police sergeant and now a sergeant in the merged department, filed a narrative (Report 21BUC-54-OF) about an email complaint against me from Catherine Hennessey. He did not interview me. He wrote that he had spoken with me in the past about other issues, that "speaking with him doesn't work and he continues his behavior," and that he advised her "that the best course of action would be for her to seek a Harassment Order at the Greenfield District Court." [image of report]
On the strength of one email, a sergeant decided that hearing my side was pointless and pointed the complainant toward a court order against me. In my experience, that decision set the pattern for the years that followed.
The Pattern, 2021–2023
On March 2, 2023, Officer Christopher Pettengill and Detective Tucker Jenkins responded to a complaint from Catherine Hennessey. They went to her home and took her account. According to Pettengill's narrative (Report 23SHL-8-AR), they then "advised Mrs. Hennessey of her option in filing for a Harassment Prevention Order in which she did so." The order was granted the next day. The narrative records no interview with me. It charged me with criminal harassment based on "all eight dated incidents documented by Mrs. Hennessey."
On June 5, 2023, a clerk-magistrate held a hearing, viewed video I provided, and on June 6 found no probable cause (Docket 2341AC000088).
Taken together with the 2021 report, the record shows officers twice taking the same complainant's account without interviewing me and twice advising her to seek a protection order against me. The person officers twice advised to seek orders against me, in 2021 and 2023, is the same person who on July 28, 2026, admitted in Greenfield District Court to facts sufficient for a finding of guilty on assault and battery against me (2641CR0158).
When I brought the 2023 charge to Chief Bardwell, he told me he trusts his officers and directed me to the District Attorney's office. In my account of that conversation, the DA's office told me it sounded like a matter for the chief.
November 30, 2025
On the night before, November 29, I emailed the department and both select boards naming the person I was concerned about and saying I intended to take legal action.
The next evening, outside Floodwater Brewing at 40 State Street, Buckland, I was shoved into the street and struck repeatedly. My phone, which was recording, was thrown into the Deerfield River. Zachary Livingston, the brewery's owner and an uninvolved witness, gave a written statement to Sergeant Gilmore on December 9, 2025. He reported that Brook Batteau told him, "You don't understand, John has been after my family for five years," and that he replied Batteau still shouldn't have pushed me.
On July 28, 2026, before Judge William Mazanec, Catherine Hennessey (2641CR0158) and Henry W. "Brook" Batteau (2641CR0159) each admitted to facts sufficient to warrant a finding of guilty on assault and battery. Each case was continued without a finding for six months, with a 50-yard stay-away and no-contact order, under probation supervision. Hennessey's malicious destruction of property charge was continued generally, with $429.99 in restitution for the phone.
How the Investigation Was Handled
What follows is my account, checkable against the department's own reports. After the assault I went first to the State Police barracks on Route 2, then to the Shelburne station, where I was told someone would meet me. The station was dark, and I waited outside for about fifteen minutes with no phone. Gilmore's report shows he spent part of that time calling Zachary Livingston. He then interviewed me and went to the defendants' home to interview them.
The next morning, December 1, Hennessey filed for a harassment prevention order against me. That day, Gilmore called to tell me papers had arrived, and said he had expected my petition, not one against me. I can't prove what was said in the defendants' living room. But in 2021 and again in 2023, officers of this department documented in writing that they advised the same person to seek an order against me. Whether the 2025 timing reflects that same practice is exactly the kind of question an independent review can answer and I can't. On December 15, 2025, Judge Mazanec declined to extend her order after reviewing video evidence I presented.
Before the assault, another man came out of the brewery shouting at close range. I pointed him out to Gilmore that night. He appears in the report only as "a male" and was never identified or interviewed.
To my knowledge, three nearby cameras were never checked: a gas station, a law office across State Street, and a business at 40 State Street with a view of the riverbank. The brewery's interior footage was requested nine days after the assault and had already been overwritten.
Records Not Produced
On August 25, 2025, I filed a public records request with the department (SPR25/2545) for records on complaint handling and officer communications related to these matters. The Supervisor of Records granted the department an extension in September 2025, and that deadline passed in October 2025. As of this writing, no records have been produced.
A Second Case
In Mlynick v. Town of Erving et al. (No. 3:24-cv-30108, D. Mass.), a different resident alleged that Detective Jenkins left exculpatory facts out of his reports and supplied misleading information that led to an arrest without probable cause. On March 12, 2026, at the motion-to-dismiss stage and taking the plaintiff's allegations as true, Judge Mark G. Mastroianni allowed the false-arrest claim against Jenkins to go forward. He declined to grant qualified immunity at that stage, finding it plausible that probable cause was clearly lacking. The court dismissed the other claims, including those against the chiefs and the towns. The case remains pending. Nothing has been proven, but a federal judge found the allegation of a one-sided investigation by the same detective serious enough to proceed. Thirteen days after that ruling, the Shelburne Select Board approved a merit raise requested by Chief Bardwell's department.
Accountability
In 2025, the Berkshire DA's office reviewed the relationship between Detective Jenkins and a Mohawk Trail student. It found no crime, but concluded the relationship went "beyond that of a teacher/student." The superintendent told families that "inappropriate conduct did occur." Both had deleted their texts, and Jenkins declined through counsel to be interviewed by State Police. The school removed him permanently. Chief Bardwell, who conducted the initial investigation himself, called it "a rumor that spiraled out of control," and the Select Board retained Jenkins, citing his "excellent record," despite a 218-signature petition. [Greenfield Recorder, April 4, 2025] Separately, former Buckland officer Jacob Wrisley, from before the merger, was convicted on child sexual abuse material charges and permanently decertified by the POST Commission (Case No. 2025-020).
I include these because they show how this department and these towns respond when one of their own is questioned, and that response is the subject of this petition.
It Hasn't Stopped
In August 2026, after the dispositions, an officer of this department again called me a "harasser" and threatened me with arrest for disorderly conduct while I sat in my vehicle recording and speaking about a road closure. [video link]
What This Has Cost
I'm a metalworker and public artist with about thirty-five years of permanent public work in this region, and I've lived in Shelburne Falls for eighteen years. Over these six years I lost my studio and stopped making art. I live with atrial fibrillation, and my episodes have tracked these events.
What I'm Asking For
First, an independent review by the Attorney General of the handling of complaints involving me from 2020 to 2025 by the Buckland and Shelburne police departments and the merged department, covering how complaints were taken in, whether both parties were given a chance to respond, how evidence was identified and preserved, whether officers referred complainants to protection orders during open investigations, compliance with public records law, and supervisory oversight of all of the above. It should specifically include Report 21BUC-54-OF, Report 23SHL-8-AR, the November 30, 2025 investigation, and records request SPR25/2545, and it should produce a public report with recommendations.
Second, a POST Commission review of the department's practices in light of these matters and the officer conduct described above.
Third, a public accounting by the Shelburne and Buckland Select Boards, on the record, of what review was conducted before retaining Detective Jenkins and before approving the 2026 merit raise, and of how the shared-services agreement provides oversight of the merged department.
Fourth, written department policies requiring that both parties in an ongoing dispute be heard before a complaint is acted on, that available camera footage be identified and preserved within 24 hours of an assault, and that officers not advise parties in an open criminal investigation to seek protection orders before the investigation is complete.
If This Has Happened to You
If this department acted on complaints against you without hearing your side, or let your own reports go nowhere, I'd like to hear from you. You can also file a complaint directly with the state POST Commission at policecomplaints.mass.gov.
Attorney General: mass.gov/ago · POST Commission: mass.gov/post
The phone is in the Deerfield River. The record is not.
John F. Sendelbach · Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on June 24, 2026