Fall River spent about $143,000 investigating and defending the firing of ex-chief Paul Gauvin, invoices show

FALL RIVER Fall River has spent about $143,000 investigating former Police Chief Paul Gauvin and defending his firing before the state Civil Service Commission, a fight the city lost in August, according to invoices the Fall River Reporter obtained through a public records request and published Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The bill is not final, because Gauvin is back on the payroll as a police captain and the city still owes him back pay for the roughly 15 months between his firing and the commission's ruling. The police department is still calculating that amount, according to Mayor Paul Coogan and Human Resources Director Nicholas Macolini, the Reporter reported.

What it cost

The invoices total $143,134 and break down this way, as the Reporter published them: $17,960 for the outside investigation and report by Comprehensive Investigations and Consulting, the firm headed by former state Public Safety Secretary Daniel Bennett; $7,460 for Bennett's time testifying at the appeal; and about $117,714 to the law firm Clifford & Kenny, which the city's legal department hired in May 2025 to defend the firing at the commission's hearings.

Since the Aug. 6 ruling, Gauvin has been paid $6,331 every two weeks, or about $37,000 so far, according to Macolini, the Reporter reported. That pay rate works out to about $164,600 a year. The commission ordered him restored to captain as of April 21, 2025, the day he was fired, "without further loss of compensation or benefits," according to the Reporter. Based on his current salary, the Reporter estimated the back pay at more than $202,000 before benefits.

How the city got here

Gauvin agreed in September 2024 to step down as chief, effective Oct. 15, 2024, and return to the rank of captain under his contract, after the department's two police unions took no-confidence votes in him that summer, the Reporter reported. Capt. Kelly Furtado became interim chief that day. She said she found a knife and a bullet in the chief's desk drawer on her first day, the Reporter wrote, and three unregistered guns turned up in Gauvin's locker days later.

The city hired Bennett's firm on Dec. 16, 2024, and placed Gauvin on paid administrative leave the next day, according to the Reporter. Coogan later told WPRI 12 he brought in an outside firm after union officials came to him with a list of allegations, because he did not want it to look like he was protecting Gauvin, whom he considers a longtime friend.

In early April 2025, Coogan confirmed Gauvin's dismissal after the firm's report found 15 department violations and recommended termination, WPRI 12 reported at the time. The city had ended Gauvin's contract as chief on March 31, 2025, and fired him from his civil service job as captain on April 21, 2025, the Reporter reported, citing the commission's decision. Coogan also told WPRI 12 the report had been sent to the state attorney general's office and the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, and the station reported that no criminal charges had been filed. "I did not like the fact that the police chief would have unregistered handguns in his personal locker," Coogan told the station.

Gauvin disputed the findings at the time. "The allegations levied against me regarding policy violations are completely unfounded. This investigation was a smear campaign dressed up as due process," he said in a statement reported by WPRI 12.

What the commission found

The commission heard nine days of testimony between September 2025 and January 2026, and Commissioner Paul Stein issued the decision Aug. 6, the Reporter reported. Of the four issues Coogan cited in the firing, it partly upheld two: that Gauvin kept the three old, unregistered guns in his locker for more than a decade without logging them, and that he left the knife and bullet in the desk. It called that conduct "neglectful, but not malicious" and found no proof he meant to threaten his successor.

The commission rejected the other two charges, over compensatory time and a 1920s department photograph he took home, the Reporter reported, and ruled the city lacked just cause to fire him. It called the firing "punitive and not remedial" and reduced it to a 90-day suspension.

A statement issued after the ruling through Gauvin's attorney, Andrew Gambaccini, and reported by the Reporter said Gauvin "consistently has maintained that he did not act maliciously and that his conduct did not warrant termination." It said Gauvin accepted responsibility for not documenting the guns in his locker, had himself proposed that a suspension would be appropriate, and "looks forward to returning to work."

What happens next

Gauvin cannot return to duty until the state POST Commission decides whether to recertify him as a police officer, according to the Reporter, which also reported that Furtado retired as chief in June 2026. The back pay figure, once the department finishes it, will add to the city's cost.

SC360 is asking the mayor's office and the city's law department for the full amount paid to date, the back pay figure when it is set, and whether more invoices are due. Their answers will be added to this story.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.