Certification suspended for former Framingham cops implicated in cocaine probe

The Massachusetts POST Commission has suspended the certification of two former Framingham police officers who were found by a department investigation to have unlawfully possessed cocaine.

The POST Commission, which oversees law-enforcement certification for the commonwealth, issued suspension orders on April 16 for former officer Reece Black and former detective Kyle Pursell.

The suspension order for each officer says, “The Commission voted to suspend the Respondent’s certification upon determining that it is in the best interest of the health, safety, or welfare of the public.” The orders do not provide any further explanation for the commission’s decision.

A spokesperson declined to elaborate, saying, “The POST Commission cannot comment on matters that may be pending.”

However, The Mass Dump previously reported that a Framingham Police Department internal investigation completed in February faulted both officers for illegal drug possession. That information was revealed in Brady disclosures about the officers that the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office released in March in response to a public records request.

The Brady disclosure for each officer says that officer on February 6 was found to have been “involved in the purchase and possession of cocaine and had a positive result on a drug test.” The alleged misconduct “occurred between approximately August 1 and September 11, 2025, and was first reported to the Framingham Police Department on September 11, 2025,” the records say.

The department also determined earlier, on September 17, that Pursell “failed to cooperate with an investigation into his alleged drug-related activities” and “failed to report to the police station at a specific date and time as ordered by a superior,” the records say.

The Brady documents—named after a 1963 US Supreme Court decision—are used by prosecutors to inform defendants in criminal cases about alleged misconduct by officers testifying against them. Prosecutors are required to make these disclosures so that defendants can challenge the officers’ credibility in court.

Neither officer presently appears on the district attorney’s Brady list, which was last updated on January 15, prior to the completion of the investigation.

A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office previously said the office is investigating the allegations against Black and Pursell.

A search of online court records Wednesday morning did not reveal any criminal charges against either officer in Framingham District Court or Middlesex County Superior Court.

The POST Commission website lists both Black and Pursell as being “unassociated,” meaning neither is currently employed by a law-enforcement agency in Massachusetts.

The police department said in February that it fired Black as a result of the findings. Pursell resigned on January 9, a month before the investigation was completed, according to his resignation email.

The department has said little about the investigation and has blocked the release of the officers’ internal affairs records by assessing a $525 fee for the documents.

The department said it needs to spend 23 hours locating and reviewing 288 pages of documents to remove exempt information. The department said it was charging the maximum hourly rate allowed under the Public Records Law, which is $25 per hour with the first two hours provided at no cost.

The Dump asked Framingham Police Chief Lester Baker and Lieutenant Rachel Mickens to provide the documents with minimal redactions and at no charge. The Public Records Law says that municipalities may voluntarily waive fees “upon a showing that disclosure of a requested record is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government.”

However, Mickens refused to do so, saying in March that she consulted with Baker and the department’s records division before making the decision. She provided no further explanation. She and Baker have not responded to follow-up questions.

To challenge the fee as excessive, the Dump has filed three appeals with the supervisor of public records, the transparency watchdog who serves in the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office.

The supervisor first ruled in March that the police department failed to justify the fee. Then in April, the supervisor ruled that the department could redact the records under two state laws but that other statutes the department cited were not applicable. The supervisor ordered the department to revise or clarify its fee estimate.

In response, the department again said it would need to spend 23 hours to locate and review the records, claiming it needed to spend an average of five minutes reviewing each page. The Dump filed a third appeal on Tuesday. That appeal is pending.

When the police department first announced that it was conducting the misconduct investigation in September, Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky said he would provide “transparency to the extent of the laws,” according to The MetroWest Daily News.

Sisitsky did not respond to questions or a request to waive the fee in March, saying only that he forwarded the message to the police chief. The mayor has not responded to follow-up questions.

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