Lowell Sun

LOWELL — A 2013 Lowell Police Academy graduate who was still on probation resigned last week, just days after an investigation determined he violated numerous policies in an effort to contact a woman he met responding to a call.

Police Superintendent William Taylor and Solicitor Christine O’Connor both declined comment, but The Sun has determined that Augustine Manyo-Washington is no longer employed as a Lowell police officer.

Manyo-Washington was among 59 graduates of the Lowell Police Academy last Nov. 15.

In late January, Manyo-Washington, and another police officer, Joseph Comtois, responded to an unidentified Lowell bar to investigate alleged drug activity.

During that call, Manyo-Washington met an employee “he liked,” states an Internal Affairs Report, a copy of which was acquired by The Sun. As a result of that encounter, Manyo-Washington ran the license plates of several cars in the parking lot, looking for the car that belonged to the employee he’d just met.

“Officer Manyo-Washington ran the plates ‘trying to find out who she was,'” states the 5-page report, completed by the Professional Standards Division and dated April 7. “Which he did.”

Manyo-Washington accessed the license plate data base on several dates in February, including on one of his days off. Police Department policy states that only “authorized persons in the performance of their official duties may access, use or disseminate this information for official and lawful criminal justice purposes.”

I love this Augustine Manyo-Washington guy. He’s a throwback’s, throwback. He’s not one of those new-age glory hounds that are chasing legends. He graduated from the academy, was outfitted with a sharp uniform, a car with cool lights, lethal weapons, hand cuffs, and access to all the personal information you can handle…and he did what any man in his situation would do. He immediately started wrangling poon.  Should a few criminals get between him and his demanded dinners from women that he’s stalking…all the better.

Is his game flawed? Certainly. This story had all the makings of a made for TV romance and then veered sharply into a creepy guardrail. But is that Augustine Manyo-Washington’s fault?

Seems to be more of a player development issue to me. The academy these days seems to be all about catching bad guys and bureaucracy and nothing else. Lost in the shuffle are the basic fundamentals: effective shift napping, finding ways to unnecessarily speed/discharge weapon, and obviously getting women to buy you dinner…voluntarily.  The tenets of strong policing.

Seems to me Chief Taylor is passing up a real opportunity to coach these guys up.