BROCKTON, MA &#8211 The Brockton Police Supervisors Union has lost an appeal in their case to block the appointment of Interim Police Chief Robert Hayden.

Last month, the union had filed a request for injunction in Brockton Superior Court to block Hayden from taking office based on state law mandating that police officers retire at age 65. Hayden is 71.

However, in a hearing that took place less than an hour before Hayden’s swearing-in ceremony, Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty denied the union’s request for injunction, paving the way for Hayden’s appointment.

The union appealed the decision to a single justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court but, in a decision that came down earlier this week, Judge James Milkey upheld the previous ruling.

“I conclude that the union has not shown a substantial likelihood of succeeding on its claim that Hayden is per se disqualified from the position to which he was appointed,” said Milkey in the decision.

Central to the judge’s decision was his opinion that the union had failed to show that the mandatory retirement age for police officers, which is a provision in a statue that governs pensions, disqualified Hayden from taking the office of police chief.

The judge also questioned whether the injunction would be in the best interest of Brockton’s residents.

“Regarding the public interest, the union ignores the fact that the (Mayor Bill Carpenter) has made a judgment that the interests of the city he was elected to serve would be furthered by the appointment of Hayden as police chief,” said Milkey in the decision.

From The Enterprise