Officials in 'Shock' Over Child Porn Charges

Granby town officials remain in a state of disbelief and disappointment one day after federal criminal charges were brought against Granby Police Captain David Bourque for possession of child pornography.

Bourque was placed on paid administrative leave on April 11 pending a criminal investigation by Connecticut State Police Computer Crime and Electronic Evidence Laboratory.  Bourque was arrested on Tuesday on a federal charge of possession of child pornography after investigators found thousands of sexually explicit images of children on a computer hard drive that he owns, according to the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. 

“Obviously we are disappointed in these findings and saddened by the implications for the community,” Granby Town Manager William Smith said Wednesday.

Bourque only served as a Captain with the Granby Police Department for the past 18 months, according to Granby Town Manager William Smith.  Before that Bourque served for 30 years with the Suffield Police Department was promoted to Captain in 2004, according to Suffield Police.

Bourque retired from the Suffield Department in 2009 and then accepted his position with the Granby Police Department the same year.  Bourque retired voluntarily and under no unusual circumstances, police said.

During Bourque's time in Granby he participated as a member of both the Granby Juvenile Revue Board and the Granby Youth Prevention Council.  Both positions were administrative in nature and did not put Bourque in contact with children.

"He had no one-on-one contact with children through those positions," Granby Police Chief David Watkins said.

While serving in both departments Bourque was the head of the North Central Municipal Regional Accident Reconstruction Team, a volunteer team that includes police officers from several surrounding towns, and the subject of another state police investigation surrounding his involvement the team's probe of a fatal crash in Windsor Locks crash last October, Smith said.  

Suffield Chief of Police Michael Manzi, a retired Commander from the Hartford Police Department, joined the department in 2003 and worked with Bourque for six of his 30 years with the department.

“In the six years that I worked with him he was a sergeant on the midnight shift and in 2004 he was promoted to Captain,” Manzi said.

Bourque never gave any indications that he was involved with child pornography or that he would pose a threat to children, Manzi said.

“Everybody’s in shock and complete disbelief,” Manzi said.

According to the affidavit state police executed a search warrant to search Bourque's Suffield home on April 11 but found only a box for a Dell laptop computer. A secondary search of Bourque's office at the Granby Police Department revealed several additional unspecified types of computers, an external hard drive, and Bourque's personal laptop computer.

Initially Bourque refused permission for state police to preview the contents of the laptop computer, the affidavit said.  During an interview with state police at the Granby Police Department Bourque informed his interrogators that his computers and data storage devices were encrypted.

Bourque later voluntarily gave police his personal passwords allowing them to unlock his encrypted files. Investigators said the hard drive appeared to contain "thousands and thousands-  perhaps as many as 100,000- images and videos of child pornography, mostly depicting young boys," the affidavit said.

Watkins has also said that Bourque never gave any indications during his 18 months with the Granby Police Department that he posed a threat to children or that he was involved with child pornography.

"We conducted a thorough background check including a psychological analysis and a polygraph test," Watkins said.  "Nothing came up that would have indicated this type of behavior."

Town officials have said there has been no evidence that Bourque was engaging in any deviant activities during his shifts at the Granby Police Department.

"Nothing in the state police investigation has indicated that," Watkins said.

 Bourque will remain on paid administrative leave until a verdict is reached, Smith said. Town officials have not yet determined when Bourque’s position with the police department will be filled.

 “We have not decided, at this point, how to proceed but we certainly need the position,” Smith said.

 Bourque was arrested on Tuesday April 26 on the basis of a federal criminal complaint charging him with the possession of child pornography. 

 Bourque appeared Tuesday before United States Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith in Hartford.   No plea was entered and a date has not been set for his trial.