The Hinsdale 2023 town report featured a farewell message from retiring Police Chief Susan Rathbun. She explicitly promised every Hinsdale police officer and cruiser would soon be equipped with cameras thanks to two grants totaling around $85,000.
The lion’s share of that funding came from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, which announced Hinsdale was awarded almost $53,000 from a $3.6 million allotment from the Law Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Program.
What happened next remains a mystery.
Other Berkshire County police departments that received money through the same grant program showed results quickly.
North Adams completed implementation within a year of its October 2022 award, and Lanesborough, which received almost $40,000 in state funding at the same time as Hinsdale, had its program up and running by June 2024 - the timeline Rathbun initially put forward.
Pittsfield’s body cam program was also backed by money from the same state program, as were those of Great Barrington, Sheffield, and Adams.
But that implementation didn’t happen in Hinsdale. And in the winter of 2026, the question of what happened to the grant money for body cams became more pressing.
On Jan. 7, 27-year-old Biagio Kauvil was shot and killed by Hinsdale Officer Jeremy Spratt during a mental health crisis. Despite knowing that the young man was asking for help with overwhelming paranoia and concerns of conspiracy, Hinsdale Chief Shawn Boyne – with no mental health co-responders on scene – opted for police to break down the locked door of the room in which Kauvil was sequestered before tackling and Tasing him. When a gun Kauvil was legally carrying discharged as he was under a pile of police officers, the bullet hit Boyne and Hinsdale Sgt. Dom Crupi. In response, Spratt fired two shots – one into Crupi and the other into Kauvil’s head, causing a catastrophic injury he died from at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.
A months-long investigation by Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue found, while Spratt had acted lawfully, Hinsdale police had a lot to answer for.
“While there will be no criminal charges, the force investigation team did find considerable, which I agree with, concern regarding policies in the Hinsdale Police Department," he said. "I strongly recommend that the town of Hinsdale hire an investigator that is completely independent to the agency and the town to conduct a formal review of their internal policies and their applications to the events of January 7.”
The DA specifically identified Boyne and Crupi as responsible for the questionable decisions that resulted in Kauvil’s death - not Spratt or Dalton Police Officer Chelsea Eichstedt.
“And the law applying to this particular fact scenario deals with the two officers who used force, both Officer Eichstedt and then Officer Spratt, who were not involved in those decision-making process in the initial stages regarding the policies and procedures," said Shugrue. "There was a chief of police there and a sergeant above them.”
Independently, Hinsdale voters have already approved an independent audit of the PD.
Dalton, population around 6,200, sits just above Hinsdale, population roughly 1,900, in the center of Berkshire County. The two communities share resources during events just like the Kauvil call. When the Dalton officers -- the aforementioned Eichstedt as well as Jacob Tiffany – responded, they were there only to assist, not make tactical decisions.
Unlike their Hinsdale colleagues, the Dalton officers were wearing body cameras. The resultant 90-plus minutes of footage offered unique insight into what happened - more than 911 calls and interviews.
Dalton received funding for its body cams in late 2022 through the same state program as the aforementioned agencies. The town successfully rolled out its program for its 15 officers by the following spring.
Given how body cams showed the scene at Kauvil’s home unfold, as well as how the Hinsdale police department responded, questions immediately came up about why the Hinsdale officers weren’t wearing body cams.
Answering that question begins with then-Chief Rathbun’s message to residents back in 2023. But, by the time the question of body cams emerged again this year, Hinsdale had little to show for what it did with that money.
To complicate matters, a December 2025 email between Town Administrator Robert Graves and a Hinsdale resident supplied to WAMC includes the statement that “former Police Chief Susan Rathbun had attempted to secure a grant to purchase body cameras for Hinsdale Officers, but had not succeeded.”
This claim by Graves contradicts a widely broadcasted 2023 grant award announcement by Massachusetts and the office tasked with distributing the funds. Records obtained by WAMC through a Freedom of Information Act request include an email sent directly to Graves with the subject line “Congratulations on Your Body Cam Grant Award!!!” from the Massachusetts Operational Services Division on Oct. 12, 2023.
The state’s Office of Grants and Research confirmed Tuesday that Hinsdale PD had successfully received the funding, but “was unable to spend funding awarded to the department in FY24 and reverted the full amount.”
Both Graves and interim Police Chief Bruce Cullett declined request for comment on this story.
WAMC has filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests with the Hinsdale Police Department for any and all records related to the grant money.
