DALTON — The Dalton Police Department has suspended routine mutual aid responses to Hinsdale, citing years of concerns about accountability and officer safety stemming from the fatal police shooting of Biagio Kauvil in January.

Hinsdale officials have not responded to Dalton Police Chief Deanna Strout about her decision, she said.

In an April 14 letter to Hinsdale Town Administrator Robert Graves and the Hinsdale Select Board, Strout wrote that the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office had informed her that Hinsdale Chief Shawn Boyne, during his interview with state police detectives, made statements that "attributed responsibility to Dalton officers." The letter was first reported by WAMC and was later obtained by The Eagle.

Her letter also cited broader concerns about the training and supervisory oversight of the Hinsdale force during joint responses where Dalton officers also were present over the past several years, but it did not detail specific incidents.

Strout wrote that issues she identified within the Hinsdale Police Department are posing a public safety issue.

"These issues present a risk not only to the public but also to officers responding in a mutual aid capacity," she wrote.

Strout's mutual aid decision comes months after a January wellness check at 53 Off South St. in Hinsdale ended in the death of Kauvil, 27, who was experiencing a mental health crisis and had called 911.

Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue announced April 14, the same day Strout's letter was dated, that state police detectives assigned to the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office concluded Hinsdale Officer Jeffrey Spratt, also the town's animal control officer, acted in lawful self-defense and would not face criminal charges.

Strout wrote that Boyne's statements to state police raised "significant concerns regarding interagency accountability and the accuracy of post-incident representation."

She told The Eagle on Monday that Hinsdale has not responded to her letter. She said the Dalton Town Manager Eric Anderson met with his Hinsdale counterpart to deliver the letter, but she has not been told of any substantive discussion.

"It's just disappointing," Strout said. "I'm hopeful that we can figure it out at some point, but we just need to take a hard look at the leadership issues right now."

Dalton will continue providing mutual aid to all other 31 communities in the county, according to Strout. Emergency requests from Hinsdale will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, Strout wrote. State police are now the first backup responder to Hinsdale.

According to state police interview transcripts and the DA's findings in the Kauvil incident, Hinsdale Police Sgt. Dominick Crupi had rushed to the scene from the gym on his day off, and he arrived unarmed. Boyne handed Crupi his Taser when he arrived.

"My gun's home. ... Everything's home," Crupi told state police investigators. "I knew I had to get there. I had to get there right away."

Crupi attempted to talk Kauvil out of the bedroom that Kauvil had locked from the inside before the decision was made to enter. As Crupi said as the tone kept shifting from "monotone to irate," Crupi told Boyne he believed he could take the door down, according to his Jan. 13 interview transcript.

Photographs of Biagio Kauvil are displayed on a memorial poster during a January gathering.

Boyne, the ranking officer on scene, gave the go-ahead, Crupi said.

But in Boyne's own interview with investigators — which Strout apparently was referencing in her letter — Boyne seemed to claim Dalton Police Officer Chelsea Eichstedt said, "We have to go" into the room, and suggest that the decision to force the door open was a mutual one he reached with Eichstedt.

Boyne's account conflicts with both the DA's findings and Eichstedt's own interview, in which she did not describe initiating or jointly making the breach decision.

Eichstedt told investigators that moments before the breach, she observed Boyne and Crupi communicating through hand signals, and that she did not know what was being conveyed.

Crupi said Boyne counted down from three, then Crupi broke into the room and immediately grabbed Kauvil. Crupi said he saw something dark in Kauvil's left hand and felt what he recognized as a firearm. Shots were fired during the struggle. Crupi was struck in the hand; Boyne was hit in the bulletproof vest. Spratt then fatally shot Kauvil.

According to a transcript of Eichstedt's interview with state police detectives, upon first arriving at the scene, she said she noticed that Boyne did not have his firearm. When Spratt arrived shortly after, Boyne told officers he needed to go "grab something at the station" — which Eichstedt testified was his gun.

Boyne left the scene, and when he returned, Eichstedt said she informed the chief that Kauvil was licensed to carry a firearm and "might have a gun," according to the transcript.

Eichstedt also told investigators she had suggested calling a mental health clinician to the scene but did not receive a response from Boyne. In her interview, Eichstedt said she wished things had been done differently.

"It's not my call, but if it was Dalton, I could promise you we wouldn't have gone through that door," she said, according to the transcript.

The shooting has drawn criticism from community members and the NAACP Berkshire County Branch, which has called for an independent review of Hinsdale's policies and the decision to breach Kauvil's door. Shugrue also called on the town to conduct its own review, but it's unclear whether Hinsdale officials have done so.

Bruce Cullett, the chief of the Peru Police Department who is serving as acting Hinsdale police chief, and Graves, the Hinsdale town administrator, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday, including inquires about the mutual aid decision and whether they have begun an internal investigation.