Canton Police Chief Helena Rafferty To Retire After 36 Year Career Of Service And After Confirming End of John O’Keefe/Karen Read Federal Probe

Retiring Canton Police Chief Helena Rafferty (Canton PD file photo)

By; Grant Smith-Ellis
Date; 4/22/25
Time; 7:40pm ET

JUST IN;

Canton, Massachusetts, Police Chief Helena Rafferty, one of the law enforcement officials in Massachusetts authorized by the office of U.S. Attorney Leah Foley to publicly confirm the end of the federal probe into the John O’Keefe and Karen Read case, will be retiring from the department. See video of the announcement, from Tuesday’s Canton Select Board meeting, at this link.

Chief Rafferty was a 36-year veteran of the Canton PD, becoming the force’s second ever female officer in 1989. According to the CPD website, “In 1996, [Rafferty] was promoted to Sergeant, in 1999 she attained the rank of Lieutenant and in 2012, she was promoted to Deputy Chief. In June of 2022, she became the 14th Chief for the Town of Canton.”

She is, further, a fourth generation police officer. Her grandfather served in the An Garda Siochana and her father retired as a Canton Police Detective in the 1960's after immigrating to America.

Rafferty also helped to oversee a recent audit of the department that confirmed, among other things, no mishandling of evidence, of any kind, as to the Canton PD’s investigation of John’s death (that audit was done by two former DEA agents with 50+ years of combined experience).

"I recently spoke to and was informed by the US Attorney's office that ALL ASPECTS of the federal investigation, initiated by her predecessor and related to the death of John O'Keefe, have been completed," said Chief Rafferty in a statement when the end of the federal probe was announced.

"The [federal] investigation [into John O'Keefe's death] is no longer active and will be closed," the Chief continued. "Due to ethical limitations, I cannot comment further," the statement concludes. Rafferty’s statement came on the same day, March 4, 2025, that Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan confirmed in open court that the US Attorney's office in Boston gave permission for Brennan to also tell Judge Cannone that the federal probe into John’s was closed.

"There was no evidence, and no findings, that we came across that would suggest any misconduct, or criminal conduct, or intentional acts, to conceal, alter, change, plant or tamper with evidence. Absolutely none,” said 30-year former DEA Agent Matthew Germanowski, regarding the Canton Police Department audit at an April, 2025, public forum. See those remarks here.

Chief Rafferty leaves a legacy of service to Canton, and to history, and for that towel issues his salute (in particular after Chief Rafferty helped get her officers through the hellfire that was an invasion of pink-clad fame-seekers out for nights on the, peaceful, New England small-town).

As I said previously, about the oh-so-tormented town of Canton (who suffered only for being the location whereupon Karen Read just happened to strike John O’Keefe with her car, while, drunk, at 12:32am on 1/29/22 (allegedly):

The Free Karen Read fans are in free fall.

The town of Canton is healing.

Karen is heading for accountability as to John O'Keefe's death.

The world, dear towel friends, is almost well again.

The battlefield, littered with the unheard screams of countless innocents, lay smoldering in unrepentant fury at our collective sins.

What have we all done? What have we taken part in (for better or for worse)? What is the cost of this spectacle?

A small town destroyed. The last vestiges of authentic Americana lost, like John's quiet life of service, among the chaos. A police force demoralized, for no reason, is the price we pay.

Those dedicated public servants, who put their lives on the line for us each and every day, cast aside and gratuitously demonized.

Not because of a few bad apples within their ranks (although the Mass. State Police and the Stoughton PD have some soul searching to do as to the Sandra Birchmore and Matthew Farwell case), but because of a few bad apples within our ranks.

The rancorous ranks of we, the public at large, who constantly fail to hold ourselves accountable for missteps, misdeeds, misstatements or otherwise.

Molded by toxic online cults of personality—and without regard for those fellow humans who give meaning to our lives and ease our suffering on this lonely planet—we have become mere partisan chess pieces on a playing field most of us do not even understand.

The views, the watch hours, the money, the donation funds?

Their real cost is our connection to each other, to our communities, to humanity itself.

If humans, flawed though we are, are going to exist through the dawning of the digital age, then we must learn the lessons from this trial in the form of our own repentance.

We must honor that battlefield, so littered with the voiceless though it may be, by way of our own acts of service (be they in our day-to-day lives, in view of the world, or on history's grand stage itself).

It is appropriate, then, for the final chapter of our story to end—much like Joyce's commodious Hegelian vicus of Vico's recirculation that this little towel finds so wonderful to invoke—on a chord of unconditional love.

You all will define how this saga plays out, and nothing is foretold in stone, or websites, or social media battles.

As this sad case winds down, may we all have grace in victory, humility in defeat, and compassion for each other. If nothing else, perhaps that will keep this fleeting Republic around for a few more generations (God willing).