It took one day. Burlington police Lt. Peter Abaskharoun was arraigned Monday morning in Woburn District Court on charges of assault and battery on a family or household member and witness intimidation. By Monday, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission had signed an order suspending his law enforcement certification and requiring him to surrender every credential and piece of equipment he holds: department firearm, badge, cruiser, and use-of-force tools. The order, Case No. 2026-051, is dated September 14 and was signed by POST Executive Director Enrique A. Zuniga. The stated basis is evidence that he “engaged or may have engaged in criminal conduct.”
When we wrote about the arrest on Monday, we noted that POST had confirmed he was still certified and explained what decertification would mean if he were convicted. That was accurate at the time and is now out of date, and the speed is the story. This piece explains what an emergency suspension is, why it can happen before any finding of guilt, what it does to an officer who is presumed innocent, and how it ends.
What POST did
The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission was created by the 2020 police reform act and certifies every law enforcement officer in the state. Certification is not a formality. An officer whose certification is suspended cannot lawfully act as a police officer anywhere in Massachusetts, regardless of what his department wants.
The order is a preliminary suspension, the emergency tool the commission uses when it receives evidence that an officer has engaged or may have engaged in conduct that would justify discipline, and waiting for the full process would be unacceptable. It issues from the executive director rather than from a vote of the full commission, and it takes effect immediately. Under the governing statute, it remains in effect until the commission issues a final decision or votes to lift it.
The surrender requirement is the part with teeth. An officer on paid administrative leave still holds his badge, his service weapon and his police powers; he is simply told not to come to work. An officer under a POST suspension holds none of them. Burlington placed Abaskharoun on paid administrative leave on Monday. POST took the badge.
Why it can happen before a conviction
Because certification is a license, not a criminal penalty, and the two systems run on different tracks with different standards.
A criminal case asks whether the Commonwealth can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury. A certification proceeding asks whether a person should be permitted to exercise police powers while a serious allegation is pending. Every licensed profession works this way. A doctor, a nurse, a lawyer and a commercial driver can all lose the ability to practice on an interim basis when the licensing authority concludes the risk of continuing is too high, and none of those suspensions requires a conviction or implies one.
Abaskharoun is presumed innocent in Woburn District Court, and the suspension is not evidence against him there. If he is acquitted, or the charges are dismissed, the suspension is not automatically vindicated or automatically lifted; the commission makes that decision on its own record.
Why this case in particular
Two features made it a candidate for the emergency tool rather than the ordinary one.
The first is the nature of the charges. A domestic assault allegation against an armed officer presents an immediate question about the firearm. If an abuse prevention order under G.L. c. 209A issues in the district court, the officer must surrender his firearms for the life of the order as a matter of law, service weapon included. POST did not wait to find out whether that would happen. The suspension order’s surrender requirement reaches the department-issued firearm directly.
The second is the witness intimidation count. That charge, under G.L. c. 268, § 13B, is a felony, and it alleges an attempt to interfere with a criminal proceeding. An officer accused of interfering with a witness is accused of conduct that goes to whether he can be trusted in any case, not only his own. It is also the charge that, on conviction, would trigger mandatory decertification.
What happens next
Three processes now run in parallel, and they can reach different results.
The criminal case in Woburn District Court, where the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt and the outcome may be a trial, a dismissal, a continuance without a finding or a plea.
The Burlington internal affairs investigation, which Chief Thomas Browne said will determine “appropriate administrative action,” and which uses a preponderance standard. A lieutenant in a civil service community has hearing rights under G.L. c. 31 before discipline is imposed.
The POST proceeding, which will move from preliminary suspension to a full adjudication before the commission, with notice, a hearing, and a final decision that can range from reinstatement to revocation. POST’s own regulations govern the timing, and these matters frequently wait for the criminal case to resolve, because an officer facing charges will ordinarily invoke the Fifth Amendment rather than testify in an administrative hearing while the criminal case is live.
The practical consequence in the meantime is that Abaskharoun cannot work as a police officer in Massachusetts, in Burlington or anywhere else, and cannot be restored to duty by his department even if it wanted to restore him.
The pattern this fits
POST has been using the preliminary suspension more, and faster. The commission suspended a State Police sergeant’s certification after a homicide indictment. It has suspended officers on domestic violence charges before. The State Police fired a probationary trooper in eleven days earlier this month over racially charged texts, an outcome made possible by his probationary status rather than by POST. Taken together the cases show a system that now acts on an allegation rather than waiting years for a conviction, which is what the 2020 law was designed to produce and what its critics warned it would produce.
The commission also maintains a public database of sustained allegations against Massachusetts officers, which is how the public learned of the Sandwich officer’s untruthfulness finding last week. Abaskharoun’s suspension order is posted on the commission’s site under his name.
Common questions
What did POST do to the Burlington lieutenant?
It issued an emergency preliminary suspension of his law enforcement certification on September 14, requiring him to surrender his badge, department firearm, cruiser and use-of-force tools. It cited evidence that he engaged or may have engaged in criminal conduct.
Can POST suspend an officer who has not been convicted?
Yes. Certification is a license, and a preliminary suspension is a risk decision, not a criminal penalty. It does not require a conviction and is not evidence of guilt in the criminal case.
How long does the suspension last?
Until the commission issues a final decision or votes to lift it. There is no fixed term.
Can he still work as a police officer somewhere else?
No. POST certification is statewide. A suspended officer cannot lawfully act as a police officer anywhere in Massachusetts.
What happens if he is acquitted?
The suspension is not automatically lifted. The commission decides on its own record, at a lower standard of proof than the criminal case uses.
Order number, date, signatory and terms from the POST Commission’s public case page for Abaskharoun, Peter (Burlington Police), Case No. 2026-051, and from Boston 25 News, September 15, 2026. The suspension order PDF itself was not retrieved. Department statement from Chief Thomas Browne as previously reported. Peter Abaskharoun is presumed innocent of the criminal charges. General information about Massachusetts law, not legal advice.