The Canton Police Department audit dropped on the same day as the Karen Read retrial started and includes recommendations on how the crime scene surrounding the body of victim John O’Keefe could have been worked better.

The front yard of 34 Fairview Road in Canton was a hotbed of police and EMS activity in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022, as Boston Police Officer O’Keefe lay dead or dying there. The handling of the crime scene by the local police in those crucial early hours has been widely criticized, with Read defense seizing on investigative and protocol failures during the first trial.

The death of O’Keefe, a Canton resident, and the controversy surrounding how local police handled the scene spurred a local movement to have the local police department audited. The town inked a deal last October with 5 Stones intelligence, Inc. — the lowercase “i” is part of the name — for a “comprehensive and exhaustive Independent Police Audit” to be completed by April 30 and at a budget of $198,000.

The 206-page audit delivered by 5 Stones deals with the department as a whole with a scope that included “crime scene protocols, professional standards, accountability processes, organizational structure, and other operational aspects” as well as a review of the finances. But the report wasted no time highlighting its findings of how the Canton Police Department handled the O’Keefe crime scene.

The executive summary of their findings included several recommendations:

This is a developing story.