The allegations against a former Stoughton police deputy chief over his interactions with Sandra Birchmore have been publicized at a news conference , in a wrongful death lawsuit , and in records from the state’s regulator for law enforcement officers .

Yet when Robert C. Devine ’s two-day adjudicatory hearing begins Thursday in Boston to decide whether he should permanently lose his authority to work as a police officer, the proceedings will be secret.

The decision by the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, or POST, to close the hearing was criticized by some police reform advocates who say the move undermines the agency’s mission to build public confidence in the system for disciplining police officers.

Birchmore’s estate is challenging the closure,

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