A former Stoughton police deputy chief facing a closed-door hearing over alleged misconduct involving Sandra Birchmore said Thursday he wanted the proceeding to be public.

Robert C. Devine , 52, made the remarks at an office building in downtown Boston where his two-day adjudicatory hearing before the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, or POST, began in secret Thursday morning .

“I asked for this hearing. I wanted it public and it’s not,” Devine told the Globe. He was accompanied by a woman who placed her hand in front of an iPhone the Globe was using to record Devine on his way to the hearing.

“I am under gag orders. You know that. There are things that I can’t say and you know that,” Devine said.

The commission convened the hearing to decide whether Devine, who is

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