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FOXBORO - Selectmen are locked in a battle with the Kraft Group over the number of police details needed to safely run a major stadium event.

They say they strongly back the police chief's demands for more officers to better control crowd behavior and reduce the chances of alcohol-related injuries or fatalities.

But the town is also investigating stadium security chief Mark Briggs' complaints about the behavior of some local police officers working details at Gillette Stadium.

Some of the stadium's complaints about officers' performance while on detail have resulted in discipline from management, while others matters have been referred to town labor counsel Leo Peloquin, and an unnamed "third party," for investigation, Police Chief Edward O'Leary said.

Selectmen are firing off a hard-hitting, 10-page response to two recent letters in which Briggs refuses to pay for more than a stated number of police details, sets forth a litany of misconduct complaints about officers and claims O'Leary has ignored the stadium's misconduct reports. "Chief O'Leary and the board take such matters very seriously and will not tolerate misconduct," selectmen wrote to Briggs. "You will be notified when the investigations are concluded."

Briggs charges, among other allegations, that a police officer verbally abused and physically intimidated a Kraft Group vice president, that a motorcycle officer deliberately revved his motor and spooked a state police horse and that officers have gotten into "altercations" with members of other police agencies, with patrons and with Kraft employees.

"The attitude being expressed by inattention to these matters is only making certain officers more brazen in their disregard of public safety and the cooperation that facilitates public safety," Briggs wrote to selectmen on Oct. 13.

O'Leary says relatively minor complaints have been dealt with inside the department, and "appropriate discipline for each infraction has been applied."

Asked if any officer was suspended or fired, O'Leary said the "more serious" issues remain under investigation through labor counsel.

Briggs also asserted that assigning more detail officers does not necessarily translate to better security. He said a mass response of police has, at times, been known to inflame rather than quell a disturbance.

He wrote that the number of details the town has required has grown year after year, from an average of 119 local police per game in 2002, to 163 last year to a proposed 186 officers this year.

Selectman Lorraine Brue said Briggs' numbers are faulty and misleading and that the 186 figure was mentioned at one point but never imposed on the stadium.

Briggs wrote that the stadium will pay for no more than an average of 126 officers.

In its written response, the board of selectmen says the Kraft Group is willing to accept a higher level of risk to patrons and officers than the town or the police department. Selectmen also reminded Briggs in their response that the National Football League has directed stadiums to increase security.

Board members rejected the sweeping claim that O'Leary has remained aloof from problems with some of his assigned detail officers, and said O'Leary has met with the stadium leaders 30 times in recent months.

Much of the board's reply to Briggs, which is expected to be mailed to the stadium today, deals with the legal basis for the town's view that O'Leary, and not the Kraft Group or even selectmen, has the final say on how many police officers are needed to safely staff an event.

O'Leary said Wednesday the number of additional detail officers he is requiring this year is "minimal," and those increases are driven by the threat of terrorism, the NFL's directive to stadiums to beef up security and the priority the town gives to preventing both underage drinking and other alcohol related problems.

More than 300 people - many of them underage and intoxicated -were arrested last August at the New England Country Music Festival at Gillette Stadium.

The dispute caps months of closed-door sessions devoted to stadium security issues.

In addition to addressing police detail numbers and officer conduct, the board notified Briggs that it "will not tolerate" the withholding of detail payments to the town.