Worcester's top administrator has shared how the city plans to respond to what federal investigators called "outrageous government conduct" involving officers and women in the sex trade, as well as the use of excessive force, calling the Justice Department's findings "shocking and unacceptable."
Worcester is setting up a hotline for members of the public to call and report police misconduct allegations, City Manager Eric Batista said Tuesday. The hotline will be managed by the city's Executive Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and allegations investigated independently.
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Batista also said the Executive Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will help review training and policy and then offer more trainings on topics like implicit bias and behavioral health.
He noted he has faith in the department's leadership and that the members of Worcester police will continue building trust with the community.
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"It is unfathomable to me that any officer of the law—any employee of the City of Worcester—could or would act in such an unlawful, egregious, and immoral manner," Batista said in a statement. "It is imperative that the public have trust in their government and its public safety institutions. They must have faith that they will be protected by the system and not victimized by it. I understand that faith and that trust must be earned."
Read Batista's full statement here:
At a meeting Tuesday night, city councilors called for transparency and accountability.
"We want the DOJ to give us who has done these egregious things," said Worcester City Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson, who represents District 2. "These folks need to be prosecuted, if this is, in fact, what happened."
"We have a pattern here that goes back close to a decade, with regards to concerns of policing, racial disproportionality," said Vice Chairman and Councilor-at-Large Khrystian King. "Now we have this recent concern with regards to how sexual abuse cases are being looked at."
Monday's report from the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division found a pattern or practice of allowing officers to engage in sexual contact with women suspected of being involved in the commercial sex trade as well as the unjustified uses of tasers and police dogs and strikes to the head. Investigators also raised concerns over the possibility of racially discriminatory policing.
“Excessive force and sexual misconduct at the hands of officers who took an oath to serve and protect deeply diminishes the public’s trust in its sworn officers," acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement Monday.
Mayor Jospeh Petty said earlier Tuesday he was taking the report's findings "very seriously," but also questioned some of the findings. He said that, in order to adequately process the report, he would be requesting the city manager offer ideas on what the city's next steps should be within a month.
"While I wait for the action items to be fulfilled by the Administration, I want to ensure that this process shows compassion and empathy to those who have been impacted, including members of the [Black, indigenous, people of color] community and survivors of the commercial sex trade," Petty said in a statement.
He also said he has faith in interim Police Chief Paul Saucier and said that, following a voluntary racial equity audit, the department has already made changes.
"I believe we will only continue to work toward following the recommendations advised by our racial equity audit consultant by ensuring our police department operates justly," Petty said, adding, "I want to recognize the many dedicated, hardworking members of the Worcester Police Department for their ongoing commitment to serve the community – I appreciate their service to our city."
Brian T. Kelly, a lawyer representing the police department, previously said police and city officials have cooperated with the federal investigation.
Kelly called the report “unfair, inaccurate and biased."
“Instead of identifying individual officers who could – and should – be prosecuted if these serious allegations were true, DOJ has prepared a report by civil lawyers with no prosecutorial experience which makes incredibly broad allegations but fails to identify a single corrupt officer,” Kelley said in a written .
“The report is riddled with factual inaccuracies and ignores information provided by the city which debunks many of the anonymous claims,” he added.
In announcing the findings, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division noted that it's the first time the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division "issued a pattern or practice finding involving sexual misconduct by officers."
She said the department looks “forward to working with city officials to institute reforms that build on their own preliminary efforts but that will fully bring an end to these unlawful and unconstitutional practices.”
Read the federal investigation into Worcester police
The report found that Worcester police officers “rapidly escalated minor incidents by using more force than necessary” including during encounters with people who have behavioral health disabilities or are in crisis — a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The report also includes what investigations describe as “concerns about some credible reports that officers have sexually assaulted women under threat of arrest and engaged in other sexual misconduct; and concerns that WPD lacks adequate policies and practices to respond to and investigate sexual assaults by officers and others.”
The report makes a series of recommendations from improving training on the use of force, requiring officers to report misconduct, mandate the use of body-worn cameras and require supervisors to review footage to monitor officer performance.
The report also calls on the police department to provide training about permissible investigative techniques to enforce laws about buying and selling sex, including a complete prohibition on engaging in sexual contact for law enforcement purposes.
The Justice Department opened the investigation on Nov. 15, 2022.
The legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts called the findings "alarming."
"We urge local officials to work together with the DOJ to adopt and implement reforms to address the egregious misconduct described in the report. We also call on local and state officials to follow up on these findings to pursue their own investigations into misconduct in Worcester," Jessie Rossman said in a statement. "This is critical because such misconduct may undermine the integrity of numerous criminal cases in which the officers referenced in the report were involved."
Engaging in sexual contact while undercover as part of official investigations violates the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, according to the report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
