Nearly a year after a Department of Justice report criticized the Worcester Police Department for violating constitutional and civil rights, efforts are underway to rebuild trust within the community.
The DOJ report published in December 2024 revealed a pattern of excessive force and misconduct among Worcester officers in a two-year-long investigation, including the use of tasers and police dogs unnecessarily, and engaging in sexual misconduct with women under the threat of arrest during undercover operations.
“When we hear of things like that, it definitely does give us pause,” said Fred Taylor, President of NAACP Worcester.
Taylor says the DOJ report left the community disturbed.
“Police are supposed to keep the community safe, and we think most police do do that, right, but there’s a system in place that protects, as the DOJ pointed out, like a small minority of police that abuse their authority, and that system needs to change,” said Miles Gresham, Policy Director of Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts.
Worcester city leaders say they’ve been working on changes since the release of the DOJ report.
“We took that very seriously,” said Eric Batista, Worcester City Manager. “The police department, the chief, and myself have spent quite a bit of time reviewing our policies, strengthening our policies, working with our Human Rights Commission.”
The Worcester Police Department sent Boston 25 News more than a dozen changes they’re making since the release of the DOJ report last year.
Those changes include creating a new “Use of Force Committee” that will review Level 4 or higher use of force incidents.
The police department also updated its K-9 policy, to “prohibit the deployment of canines at mass gatherings and riot scenes.”
Plus, WPD updated its “undercover operations policy” to not require subjects to enter a car during prostitution stings.
“I think there’s a desire and a need for that department to improve as any other department in municipal government,” said Batista.
The police department also started new training this year, adding an additional 40 hours of Crisis Intervention Team training for their Academy in January.
Plus 400 officers received ‘Duty to Intervene’ training from a retired FBI Civil Rights Unit Chief in April.
Community activists say while these changes are reassuring, more needs to be done to hold police officers accountable.
“We need a civilian review board,” said Gresham. “I think there’s a misconception among police that when people call for police accountability, they’re painting all police with the same bad brush, that’s not the case. It’s a minority of police, but we have a system that protects them, right or wrong.”
Earlier this year, Batista requested a study by the Worcester Regional Research Bureau to see whether the city needs a Civilian Review Board.
In October, the Bureau released its recommendation and found a Civilian Review Board is “long overdue” in Worcester.
Taylor agrees and hopes the city will create one now to provide more accountability and transparency over the police department.
“We don’t want anyone that’s gonna be 100% it’s their job to go after the police right, but at the same time, we don’t want someone that’s just gonna sit there and be just like a rubber stamp for everything that goes,” said Taylor. “We want people that the community can trust and people that will call balls and strikes.”
Batista says he’s still reviewing the Bureau’s recommendation, and he plans on presenting his ideas on whether a Civilian Review Board should be established to the City Council soon.
Worcester Police declined an on-camera interview for this story, but they tell Boston 25 News the department has applied to the Massachusetts Police Accreditation program to establish a framework of best practice standards.
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