WORCESTER – Worcester Mayor Joe Petty released a statement Tuesday morning in responding to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) report on its investigation of patterns and practices within the Worcester Police Department (WPD) that violates constitutional rights. City Manager Eric Batista released a separate statement on Tuesday afternoon.
The report, released on Monday morning, said the DOJ found reasonable cause to believe that WPD engages in patterns and practices which deprive people of rights enshrined in the Fourth Amendment of the U.S.. Constitution, through the use of excessive force, and the 14th Amendment through engaging in sexual contact and sexual assault.
The WPD is the first department in the country where the DOJ found a pattern or practice involving sexual contact.
See coverage of the excessive force portions of the report.
Petty said he takes “the report’s findings very seriously” but also said “while I question some of the statements made, I can only fully process the report with
the investigative materials from the DOJ.”
The DOJ report includes no names of individuals within the report. The DOJ’s patterns and practice investigation is a civil inquiry and not intended to bring criminal charges.
Both Petty and Batista expressed confidence in Interim Chief of Police Paul Saucier, who was appointed to the position in September 2023. The DOJ investigation focussed on cases between 2018 and 2022.
See Petty’s full statement.
Batista described the findings in the report “both shocking and unacceptable.” He added that “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.”
The Role of the Human Rights Commission and EODEI
Batista also said will charge “the new Executive Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (EODEI) and WPD with a number of priority initiatives, including to work cooperatively with the Human Rights Commission on training and policy review.”
The Human Rights Commission is the only entity in city government conducting oversight of complaints about WPD officers and its discipline actions.
Since 2022, Batista has denied requests by the commission for documents related to police activity. In December 2023, Batista ordered the commission to cease investigation of any city employees, despite the ordinance authorizing the commission’s purview of police matters.
A Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Human Rights Commission of Worcester v. Assad in 1976 said:
“Where a municipal ordinance which established a human rights commission gave the commission the power and duty to receive and investigate complaints of violations of civil rights, a complaint charging excessive use of force by police was within the scope of the commission’s authority to investigate.”
The city manager’s statement makes no reference to the Human Rights Commission’s ability to resume its police oversight responsibilities.
Batista also wrote that a hotline for members of the public to report alleged misconduct by police officers is being established. The Investigations Division within the EODEI will manage the hotline and “examine all evidence and testimony independently and without bias.”
He also said that “the Training Division within the EODEI will lead trainings, seminars, and workshops relative to behavioral health, implicit bias, and additional topics, all of which will align with and inform written policy within the WPD.”
The EODEI department reports directly to Batista. While the Human Rights Commission also falls within EODEI, it conducts public meetings which require its compliance with Massachusetts Open Meetings Law. The law requires public access to its deliberations and documents.
Batista also said that in the coming weeks, he “will prepare a report for City Council to review the structure of a Civilian Review Board, to be deliberated upon in concept through due public process.”
