WORCESTER – The Worcester City Council will debate creating a civilian review board in the current term, which began at the start of this year. The council meets for the first time on Tuesday, Jan. 13. No items related to a civilian oversight board or police reform appear on the agenda.
Based on the previous public statements of current city councilors during the 2025 campaign and previously, it appears at least a majority of councilors will not support establishing such a board. Three Worcester City Councilors have cited the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission in their arguments that the current systems for investigating allegations of police misconduct in Worcester are adequate and no further reform is necessary.
This Week in Worcester asked an official spokesperson for the POST Commission to clarify the commission’s relationship to local oversight and the role of local government in police policy enforcement after the establishment of POST. The inquiry included a direct question asking whether the establishment of the POST commission replaces any functions of municipalities in managing police discipline for misconduct.
According to the spokesperson, “the POST Commission has not replaced any functions of local law enforcement agencies in managing the disciplinary process.”
In October, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau (WRRB) released a report on establishing a civilian review board requested by City Manager Eric Batista. In the report, the WRRB recommended the city establish a civilian review board. Within the report, the bureau provides a brief history of resident advocacy for a civilian review board over the last 30 years, beginning in 1994.
The council says it will wait for a subsequent report from the city manager about the WRRB’s findings before any discussion about its report or establishing a civilian review board in Worcester. The city manager’s office has announced no timeline for presenting the report.
The Role of the POST Commission
State law established the POST Commission through “An Act Relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth,” passed by the legislature and signed by then-Governor Charlie Baker in 2020. The POST Commission says on its website that its mission is “to improve policing and enhance public confidence in law enforcement by implementing a fair process for mandatory certification, discipline, and training for all peace officers in the Commonwealth.”
The POST Commission accepts complaints directly from residents, but it also says on the page that holds the online complaint form that it sends those complaints to the law enforcement agency where the accused officer works for investigation.
The 2024 annual report of the POST Commission, released in March 2025, says it has 49 staff members.
The law that created the POST commission creates a requirement for all law enforcement officers in the state to receive certification from the commission. According to the POST Commission website, it has certified 19,734 officers across the state.
According to the POST Commission spokesperson, the law that established it enabled it to create new standards for policing and requirements for agencies in enforcing those standards. POST became “an independent statewide oversight system that oversees and operates
Agencies must report credible complaints and incidents to POST that are within the jurisdiction of the commission within a required reporting timeline.
Matters within POST jurisdiction include:
- Matters alleging bias;
- Excessive use of force;
- Serious bodily injury or death; and
- Unprofessional conduct
Agencies are also required to inform POST throughout the process of investigating misconduct, including:
- Reporting the investigation outcome;
- Associated developments; and
- Final disposition and discipline
POST reviews reports of each internal investigation and has the option to accept the agency’s conclusions and associated discipline or open a preliminary inquiry (the first stage of its investigations) into the matter. That inquiry may lead to additional proceedings.
With 49 employees, the commission operates six internal divisions. Those divisions are:
- Division of Certification
- Division of Standards
- Legal Division
- Finance and Administration
- Information Technology
- Communications and Community Engagement
According to the POST Commission 2024 annual report, its division of standards investigates allegations of police misconduct, makes disciplinary recommendations to the
Commission and conducts adjudicatory hearings on behalf of the Commission.” The 2024 report says that the division has 16 employees.
The POST Commission has jurisdiction for oversight of law enforcement agencies across the state’s 351 municipalities and the Massachusetts State Police’s 2500 troopers.
According to the 2024 report, staff brought 80 preliminary inquiries (the first stage of its investigations) before the Commission for approval in 2024, with 21 advancing to adjudicatory hearing (decision-making hearing). Just seven preliminary inquiries closed without action.
The commission had 52 preliminary inquiries remaining open at the end of 2024 that it initiated that year. When including cases from prior years, the commission had a total of 77 cases open at the end of 2024. It decertified 30 officers across the state that year.
According to the POST Commission spokesperson, in 2025 the commission concluded proceedings for 47 officers, leading to 35 decertifications, six suspensions, three retraining orders, two public reprimands and one agreement not to reapply for certification. The commission ordered other suspensions in 2025, but the process in those cases is ongoing and not yet complete.
The POST Commission spokesperson also said that “local law enforcement agencies continue to play an important role in the disciplinary process and
Criticism of BOPS
The police department, the two unions that represent officers and officials within the police department, and a majority of the Worcester City Council have focussed on criticism of the first part of the DOJ report on the pattern or practice investigation of the Worcester Police Department. In that section, the DOJ articulates testimony related to incidents it says it has “reasonable cause to believe.” The section included summaries of cases it found where Worcester Police officers used unreasonable force.
Little public discussion about the second part of the report, titled “Contributing Causes of Violations,” has taken place in over a year since the release of the report.
The outline of section headings in this section is:
- Contributing Causes of Violations
- WPD Fails to Hold Officers Accountable
- WPD’s Intake Process May Discourage Complaints
- Supervisors, Not BOPS Investigators, Investigate Some Serious Complaints, Including Complaints of Excessive Force
- BOPS Investigators Reach Improper Conclusions and Fail to Interview Key Witnesses
- WPD Officers are Rarely Disciplined for Misconduct
- Deficient Policies and Training
- WPD Does Not Adequately Supervise Officers
- WPD Fails to Hold Officers Accountable
Nearly all the public discussion about the report within the Worcester City Council focussed on new policies created by the department, led by Chief of Police Paul Saucier. The parts titled “WPD Fails to Hold Officers Accountable” and “WPD Does Not Adequately Supervise Officers” have received little attention in the council’s public discussions or in the council’s Public Safety Committee.
City Council Opposition to Reform
Multiple city councilors. including Councilor At-Large and Chairperson of the council’s Public Safety Committee Kate Toomey, Councilor At-Large Moe Bergman, and District 5 Councilor Jose Rivera have suggested the establishment of the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission, the Worcester Police Department Bureau of Professional Standards (BOPS), the city’s Human Rights Commission, and the investigative division within the city’s Department of Equity and Inclusion make a civilian review board unnecessary.
Mayor Joe Petty has the unilateral authority to appoint councilors to committees of the council. The council announced the mayor’s committee appointments during the week beginning Jan. 5. Mayor Petty reappointed both Councilor Toomey and Councilor Bergman to the public safety committee. Both have stated they do not support a civilian review board and advocate for the current system for investigating police misconduct to continue without change.
Of those entities, only the POST Commission is independent of the control of the administration of City Manager Eric Batista. The city manager sits at the top of the chain of command in Worcester and has the sole authority to appoint the chief of police, who reports directly to the manager.
All three councilors have advocated for no change to the current system where the Worcester Police Department’s BOPS unit conducts investigations of allegations of misconduct against its own officers. These internal investigations have faced significant criticism, including in the summary report of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation of the Worcester Police Department.
No city councilor has proposed an alternative oversight mechanism to a civilian review board.
