I was sitting on the floor, about 25 feet from the doorway to the Esther Howland room. I didn’t feel well, and the air was hot from all the people. There were 200 officers, union officials and their family members there, and about 100 others, including victims, advocates and their families. I was there as media, as a friend, and as a person of Worcester.
I thought if I should get in line to say something. Listening to the testimonies through Manny Jae Media was sometimes harrowing, and I couldn’t think of what I could contribute. The officers who spoke were mostly univocal, ‘Not all cops are bad.’
We know that.
Not all black people look the same either. Generalizations are always the single worst way to talk about a subject. All this, or all that, and you are in trouble quick.
I am a Christian man. I love Jesus with my whole heart, and I often hear how terrible Christians are. Judgmental, hateful, and abusive. It is not true either.
The DOJ report on the police says not all cops are bad, repeatedly. Further, in the online zoom session, every attorney said, “Not all cops are bad.” In every statement I read, in every newspaper, every official said, “Not all cops are bad.”
Like a mantra.
Yet, in the official statement, from the city’s outside attorney, we got, “In racing to publish an inaccurate report before the change in presidential administrations, without bothering to get the facts right, DOJ has done an extreme disservice to the entire Worcester community and, in particular, to the hundreds of honorable Worcester police officers who risk their lives every day to make Worcester a safe place to live.”
This paragraph is wild.
“In racing to publish.” – From all the sources we talked to, the report was not rushed, it was delayed, and the City Manager knew. In his general apology for the statement, City Manager
Batista acknowledged knowing things in advance. ‘Inaccurate report’ -This broad brush has serious issues. There are at least 4 known cases in the report where the City of Worcester was sued, and lost. These are known cases. Which are well documented, and completely accurate.
“…before the change in presidential administrations.” – By all accounts, the Trump landing team approved of the report.
“…without bothering to get the facts right…” Again, many of the facts are, in fact, facts that are right.
“DOJ has done an extreme disservice to the entire Worcester community.” According to the 100 plus victims and advocates there Tuesday, I would say this line is inaccurate at best.
“…to the hundreds of honorable Worcester police officers who risk their lives every day to make Worcester a safe place to live.” Ahh, here is were we get the broad brush of the all the police.
What a neat rhetorical trick! Attack a generalization that is not present, by presenting in an antagonistic tone! This one statement set off a chain of events, and was followed by mirror statements from Mayor Petty, Interim Chief Saucier, Councilor Kate Toomey, and the heads of the police unions. They all questioned the veracity of the report. All said the pledge of all good cops. All asked for more evidence.
Not one said the one thing that could have prevented all of this: We will do everything we can to get to the bottom of this, and justice will prevail. Even vague, tough nonsense would have released the steam.
But no. We got a statement that should have been a clear path to healing.
Instead, 200 clearly angry people came to city council in lockstep.
I was standing by myself for a bit at the beginning, and several officers I know came and stared at me. Why? Probably to intimidate me. I have been getting text and phone death threats for my role in reporting on this.
Yet, as soon as Chief Saucier came over to me to shake my hand, confusion set in. How could he shake my hand? Because he knows, I just report the story.
Back to sitting on the floor.
Quite a few people had spoken, but not yet an officer. An officer approached the podium, slammed the report, and walked away to a thunderous applause. Like he just gave the best halftime speech for the high school football team. It was thunderous.
I said to my friends, now it will be an applause and shouting contest. For the next 90 minutes, that is exactly what happened.
Do you know what I did not see?
I did not see one cop try to interact with the group from Project Priceless. Not one wife spoke to the women.
Not every member of Project Priceless is in this report. In fact, most were not. The majority of them have done the hard work of speaking out, and many have documented cases where their perpetrators went to jail. Which means, of course their stories are true. Yet, the scorn that the officers and wives showed them was in my opinion disqualifying.
Further, many of the officers got into petty squabbles with the other side. The tone was that of a bully. Angry, unified bullies that do not want to be grouped together as bad cops.
Yet they all did the same thing. They protected their own. They don’t think the other people there are their own. There really are two sides. One side is sensitive to any accusation of any wrongdoing. The other is victims and their advocates.
Does this mean no one ever lied about a cop? No.
Does this mean every victim is telling the truth? No.
Should we, as a city do everything we can, and I mean everything, to get to the bottom of this? Yes.
Fear was the policy on display Tuesday night, but it wasn’t directed at the victims and their advocates. It was directed at the city council and the city administration. It was a show of force to remind them who is boss.
Not every city councilor is a coward. But some are. I wonder who is who.
Welcome to Worcester.
