WORCESTER – The City of Worcester was named a finalist for the Investigative Reporters and Editors’ 2023 Golden Padlock Award, which is issued “honoring the most secretive public agency or official in the U.S.”
Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. (IRE), a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. It will name the annual Golden Padlock Award for the 10th time in 2023. IRE will announce the winner at its awards luncheon on June 24 in Orlando.
IRE releases its reasoning for each nomination when it announces its finalists. The full entry for the nomination of Worcester:
“The City of Worcester, Massachusetts, for its steadfast devotion to withholding information about internal affairs investigations involving city police officers accused of misconduct. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette first requested the records five years ago to investigate allegations of excessive force, fabricated evidence and civil rights violations. After initially indicating it would release the records, city staff reversed course and denied the newspaper’s request, claiming the records were exempt because of ongoing lawsuits against the officers. When the newspaper sued, a state court judge ordered Worcester to release the records, ruling that officials acted in bad faith and violated the Massachusetts Public Records Law. The U.S. Department of Justice has since opened an investigation to determine whether the city’s police engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force or discrimination.”
The City of Worcester was one of four finalists named for the award this year. The other nominees for the award are:
- The City of Vallejo, California, for intentionally destroying key documents related to multiple police shootings in the city. The 2021 purge, which violated the city’s own policy and possibly an agreement with the California Department of Justice, happened with the approval of a senior city attorney.
- The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy for its staunch commitment to blocking release of internal emails about a growing public health risk in the state. The agency originally quoted the Flatwater Free Press a fee of $2,000 to access internal emails referencing a cancer-causing chemical in fertilizer that has been increasingly showing up in Nebraska drinking water.
- The City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, for chronic violations of the state’s open records laws that routinely delay disclosures for more than a year without repercussions. With a backlog of 3,000 unfulfilled Freedom of Information requests, Bridgeport violated public records law 28 times over the past decade – by far the most in the state – a Hearst Connecticut Media investigation found.
The full announcement of the award nominees is available on the IRE website.
NEW: #Worcester was named as a finalist for the Golden Padlock Award, which recognizes the most secretive government agencies and officials.
The city was chosen for its illegal effort to keep records of police misconduct investigations secret.#mapolihttps://t.co/xiticxHmMb
— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr) June 5, 2023
