WORCESTER – According to multiple federal sources, including two members of the U.S. Department of Justice team which prepared its report on the Worcester Police Department, tell This Week in Worcester that the report was completed prior to election day. U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland ordered the release of the report delayed until after election day to avoid impacting the election, according to the sources.
According to multiple employees of the City of Worcester with direct knowledge of internal deliberations, City Manager Eric Batista was aware the report was delayed prior to his approval of a statement released by a private attorney hired by the city for matters related to the DOJ investigation.
In a statement sent to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on Monday, December 9, Brian Kelley, a partner at the Boston law firm Nixon Peabody which represents the city in the DOJ investigation, said the report on the investigations was “unfair, inaccurate, and biased.”
Statements by the administration of City Manager Eric Batista show that he both reviewed and approved the statement for release, which included several statements that were unsupported by facts and appear to be intentional misrepresentations. On assertion claimed that DOJ rushed the report by “racing to publish an inaccurate report before the change in presidential administration.”
This Week in Worcester also learned that President-Elect Donald Trump’s landing team inside the DOJ reviewed both the report on Worcester, and the DOJ’s report on the police department of White Castle, NY. The incoming officials took no issue with the release of the report.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report on Monday, December 6, covering the findings of the investigation into the Worcester Police Department (WPD) announced on November 15, 2022.
The over two-year long investigation determined that “DOJ has reasonable cause to believe that WPD and the City engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law.”
The executive summary of the report presents two main findings:
- “WPD uses excessive force that violates the Fourth Amendment. Officers unreasonably deploy Tasers, use police dogs, and strike people in the head. Officers rapidly escalate minor incidents by using more force than necessary, including during encounters with people who have behavioral health disabilities or are in crisis.”
- “WPD engages in outrageous government conduct that violates the constitutional rights of women suspected of being involved in the commercial sex trade by engaging in sexual contact during undercover operations. This violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.”
Find coverage of the finding of the DOJ report related to excessive force, or coverage of its findings related to sexual misconduct
