Almost 10 months since an independent study recommended Worcester create a civilian review board to help oversee the police department, city officials have yet to take any public action on the matter.
Last October, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau recommended establishing the review board to increase police accountability and help restore trust in the department after a damning federal investigation into police misconduct. The research bureau, a nonpartisan think tank, put together its analysis at the request of Worcester City Manager Eric Batista amid calls from residents for more police oversight.
Batista’s office has said since January that he plans to bring a report before the Worcester City Council that will respond to the research bureau’s recommendation. Mayor Joseph Petty has also said multiple times the City Council would publicly discuss the idea of creating the civilian review board.
But that hasn’t happened. It’s frustrating residents who thought the research bureau’s recommendation would at least push some city leaders to publicly consider creating an independent oversight panel.
“I’ve been saying for probably the last three years — the honeymoon for George Floyd is over,” Worcester NAACP President Fred Taylor said. “So a lot of people are retracting. They don’t feel as bad not giving the community things like a civilian review board. ... There’s definitely no appetite for that.”
Batista’s office said in a statement it’s currently finalizing a report in response to the research bureau’s recommendation. Batista hasn’t said whether he believes the city should move forward with a civilian review board.
The Worcester Police Department and Petty declined to comment.
Petty and Police Chief Paul Saucier have said in the past they don’t believe Worcester needs an new police oversight panel. Petty has argued that other entities, like the police department’s internal Bureau of Professional Standards, already help investigate officer misconduct.
In its analysis, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau called the city’s lack of a civilian review board “striking” given that most other major localities across the county — including Boston, Providence, Hartford and New Haven — do have comparable oversight entities.
The bureau recommended that a review board in Worcester consist of residents who have the ability to subpoena people as part of its reviews of police affairs. Subpoena power would help ensure transparent and thorough investigations free of police influence, the bureau said.
The calls for an independent oversight body are in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation in 2024 that found officers used excessive force, disproportionately targeted Black and Latino people, and committed other “outrageous” misconduct that violated people’s rights. That included engaging in sexual conduct with women suspected of being involved in the commercial sex trade during undercover operations.
The police department has said it has since made reforms to enhance training and hold officers more accountable. But many residents say those changes are insufficient.
“If you have the police investigating themselves, like the current system is, some of the stuff gets out to the public, but I’m sure a lot of this stuff doesn’t,” Taylor said.
Inaction on the research bureau’s recommendation came up during the City Council’s annual evaluation of Batista in June. While councilors mainly commended Batista’s leadership, City Council Vice Chair Khrystian King said he’s still waiting on more details regarding what happens next with the research bureau’s report.
“It’s certainly not just frustrating, but it leaves an information gap and it leaves a civic detachment of government to the people,” King told GBH News. “We as a council have — the majority have — called for this information and ought to have the opportunity to debate it.”
Even if city leaders do hold an initial discussion, the Worcester NAACP’s Taylor and Ellen Shemitz, a former chair of the Worcester Human Rights Commission, said they’re concerned Worcester still won’t create a civilian review board. Taylor and Shemitz said that’s because of the strong sway of the local police union.
Thomas Duffy II, president of the New England Police Benevolent Association Local 911, did not respond to a request for comment. But in the past, he’s slammed the idea of a civilian review board as the new way to effectively “defund” the police and create controversy.
Taylor and Shemitz said Worcester leaders have been unwilling to go against the union.
“The power of the police union in this city and the way it demonstrates that power,” Shemitz said, “it’s pretty clear. It’s undeniable.”
