A recent letter from the U.S. Department of Justice raises questions about how city leaders framed federal officials’ decision to close their investigation into the Worcester Police Department.
City Manager Eric Batista’s office announced in a press release last Friday that the Justice Department had told the city it would be ending its yearslong probe.
The press release stated that the Justice Department made its decision “without sustaining any allegations” from a 2024 Department of Justice report that found Worcester officers used excessive force, disproportionately targeted Black and Latino people and engaged in “outrageous” sexual misconduct.
The wording implied the Justice Department may have revoked or rescinded its findings.
But according to a copy of the department’s letter to city leaders, obtained by GBH News, federal investigators never mention that they’re not sustaining their original conclusion about Worcester police misconduct. In fact, the letter suggested federal officials stood by the original findings of misconduct among Worcester police officers.
The department decided to end the investigation in light of steps the Worcester Police Department has taken to address misconduct and increase accountability, according to the letter.
“Based on these developments and lack of current allegations concerning the conduct that was subject to the original investigation, we are closing this matter without further action,” wrote Patrick McCarthy, the acting chief of the Justice Department’s special litigation section.
It’s unclear whether Batista has had any recent communication with the Department of Justice other than the Aug. 6 letter.
After seeing a copy of the letter, Worcester City Council Vice Chair Khrystian King released a statement accusing Batista of mischaracterizing the Justice Department’s reasoning and trying to undermine the 2024 findings of police misconduct.
“Nowhere does the letter conclude that community concerns were unfounded or unsubstantiated, nor does it retract the DOJ’s findings,” King said in a press release. “Worcester residents deserve honesty from their government, particularly on matters of public safety, police accountability, and community trust.”
Batista has not responded to a request for comment. The Department of Justice declined to comment.
The letter was addressed to Batista, Mayor Joseph Petty, Worcester’s outside legal counsel Brian Kelly and Police Chief Paul Saucier. It noted that a Department of Justice team met with personnel from the Worcester Police Department, including Saucier, on July 14.
The letter also provides a glimpse into the steps the Department of Justice took to investigate the police following the 2024 report.
McCarthy wrote that Worcester police “shared substantial” information with Justice Department officials, including training materials, incident reports, body camera video and complaint investigations. Justice Department officials reviewed all complaint investigations related to use of force and sexual misconduct in the second half of 2025 with the assistance of a subject-matter expert.
McCarthy concluded the letter by saying that the police department’s updated policies “demonstrate a strengthened use-of-force review and explicit prohibition against officers engaging in sexual conduct while on duty.”
“We thank Chief Saucier and WPD for their cooperation, and we commend WPD for taking steps to improve its practices,” McCarthy wrote.
In his statement, King said Batista’s “mischaracterization” of the letter is another example of city leaders trying to discredit the 2024 report. King recalled that, when the report was first publicized two years ago, Batista and Petty signed off on a different letter from the city’s outside counsel slamming the findings as “unfair, inaccurate and biased.”
The 2024 report came out under the Biden administration. Since then, it had been unclear what the Justice Department under President Donald Trump has been doing with it.
Federal officials’ decision to close the investigation comes as they’ve done the same with probes of other police departments across the country since Trump took office. The investigation into Worcester police was one that remained open.
Many residents have said the damning findings in 2024 of a pattern of excessive force, racial discrimination and unlawful sexual misconduct proved that officers need to be held more accountable. They’ve demanded the city create an independent civilian review board to oversee the police department.
Batista and Saucier have opposed those calls. They’ve said more oversight is unnecessary because of recent reforms within the police department to enhance training and hold officers more accountable.
