Worcester police chief: Past practices harmed communities of color
WORCESTER — During his first public comments on the recently released racial equity audit of the Worcester Police Department, Interim Chief Paul B. Saucier on Tuesday told the City Council that the department acknowledges historic police practices have hurt communities of color.
He said the department is working to rectify any such policies.
"Historically, there have been police practices that have been negative to communities of color," Saucier said. "We recognize that, and I can tell you right now as the current leader of this department, the Worcester Police Department is committed to identifying any of those and rectifying them."
The City Council discussed the police audit, which former City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. ordered as part of a slate of executive actions in response to the 2020 protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Separate from the audit, the department is facing a civil investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which said in November 2022 it found “significant justification" to investigate whether the Worcester police engage in a “pattern or practice of racially discriminatory and gender-biased policing," and use excessive force.
City Manager Eric D. Batista delivered the audit to the City Council.
The auditors, from the nonprofit Center for Naval Analyses, made dozens of findings and recommendations about the department.
Recommendations included establishing a citizens advisory council, acknowledging past incidents with communities of color, increased use-of-force data collection, several steps to improve training, and developing a more robust diversity, equity and inclusion plan.
The data collected by the researchers also found a “noticeable overrepresentation of Black and Hispanic individuals in arrests." Youths of color were also arrested at disproportionate rates, according to the audit.
The auditors did find that disparities in traffic citations actually decreased in situations when officers had greater discretion.
One audit also recommended consideration of taking the entire Police Department out of civil service. On March 19, City Council supported Batista petitioning the state Legislature to take the police chief and four deputy chief positions out of civil service.
Audit sent back to city manager
Prior to the City Council meeting, city group Black Families Together took to social media to urge people to call into the meeting, requesting the council send the report back to Batista so he could hold community input sessions to shape the recommendations.
Several in-person and call-in commenters urged that the council do so Tuesday.
The City Council agreed to send the audit back to the manager's office, with Councilor-at-Large Khrystian King making the motion.
Batista said the city's intention was to always get community input, while getting the audit to a standing committee so the auditors could be present to answer questions.
The auditors also held two public input sessions that had 25 attendees and spoke with a number of outside community groups.
Saucier acknowledged the harm done by past police practices in response to a question from King about the perception of surveyed officers that there are not issues of police discrimination, although surveyed civilians felt differently.
Missing demographic data, favoritism allegations
Mayor Joseph M. Petty asked Saucier about missing demographic data that was cited in the audit. The chief said the department's records system is about 30 years old, meaning it cannot disaggregate the requested data from arrest records in house.
The auditors also did not have a state Criminal Offender Record Information background test done that would have allowed them to look at the records without redactions. That meant police would have had to go through about thousands of pages to make redactions before handing them to the auditors, Saucier said.
Responding to the surveys finding that 44% of respondents strongly believed the Police Department's internal disciplinary actions benefit officers who are favored by city and police officials, Saucier told the council that it should consider that the survey was anonymous and some may have an "ax to grind."
The chief added that the department follows "progressive discipline" where officers who face repeated sustained complaints receive stronger disciplinary action.
"The way that I've been doing this, if it comes in front of me and it's sustained, I'm going with the recommendations," Saucier said. "If that means termination, suspension, then that's what it is. I'm not out to make friends here and say, 'This guy I grew up with so I'm going to do it different than I would anyone else.'"
City councilors respond
District 3 City Councilor George Russell and King said they would have liked an in-depth communication in response to the audit from the city administration. King made the motion to send the audit back to Batista in order to get community input.
Councilors were also dismayed that an anonymous internal survey had a response rate of only around 25% for a department of about 500 employees. Batista said the city had to be careful about surveying employees for reasons related to unions and bargaining, and said police leadership tried to encourage survey participation.
Councilor-at-Large Kathleen Toomey, who chairs the council's Standing Committee on Public Safety, said the Police Department has shown a commitment to community conversations, and that some of those steps were included in the scope of the report.
"There are concerns and there have been reasons for concerns in the past," Toomey said. "I think it's really important that we continue to move forward, to address and identify all of the things that we've already done that weren't recognized in this report."
Toomey said the department has been doing good work improving diversity of potential hires who will take civil service.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester police chief: Past practices harmed communities of color
