The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is accusing the Worcester, Massachusetts, Police Department of excessive force, sexual misconduct, and “disproportionate policing of black and Hispanic people” in a 43-page report released Dec. 9.
The report states that a two-year DOJ investigation found that Worcester police “unreasonably deploy Tasers, use police dogs, and strike people in the head.”
The report also alleged Worcester officers often needlessly escalate the level of violence in minor incidents, including encounters with people with mental health issues or who are in crisis.
Undercover officers are accused of sexual misconduct, including misleading, tricking, or forcing women into sex with the threat of criminal charges.
DOJ prosecutors said the majority of Worcester police officers are serving honorably. But during a Monday night webinar recapping the report, they said their investigation turned up problems.
“Our comprehensive investigation revealed that the Worcester Police Department uses excessive force and has allowed undercover police officers to engage in sexual contact with women suspected of being involved in the commercial sex trade,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division wrote in a Monday press release.
The report alleged a lack of leadership, accountability, reliable data, and training for the issues outlined.
“WPD’s inadequate policies, training, supervision, investigations, and discipline fostered these unlawful patterns or practices,” the report states.
While the report stopped short of blaming racism for the problems, one U.S. attorney said during the webinar that race appeared to be a factor in some instances.
The report notes that Worcester is 51.8 percent white, 12.8 percent black, 24.6 percent Hispanic, 6.8 percent Asian, and 0.4 percent Native American. It also said blacks and Hispanics were more likely to be arrested during a traffic stop and more likely to be arrested for nonviolent misdemeanors.
“The analysis showed that black individuals are at least two times more likely to be arrested for minor offenses than white individuals, while Hispanic individuals are between 1.84 and 2.04 times more likely to be arrested than white individuals,” Greg Dorchak, an assistant U.S. attorney, said during the webinar.
Dorchak said Worcester police did not gather demographic data on traffic stops, arrests, and other interactions, so it’s impossible to determine precisely how much of a factor race played in the findings. He said that better data collection was one of the recommendations listed in the report.
Worcester city and police department officials did not respond to requests for comment by publication time. A Boston-based attorney hired as outside counsel for the city also did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for an interview.
The DOJ opened its investigation on Nov. 15, 2022. It was run by the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and the Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, according to a press release announcing the report.
Investigators said they accessed hundreds of incident reports and thousands of documents, including department policies, training materials, police reports, videos, and internal affairs files. They also conducted statistical analyses of WPD’s data covering January 2017 through November 2022.
In its report, the DOJ noted changes made by the city and WPD and listed other measures it considers necessary to address the findings. The reforms cited include a Policy Review Committee to receive public feedback on the police and the February 2023 adoption of body-worn cameras for officers department-wide.
In addition to better data collection and use of force training, the report said Worcester police must formulate policies that hold offending police accountable, make it easier to report rogue police, take civilian complaints seriously, and investigate them thoroughly.
Joshua Levy, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said the report has laid the groundwork for improving the department. He called on the public, law enforcement officers, social service agencies, and others to contact his office and the DOJ with their concerns.
“We’re ready to build on these foundations,” Levy said Monday night.
