Tom Marino, Mark Henderson, and Randy Feldman Analyze DOJ Report on Worcester Police Department

Tom Marino of thisweekinworcester.com comments on the DOJ Report on the WPD and says he didn’t see anything in the report that surprised him. He said for years, the people, have been coming to City Hall on Tuesday nights to complain and bring up issues about the Worcester Police Department and they have been ignored and now they have been vindicated. He praised Nikki Bell for having brought up these issues over the years. He said the city administration has always known that the nature of the investigation meant that anonymous sources would be used, so complaints about them being used in the report is just misinformation by the administration. He says attempts to undermine the report through a pre-emptive strike by a city hired lawyer are the wrong approach.

 

Marino said the only thing he wants to hear is that the city failed, that the DOJ has done the work the city should have done, and assurances that the city will now work to fix it.

 

Mark Henderson of the 016.com commented that the Mayor and City Manager reportedly met with the DOJ on Friday and got a heads up of the report. He said he doesn’t understand why the lawyer, hired by the city, was allowed to rip the report before the public and others had seen it, and then how the City Manager could issue a statement that the findings are both shocking and unacceptable. Henderson feels the statement by the City Manager doesn’t jibe with the release by the attorney. A release he says the City Manager and Mayor must have seen before it went out. Henderson wonders if the City is positioning for a political battle and that they are going to fight this. Henderson said he hopes we are past the “few bad apples” defense. That this is systemic.

Randy Feldman, a member of the Human Rights Commission, said this is about the flip-flop of the City Manager from the statement or the attorney to his own statement on the report. That this report was “not a rush to judgement.”

 

That it took two years and one month to complete, which is in line with other investigations of other cities. Feldman said the Human Rights Commission has been calling for the investigatory reports for years. They have also called for a Civilian Review Board because their own efforts to get information have been stonewalled by the City Manager.