Highly anticipated report calls for ‘overdue’ Worcester Police civilian oversight board
Worcester police are long overdue for a civilian oversight board that aims for ultimate transparency and public trust, a highly anticipated report released on Tuesday from the Worcester Regional Research Bureau found.
These findings follow a scathing Department of Justice (DOJ) report on the Worcester Police Department released in December 2024. This called out Worcester officers for their use of excessive force, their disproportionate effects on Black and Hispanic people and said they performed unwanted sexual acts with people in undercover operations.
Immediately after that report, City Manager Eric D. Batista announced he would prepare his own report for the Worcester City Council to review for the creation of a civilian review board.
In March , Batista had announced the Worcester Regional Research Bureau would be conducting a study about civilian review boards, which would then be available for review. At the time, this report was expected in the late spring.
Later that month, Batista said he would reserve his opinion on whether Worcester Police needed a civilian oversight board until after that report was released.
This 27-page report from the Worcester Regional Research Bureau, finally released Tuesday, said the police department is "overdue" for an oversight board.
The findings contended that any oversight board should have, amongst 14 other listed "baseline features," the power to subpoena Worcester police for testimony and records. It also said there should be structured member training requirements and access to police data systems.
The Research Bureau found that Worcester's current accountability systems — which include the Bureau of Professional Standards, the Human Rights Commission, the Investigations Division of the Executive Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the state POST Commission — "may fall short of best oversight practices."
"Civilian oversight of police has been debated in Worcester for more than half a century ... [and] despite these repeated discussions, Worcester has not established a civilian oversight body," the report read.
Worcester is one of the largest cities in the United States and second largest in New England, the report continued — but it "remains one of the few major cities in the nation without a civilian review board or comparable oversight structure."
Additionally, the DOJ report highlighted "systematic weaknesses" in Worcester's internal accountability systems.
At a city council meeting in March, several Worcester residents spoke in support of a civilian oversight board's creation. Some said it would provide accountability and transparency of the police department.
"The civilian review board I think would be a good idea," said Nathan Karpowich, a resident of Worcester.
During that meeting, the city council also asked Police Chief Paul Saucier about details in the DOJ report and the revision to police policies made in the wake of the report's release.
Some of these changes include prohibiting the deployment of police dogs at mass gatherings or riot scenes and making it so that WPD officers can only be allowed to conduct enforcement without having a subject of an investigation enter a vehicle.
Karpowich said these changes are a step forward but more oversight is needed.
"It's something but it's nowhere close to what we want," he said. "It's something to be an opening conversation to move forward."
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