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NEW BEDFORD — For the first time since the 1990s, the city will have an outsider leading its police department.
Mayor Jon Mitchell has broken from the city’s record of elevating an internal candidate to the top job, announcing on Tuesday his appointment of Jason Thody as the new police chief. Thody, a recently retired chief out of Hartford, Connecticut, was one of 21 applicants.
“As a career law enforcement leader, I have always believed that public safety is a shared responsibility,” Thody said, “one built on mutual respect, accountability and trust between the police department and the community it serves.”
“I will work every day to be present, honest and transparent for the community and the police officers that I serve,” he continued. “I come to New Bedford with a deep understanding of the complexities of modern law enforcement. These are challenges that require both courage and innovation.”
In Hartford, Mitchell said, Thody ushered in significant progress, with a focus on “community policing, data-driven decision-making and operational transparency.” The mayor added: “His record, frankly, speaks for itself and he is well equipped to take the helm here in New Bedford.”
Thody’s background fits much of the vision the mayor has laid out for New Bedford’s police, with an emphasis on community policing and reforming the department to align with “21st century policing.”
21st Century Policing, or 21CP, also happens to be the name of the consulting firm the city is paying to investigate the department. A consultant of the firm was also on the city’s screening committee, which advised on candidates for the new chief.
Thody, 49, served 30 years in the Hartford Police Department, his last five as chief through 2024. Mitchell cited several achievements from Thody’s tenure: crime declined; a career development program was established to focus on recruiting minority and female officers; and “major reforms” were adopted, including a new citizen complaint process to ensure complaints were investigated consistently.
As a result of this work, sustained complaints against officers charged with misconduct increased from 7% to 29%, Mitchell said.
Thody will replace Paul Oliveira, who retired May 3. He is coming in at a time when the police department and its former chief have been under intense scrutiny, following an investigation by the Boston Globe, called “Snitch City.”
The multipart series alleges misconduct by the narcotics division spanning decades, including by Oliveira. 21CP and another consultant were hired in March to review the practices of the narcotics and internal affairs divisions in light of the “Snitch City” series; their report is expected soon.
Reporters asked Mitchell about this. He said the decision of whom to hire was focused on who the best candidate would be, and that media reports did not factor in.
“We put out a job posting and listed the criteria,” Mitchell said. The city wanted “someone who is capable of building teams, someone who would bring credibility to the department … someone who is sophisticated with data and who is committed to constant improvement.”
Still, Thody’s tenure in Hartford was not without issues. As chief, Thody faced a vote of no confidence from the union. (In New Bedford, former police chiefs Oliveira and Joseph Cordeiro also received votes of no confidence.)
In 2020 as chief, he was disciplined after being involved in a single-vehicle crash while driving a department car. A witness reported seeing the car driving erratically, and a Hartford city councilor questioned whether there was transparency or accountability following the incident.
In 2019, an investigation, underway when Thody was assistant police chief, found that a police sergeant and lieutenant violated the department’s code of conduct after one officer sexually harassed a female Hartford officer who identified as LGBTQ.
In 2010, according to CT Insider, Thody, then a lieutenant, was involved in an off-duty altercation at a bar.
The Light asked Thody how he planned to adopt 2023 recommendations from Jensen Hughes to standardize discipline so that officers who engage in misconduct are investigated in a timely manner and disciplined consistently and fairly.
He said the report was a “big plus.”
“There is a strong foundation there, but there is another report coming about the internal affairs process,” Thody said. “I think consistency in discipline is really what’s important.”
When he took over as assistant chief in Hartford and oversaw the professional standards unit (which undertakes internal investigations), “there were things I found in our practices … that would not elicit trust from the community.”
“Investigations took too long. We often weren’t looking as in-depth into these investigations as we should be looking,” Thody said. “Ultimately we righted that ship. I think that’s what we’ll do here in New Bedford, too.”
Last month, The Light found an investigation into possible widespread misconduct within the narcotics unit was only a few sentences long. The internal investigator reached his conclusion that the unit was following policy without much, if any, explanation in his report.
Asked about his approach to dealing with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, which has increased its activity in the city since President Donald Trump’s second term, Thody said it was in part a political issue.
“What does the City of New Bedford, what does Mayor Mitchell expect of the police department?” he responded. “In Hartford, we did not communicate with ICE; we did not provide information to ICE at the direction of the administration.”
Former Chief Oliveira had said the department was willing to provide information to ICE if requested, and that he wouldn’t prevent police officers from volunteering information to ICE. Mitchell in April lambasted ICE for not communicating timely or accurate information on activity with city police. (Massachusetts state law does not allow local police to arrest people for federal immigration enforcement. But the law does not ban police from communicating with federal immigration agencies.)
Thody stressed the importance of building relationships with people one doesn’t agree or align with, citing ICE as an example.
To protect residents and officers, “we have to have a relationship with [ICE]. They are a law enforcement agency,” he said. He added that he hopes there are no more broken windows, referencing the violent April arrest of an immigrant in New Bedford.
“That will be something that the mayor and I will discuss and then we will make clear to the police department,” Thody said. “The last thing I want is for our officers to be stuck in the middle of that.”
The search for a chief
Mitchell convened a nine-person screening committee in April to review the candidates for chief. Jensen Hughes consultants interviewed the applicants, and passed six to eight names to the committee for another round of interviews, according to city Public Information Officer Jonathan Darling. The committee then recommended finalists to Mitchell for final interviews and selection.
The city did not undertake a screening process when Mitchell promoted Oliveira to chief in 2021 after Chief Cordeiro retired. At the time, Oliveira was serving as deputy chief and then acting chief. Darling previously said it is common practice to promote department leaders without a search committee if they are second-in-command and qualified.
This year’s selection process was conducted in relative secrecy, even up until Tuesday’s press conference. Assistant Deputy Chief Scott Carola did not know there was a press conference when a Light reporter contacted him Tuesday morning.
Per Darling, the mayor notified Thody of his selection last week.
Police Union President Lorenzo Gonzalez criticized Mitchell over this secrecy.
“For us it was disappointing not to have the opportunity to at the very least be told, ‘Hey, these are the three finalists,’ and allow us to do our own homework,” said Gonzalez, who attended Tuesday’s press conference and afterwards exchanged introductions with his new boss.
Gonzalez said he’d heard that some finalists were from Georgia and California, and that one of the department’s own, Capt. Nathaniel Rodriguez, was also a finalist.
Darling said the city will not share details about the other applicants or finalists “out of respect for their privacy,” only confirming that Thody was one of three finalists.
Issues Gonzalez would like Thody to address include low staffing, retention, recruitment, and the ongoing contract negotiations between the city and union. He said members would also like to see the creation of a field training officer program, which he described as a form of mentorship and on-the-job training between rookie and veteran officers.
Thody’s appointment does not require City Council approval, but the council can vote to endorse him. Two council members served on the search committee: Shawn Oliver, also a corrections officer; and Brian Gomes, a longtime supporter of the police department and chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee.
On Tuesday in an email, Oliver said he was “excited and optimistic” about the department’s future under Thody’s leadership.
“His professionalism, preparedness, and strong command presence clearly distinguished him in what was a very competitive selection process,” he said.
After retiring from Hartford’s police department last year, Thody started a consulting firm, and more recently, worked as the data director for the state of Connecticut’s Division of Criminal Justice, which is listed on LinkedIn as his current employer. He also has a master’s degree in public safety from the University of Virginia.
The city and Thody are still finalizing his contract, which includes a salary between $230,000 and $250,000. He is expected to start on July 14.
After being sworn in, Thody will address the City Council, by request from the mayor, to share his thoughts on the future of the department.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
My problem would be that we had some good candidates from our police department and one in particular that lives in New Bedford, and has a vested interest in solving the issues that confront our city, and also would no be a yes sir to the Mayor. Will this guy be a yes sir to the Mayor? Only time will tell. I hope he listens to his officers and not always the MAYOR.
Sounds like a solid choice. Unfortunately NBPD had enough longstanding baggage perceived or otherwise that it was best to search outside.