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The city has hired 21CP Solutions, a Chicago-based firm, to investigate the New Bedford Police Department’s internal affairs and narcotics units, Mayor Jon Mitchell announced Monday.
The firm will review the Professional Standards Unit (also known as internal affairs), which investigates police misconduct and recommends discipline, and the Organized Crime and Intelligence Bureau (OCIB), which handles narcotics cases.
Mitchell has been in contact with 21CP “for a few weeks about the review” and finalized the deal with the firm on March 28, city public information officer Jonathan Darling told The Light. The review is expected to take about 90 days.
The city also revealed to The Light today the name of an expert hired earlier in March to review the department: Michael Berkow, former director of the Coast Guard Investigative Service, and former head of internal affairs for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Darling said Berkow was “brought on board earlier in March,” and will report to 21CP. The firm lists about 40 employees and consultants, but Berkow is not an employee.
On March 19, Mitchell said the department hired a “highly respected internal affairs expert to take a deeper dive.” It was in a statement in response to The Boston Globe’s multi-part series, “Snitch City,” which investigated the New Bedford Police Department and ways police officers — both former and current — abused the confidential informant system. The series traced this to when Chief Paul Oliveira worked as a detective in narcotics decades ago.
“I have directed him to thoroughly review the Boston Globe’s reporting so that no area in need of improvement is missed,” Mitchell wrote then. “We will make his findings available to the public.”
Berkow is the expert Mitchell referred to, Darling said Monday.
The city’s press release names two people: Charles Ramsey, founder of 21CP, and former chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department; and Kathleen O’Toole, who served as the Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety in the late 1990s, and as the Boston Police Commissioner in the early 2000s. Berkow will report directly to O’Toole, per Darling.
In a statement, O’Toole said, “We share the Mayor’s view that effective police departments must embrace an ethos of strong values and continuous improvement. We welcome this opportunity to assist Mayor Mitchell, the New Bedford Police Department, and those they serve.”
21CP derives its name from “21st century policing,” a term popularized during the Obama administration. On its website, 21CP says it “conducts assessments of police departments and law enforcement organizations — identifying opportunities for enhancement and comparing practices and performance in light of best and promising, emerging practices.”
The city’s Monday press release does not mention The Globe’s reporting specifically, but states that 21CP “will consider recent reporting about allegations that certain officers mishandled informants,” in order to “inform its recommendations.”
Darling said 21CP is being paid an hourly rate and did not immediately have the cost estimate.
This year, 21CP was hired to investigate a police department in Ohio over its response to a neo-Nazi demonstration that took place in February.
In recent years, 21CP recommended a community review board for an Iowa police department, investigated the Harvard Police Department’s practices and procedures and the Raleigh department’s response to George Floyd protests. It also signed on as a consultant with CBS Studios for television legal dramas.
Previous review found problems with department
Mitchell said on Monday that the review by 21CP and Berkow will build on work undertaken by another firm, Jensen Hughes.
“Jensen Hughes’s work has been, and continues to be, invaluable to the NBPD,” Mitchell said. “We are going to build on that good work with a focus on ensuring best practices in the Department’s narcotics and internal affairs units … and we look forward to receiving an actionable set of recommendations that will enhance the department’s ability to protect our residents and strengthen public trust.”
The Jensen Hughes report, which the mayor regularly cites, in 2023 described a “problematic” situation in the department regarding the length of its internal affairs investigations into complaints against officers. According to NBPD complaint data, some internal investigations have lasted from months to more than a year before being closed.
The internal affairs unit was once headed by Oliveira, and is now overseen by Candido Trinidad, an officer that The Globe reported provided an “implausible story” to investigators who were looking into alleged criminal activity by an officer Trinidad supervised.
The department’s complaint policy also lacks guidelines for when department leadership should act on a completed investigation. While an investigation remains open, agencies can withhold the records from public disclosure through an exemption afforded by state records law.
Further, the existing policy establishes that the chief may “waive any time limit … in the event of unusual circumstances or conditions.”
The report also recommended in 2023 that Chief Oliveira develop a “disciplinary matrix” to ensure disciplinary actions are fair and consistent for everyone.
A common refrain expressed by New Bedford officers has been that discipline depends on who you are and who you know in the department, The Light previously reported, and that discipline meted out by leadership is inconsistent. As of this month, the department still does not have a matrix.
The Globe’s reporting argued that Oliveira and others turned a blind eye to certain misconduct. The police department has created a “For the Record” page on its site, where it criticizes and counters several aspects of The Globe series.
Jensen Hughes spent more than a year examining the New Bedford Police Department and issued a report with recommendations for best practices on issues, including transparency, in 2023.
The department has not adopted some Jensen Hughes recommendations on transparency, including publishing data on complaints against officers. Nor has it amended existing policy to set stronger time limits on when internal investigations should be completed.
Regarding confidential informants, the review, for which the city paid more than $120,000, said the department’s system presents a “real danger” if it is not closely monitored.
The firm recommended that the department “regularly review the use of confidential informants,” review the policy annually, and audit all confidential informants to “ensure they have not been involved in any criminal acts.” That was in 2023.
Oliveira announced his retirement on Feb. 18. It takes effect May 3. His current contract as chief, signed last summer, was set to expire in 2027.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
Hiring foxes to investigate foxes does nothing to aid the chickens!