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NEW BEDFORD — Last August, a consulting firm issued dozens of recommendations for the police department, ranging from greater openness with public information to improved policies for handling officer misconduct and discrimination.
A year later, the police department has not adopted several of the report’s recommendations on officer misconduct and openness with the public. Body cameras are not yet deployed, though progress has been made and the equipment purchased.
The consulting firm Jensen Hughes recommended that the police department publish information on its internal policies, but the department still has no links to policies for the public to read. The Light has obtained several NBPD policies through records requests, and is sharing them on this page.
The department has not yet adopted Jensen Hughes’ recommendations to publish data on use-of-force incidents or information on complaints against officers. Nor has it amended existing policy to set stronger time limits on when internal investigations should be completed.
Jensen Hughes spent more than a year reviewing the New Bedford Police Department after the city commissioned the study in 2021 and paid $120,000 for it. The city asked the firm to identify areas for improvement and recommend best practices for issues including “bias-free policing” and transparency.
Police chief and mayor cite progress
Police Chief Paul Oliveira did not respond to an interview request through a spokesperson, but issued a statement and 14-page document to The Light stating that the department has acted on “most” of the report’s 89 recommendations so far.
The statement outlined actions the department has already taken, such as increasing community engagement and holding regular meetings to discuss upcoming departmental change and staff concerns. Other recommendations, the chief said, are subject to the collective bargaining agreement or will be adopted after forthcoming updates to the old computer systems.
“As we move forward to implement additional recommendations, it is important to recognize that change within any organization must be incremental to be effective,” Oliveira wrote. “Rapid shifts can lead to confusion and resistance, but gradual, well-planned adjustments allow for adaptation and long-term success.”
Jensen Hughes continues to work with the department to enact policy changes, he wrote.
“We understand that the process of change can be daunting, but with careful planning and collaboration, we are confident that we can successfully use these recommendations to lift the NBPD to new heights,” Oliveira wrote.
Mayor Jon Mitchell said he was “pleased” with the progress the “already successful” department has made in the last year.
“While some of the reforms will have to wait on the conversion of the department’s electronic records system, I am pleased with the progress the department has been making overall,” Mitchell wrote. “We are committed to continuous improvement in the police department and across city government, as our residents deserve nothing less.”
The Jensen Hughes report “provides a roadmap for improvement for the next decade,” he said.
Public reporting of certain data hasn’t happened
Jensen Hughes recommended that the police department publish information on its internal policies, crime data and use of force incidents, but a year later, the department has only done some of that.
Police departments across the country have increasingly released information on their websites — be it data or internal policies — in an effort to improve transparency and accountability with the public, per Jensen Hughes.
“The release of this information aligns with best practices and fosters community trust, police legitimacy, and confidence that law enforcement will hold officers accountable,” the report states.
It suggested that the New Bedford police department was open to this, with department leadership acknowledging “the value of being transparent in their activities” and expressing a “willingness to align with best practices.”
But the department’s website still has no links to departmental policies. The Light has obtained some policies through records requests. They can be found on our police documents page here.
Assistant Deputy Chief Scott Carola said the department is in “the rather lengthy process of revamping all” of the department’s policies. In its report, Jensen Hughes stated the department should delay publishing until they have finished revising them.
“Once the project is complete, we would like to make them readily available online to the public,” which should be completed by the spring, said Carola.
The department publishes daily arrest and incident logs with limited information. Its annual crime report captures summary statistics on arrests, traffic stops, assaults and shots fired and includes demographic information. The 2023 crime report, released in April, is on the department’s website, but hard to find: it’s on an older page under the “news” tab. The department stated it can perhaps move it to a different page.
An existing department order also requires an annual report on use-of-force incidents, available to the public upon request.
Carola said the department submits use-of-force information to the FBI for its national database. However, the FBI’s database does not publish information by department, and thus does not provide public access to New Bedford-specific information.
The department says use-of-force data will be included in future annual crime reports.
Complaints of officer misconduct
So far, the police department has not adopted Jensen Hughes’ recommendations to publish information on complaints against officers on its website and amend existing policy to set stronger time limits on when internal investigations should be completed.
For internal complaints, the department has software that can produce summary reports with basic information on the source of the complaint (internal or citizen), the case status (pending or closed), the disposition (sustained, unfounded, and so on), and the alleged violations by the officer.
The Light has obtained such reports through public records requests, but the Jensen Hughes report stated that it’s important for departments to share information with the public directly.
“Increasingly, law enforcement agencies throughout the country are collecting, analyzing and making publicly available data involving encounters with the public, particularly as it relates to biased policing concerns, use of force incident data and police complaint data,” the report reads. Releasing the information promotes “legitimacy in officer performance, supervisory oversight and accountability,” the report said.
The state police reform bill of 2021 took a step toward transparency with the establishment of Massachusetts’s Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission. POST publishes a database on officer discipline resulting from complaints.
The department stated it responds to all inquiries regarding complaints against officers, submits data to POST’s “public facing website,” and will consider linking to the state’s database on its website.
But the state database is limited: it only includes sustained complaints (a fraction of all complaints filed), and is incomplete. The sustained complaints for at least four current and former New Bedford officers, for example, do not appear in POST’s database.
Policy for prompt internal investigations not updated
The Jensen Hughes report states the current practice for internal investigations “often takes a long time to complete,” creating a “problematic” situation. Standards should be established in the policy on required time frames and monthly reviews of investigation status, the firm said.
The police department does have a policy on how soon internal investigations should be completed, but it is not always followed, data shows.
The policy says internal investigations should be completed within 90 days, with the possibility of extending the deadline with written approval from the chief. But according to NBPD data, which includes complaints dating back several years, internal investigations have lasted from months to more than a year before being closed.
The complaint policy also lacks guidelines for when department leadership should act on a completed investigation. For instance, no guideline establishes a timeline by which the chief must issue a determination and, if warranted, discipline.
Asked about developing time standards for internal investigations, Carola said that the department follows its current policy as well as mandates by the POST Commission. The department said its policy requires investigations be completed in a “timely manner” and that it has made “considerable progress … over the years with most misconduct investigations being completed in 90 days.”
Jensen Hughes also recommended the creation of a “disciplinary matrix” that can guide the chief and department leadership in meting out discipline consistently.
“There is a sense in the department that when officers are found to have committed an offense, the discipline provided depends on whom the officer knows in the department, particularly the command staff,” the report states. “Developing a disciplinary matrix can establish penalties for categories of offenses that must be followed. … The use of such a written matrix helps ensure disciplinary actions are fair and consistent for everyone.”
Carola said the department is working with Jensen Hughes to develop a matrix that is expected to be complete this spring.
Anti-discrimination and harassment
On harassment, the report describes the need to supplement the department’s existing policy and training.
“There is a perception by some female officers that they are not treated fairly nor respected by other officers,” reads the 2023 report. “These female officers feel harassed in some circumstances and powerless to do anything about it.”
The Light last year reported that women who worked with the New Bedford Police Department said they left their positions on specialized units or avoided shifts after feeling uncomfortable with inappropriate behavior by a male sergeant. After The Light’s report, the sergeant received a written reprimand and was instructed to undergo the already required online training.
The report stated the department’s existing harassment policy, General Order 3.20, aligns with best practices, but that amendments should be made to “enhance its ability” to prevent, detect and respond to complaints about sexual harassment.
But the department has not amended its harassment policy.
Asked about updates, Carola said it is the “City of New Bedford’s policy, which we have adopted,” and that they review it annually alongside personnel staff.
“We are also working with Jensen Hughes to determine if any additions need to be made,” he said.
The department also shared that it will work with a specialist on gender equality in policing from New York University, who is tentatively set to meet with female staff next month.
The Jensen Hughes report recommended the department provide classroom-based annual refresher training on sexual harassment, and supplemental training for supervisors and leadership staff. Carola confirmed staff had recently attended classes on bias and discrimination, but did not address whether leadership received additional training.
Body camera policy and program
Body-worn cameras are seen as a police reform tool for transparency and accountability, but the policy governing their use determines their effectiveness.
The department received approval to purchase 240 body cameras after earning a state grant to help fund the program costs. A spokesperson previously said the department hoped to have a partial rollout by late this summer, but as of August, officers have yet to be trained or equipped with the cameras.
The department now plans to start distributing the cameras to officers in the fall.
The Jensen Hughes report mentioned a then-forthcoming meeting by a national policing organization to discuss policy issues on body cameras. Months after the New Bedford report came out, the Police Executive Research Forum held the meeting and issued updated recommendations for body cameras.
Most notably, PERF determined that officers involved in a “critical incident” — such as a shooting or another use of force — should not watch any related body camera footage before making their initial statement.
New Bedford’s draft body camera policy, however, contemplates allowing officers to choose when they view the body camera footage for all incidents, which goes against PERF’s latest recommendations, The Light reported.
Per Carola, the body camera policy is still under development and has not been finalized.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
Does anyone remember ” The bratton report? William bratton who is a huge law enforcement source was commissioned by new Bedford years back to make implementation and suggestions about the horrible state of the new Bedford police department. The law enforcement agency was referred to as ripe with corruption not seen seen since the frank serpico investigation into the NY city police department! WOW are you really serious? Here we are again 25 yrs later. Unbelievable
Anyone who has done any sort of business with the city knows that anything that would increase the accountability of the departments (and especially the management) is a non-starter. These people do a bad job and don’t want the data to be public, because it will show how poorly performing the city really is. The mayor can bleat about the department being “highly performing” or whatever, but without data it is only empty talk.