|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
NEW BEDFORD — One New Bedford police officer searched the license plate of her ex-girlfriend more than 650 times in Flock. She then ran the plate of her ex’s new romantic partner more than 200 times this summer, tagging the searches as a “traffic infraction.” Another officer was found to have run his girlfriend’s plate nearly 70 times, tagging the searches for a variety of reasons, including “hit and run” and disorderly conduct.
This is all according to redacted internal affairs reports that the New Bedford Police Department released to the press last week. For those two officers, Emily Pacheco and James Marinelli, Police Chief Jason Thody has recommended termination.
The investigations were opened after Thody on July 31 ordered an audit of all use from the system’s adoption in November 2024 until now. (The department’s Flock system has been suspended since last month, per the Police Department.) Both reports cited the public meeting in late July, where Thody heard firsthand the emphatic concerns about Flock voiced by more than a dozen residents.
“This case was initially brought to the attention of the Chief’s Office after a public forum was held with … members of the public that wished to voice their concerns,” both internal affairs reports read. “After that meeting, Chief of Police Jason Thody requested an audit.”
The department’s Flock policy says audits “should” be conducted on a “regular basis,” but Thody confirmed last week that audits were not happening before July. He said, instead, there was a “supervisory review” of searches. He is now recommending monthly audits and a stronger policy.
The department was alerted to the alleged misuse by Flock’s own audit assistance tool, which the company rolled out this year. It flags anomalous or frequent search activity for review by department staff. This tool, however, only works for data from 2026. Older data needs to be manually analyzed and reviewed.
James Marinelli
For Marinelli, a sergeant, the report states the audit assistance tool flagged multiple plates to review. Three were found to belong to people with personal ties to Marinelli. He allegedly searched these plates for personal use 68, 16 and three times, respectively. These searches happened this spring and summer.
In February 2025, he signed the department’s memorandum of understanding to use Flock only for legitimate law enforcement purposes. The MOU enumerates the specific prohibited uses, which include personal use.
According to investigators, Marinelli entered the following reasons to search the plate of the woman he has been dating: trespass, hit and run, alcohol offenses, disorderly conduct, assault/battery and welfare check.
Investigators also found he ran the plate of someone who appears to be his girlfriend’s ex from six years ago. Sometimes, Marinelli searched both plates in conjunction, “sometimes within minutes of each other,” the report says.
When investigators contacted the man, he confirmed that Marinelli is a mutual friend of his and said he was surprised to hear his plate was being searched. Asked why he thought his plate was being searched, he said he believed Marinelli “probably thought [redacted] was cheating on him with [redacted].”
The report said this simultaneous tracking lasted for about five days in July.
Investigators also appear to have called the woman Marinelli has been dating, who stated she was aware Marinelli had searched her plate. She declined to provide a statement.
The third plate was run three times, and seemingly belongs to an ex of Marinelli: “seeing as he and [redacted] shared the same last name, it was a very real possibility they were married or separated,” investigators wrote. They said they attempted contact and sent a letter to that vehicle owner.
“At this point I believe the Flock data shows Sergeant Marinelli was actively tracking [redacted] utilizing Flock as a form of electronic surveillance,” investigators wrote. “Marinelli invoked his [Fifth] Amendment rights and chose not to be interviewed so I cannot confirm any of this with him.”
Based on the evidence, internal affairs sustained four policy violations against him, including for making false official reports when entering “hit and run,” for example, to search for personal reasons.
His “misuse of Flock to gather information about a significant other and that person’s former significant other has broken public trust that these resources would only be used for legitimate law enforcement purposes.”
These actions “upset the order within” NBPD and have “negatively impacted the agency and those associated with it.”
Thody has recommended he be terminated from the department. The recommendation goes to Mayor Jon Mitchell for approval. As the officers are union members, they get a hearing before it can take effect.
Thody said he has kept the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office apprised of the findings and will refer them for possible criminal prosecution.
“We hope our community realizes that the poor actions of the few do not stain the good actions of the many, and that moving forward we can still maintain a relationship with our community built on trust, accountability, and transparency.”
— Union President Lorenzo Gonzalez
Though the violations against Marinelli do not include commission of a criminal act, he was asked to sign a form by internal affairs that is used when there is a possibility of criminal charges stemming from an investigation. Pacheco was given the same form to sign.
The Light contacted Marinelli by email for comment, but he did not respond. Department policy prohibits officers from speaking to the press without permission from the police chief. It is another policy violation that can be disciplined.
Union President Lorenzo Gonzalez provided a statement on behalf of the union.
“While the actions of two of our members utilizing the Flock system have caused distrust, anger, and frustration amongst the people of our community, it is important to note that the overall membership of the New Bedford Police Union will still continue to serve and perform our duties and responsibilities to the best of our abilities,” it reads.
“We hope our community realizes that the poor actions of the few do not stain the good actions of the many, and that moving forward we can still maintain a relationship with our community built on trust, accountability, and transparency.”
Emily Pacheco
Flock’s audit tool flagged Pacheco, a patrol officer most recently working as a detective, for “exceptionally high search numbers,” investigators wrote. She searched one plate 658 times between January and late July. In most searches, Pacheco entered “traffic infraction,” but investigators found the plate belonged to a girlfriend who became an ex-girlfriend.
Pacheco reportedly told investigators she entered that reason because she wasn’t aware she needed to put in a new reason every time. She said she would use the system’s “recent” tab to backfill the reason she previously used.
Pacheco searched a second plate 229 times between mid-June and late July. All reasons entered were “traffic infraction,” the report states. Investigators determined it belonged to the new romantic partner of her ex-girlfriend, and that the search correlated with when Pacheco might have learned of the new relationship.
“[Redacted] will state to investigators that she believed Officer Pacheco discovered her and [redacted] relationship around June 8th, when [redacted] left a heart emoji on a photograph [redacted] posted on social media,” investigators wrote. “Officer Pacheco did not search [redacted] registration in Flock until June 11th.”
Investigators wrote Pacheco had been at Taser training on June 8 without access to databases and was off work the following two days. On June 11, a few hours into her shift, she searched one database to get a name and date of birth. One minute later, she searched a second database to pull a license plate number. Seven minutes later, she entered that plate of the ex’s new romantic partner in Flock for the first time, investigators wrote.
Asked about the date and significance of this June search, Pacheco said “I don’t recall,” the report reads. Sometimes she ran the two plates “nearly simultaneously.”
In court and to investigators, Pacheco said the Flock searches were part of a drug case she was investigating. But the internal affairs investigators could find no evidence of a drug investigation.
When internal investigators in August asked her if the searches were for legitimate law enforcement purposes, Pacheco said yes and that some searches were to “test” the system.
In court, she said the alleged drug investigation was based on a tip from a confidential informant. Investigators interviewed the confidential informant, who was not active with the department and is noted internally as not having provided reliable information to date. He said he never gave Pacheco such a tip.
Investigators concluded that Pacheco used this “drug investigation” as “a ruse to cover her real target.”
Pacheco said she stopped looking into her investigation at the end of June, but investigators found she “continued to search both registration plates in the Flock system multiple times almost daily from the end of June through July 27.”
In an interview with internal affairs, Pacheco’s ex-girlfriend told investigators that she knew about Flock and joked with Pacheco, “Oh I’m sure you follow me using that system,” to which Pacheco allegedly laughed and said “maybe.”
During Pacheco’s interview with investigators, she confirmed that she searched the Flock system while off duty, on vacation, out of state and out sick.
Officer William Mouyos, who worked with Pacheco and testified during her restraining order hearing, was also interviewed by investigators. He said Pacheco had asked him to run searches in Flock for her, but said he didn’t know for what purpose and didn’t ask her. He also said he could not recall how many times he searched for her.
Asked “how he knew she wasn’t asking him to run something personal for her,” he said he didn’t know, an investigator’s report states. “I asked him if [he] could see how that might be a problem, and he had no response.”
Investigators asked Pacheco to sit for a second interview. She invoked her Fifth Amendment right and declined to be interviewed again or to provide a statement.
Investigators concluded Pacheco undertook an effort to “track and monitor a former significant other, and identify and track their new partner utilizing a number of technological resources only available to law enforcement personnel.”
Investigators concluded that her alleged actions meet the elements of criminal harassment, and could potentially rise to the level of stalking, a felony.
As in Marinelli’s case, Thody has recommended that the mayor terminate Pacheco from the department, and the department has informed the district attorney.
The Light contacted Pacheco by email for comment, but did not receive a reply. Department policy prohibits officers from speaking to the press without permission from the police chief. It is another policy violation that can be disciplined.
Neither report provided by the department included the transcripts of those interviewed as part of the investigations.
July 2026 data release and other findings
The Light late last week, in response to a public records request, received NBPD’s Flock search data for July with the license plate data included. City attorney Eric Jaikes on Friday said the city inadvertently released the dataset with the license plate information.
Pacheco was the top user that month with more than 450 searches. Marinelli was third, with 185 searches.
After reviewing the July data, The Light inquired with NBPD about another officer, a detective, who used “welfare check” as a search reason over 200 times; more than 70 of those searches were of one plate.
Spokesperson Holly Huntoon said by email on Friday that the Flock audit tool flagged this detective to be investigated, but that the investigation has concluded and found that all of the officer’s searches were for law-enforcement purposes.
“We anticipate that the investigation will undergo command review and be signed off on by early next week,” Huntoon wrote. Thody last week said other officers flagged by the audit tool have also been cleared after review.
The Light contacted the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office on Friday, requesting comment from DA Thomas Quinn on the two New Bedford officers’ cases and possible criminal charges. Spokesperson Jennifer Sowa did not respond.
An internal affairs report said that the training officers received on the Flock system was to watch a few videos provided by Flock and sign the MOU for use with NBPD.
In her interview, Pacheco told investigators she never had formal training on the system, and that the department did not ensure that she watched the videos.
Mouyos told investigators he did not watch the Flock training videos or complete the certifications. When asked why, he said he did not know, investigators wrote.
The City Council is set to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the drafting of an ordinance regulating the city’s use of Flock and other surveillance technology, and possibly contemplate barring the system in the city. Thody and other city officials, including Capt. Justin Kagan, whom the chief in early July said was responsible for auditing, have been invited to speak and answer questions.
Meanwhile, the Police Department last week removed at least two Flock cameras, The Light confirmed with a city spokesperson: one on Rockdale Avenue and one on Hathaway Road. The City Council late last month unanimously passed a motion requesting that the city and Police Department remove or physically cover the cameras during the program’s suspension. Other Flock cameras in the city were up as of Saturday.
City Councilor Leo Choquette this weekend said he previously requested Thody remove the Rockdale Avenue camera because some homes were in view of it.
Because it is a holiday weekend, The Light could not determine whether any others were removed, and if so, why.
In neighboring Dartmouth and Acushnet, town officials last week suspended or decided to end their use of the Flock system. More than 25 municipalities in Massachusetts have canceled, chosen not to renew, or suspended their use of the system, according to tracking by the ACLU of Massachusetts.
The Police Department is seeking public feedback on its use of Flock at shareyourthoughts@newbedfordpd.com or www.surveymonkey.com/r/WSVZP5L.
Eleonora Bianchi contributed reporting.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
