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NEW BEDFORD — The city’s Police Department is facing a long list of reforms it must adopt to increase accountability in two critical units, and comply with modern police laws and standards.
In a report issued this week, 21st Century Policing Solutions shared some significant criticisms of the department — several of which overlap with those identified by another consulting firm only two years earlier — while also acknowledging areas in which it’s operating well or in the process of improving.
The department must address weaknesses in its internal affairs system; enforce new rules to increase transparency and accountability in its narcotics unit; clear out its evidence room, which is filled with old, seized drugs dating as far back as the 1980s; and update outdated policies to achieve consistency and comport with recent state law.
The 71-page report comes five months after Mayor Jon Mitchell ordered a review of the narcotics unit and the internal affairs unit, which investigates officers for misconduct. It was a 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 report also comes about two years after another consulting firm, Jensen Hughes, issued its report containing similar concerns and recommendations, albeit a bit less critical and detailed. (That report was released during a press conference, while this year’s report came through an emailed press release.)
Many of the recommendations overlap, such as the need to establish fair and consistent discipline for misconduct, publish policies online for transparency, update old policies, train supervisors and officers, and prevent corruption through more robust policies on the use of confidential informants. Some of the Jensen Hughes recommendations, such as the disciplinary matrix, have yet to be adopted.
The city has paid 21CP about $124,000 to date, which includes the hourly rates for at least three consultants, as well as any added expenses they incurred in the course of their work, per city public information officer Jonathan Darling.
The city paid Jensen Hughes about $120,000 for its report in 2023, bringing the total to nearly $250,000 spent on reviewing the Police Department and advising on how it can improve.
Similar recommendations found in the two reports:
| Jensen Hughes (2023) | 21CP (2025) |
|---|---|
| Adopt a disciplinary matrix to ensure fair and consistent discipline | Adopt a disciplinary matrix to ensure fair and consistent discipline |
| Update outdated policies | Update outdated policies |
| Publish policies online | Publish policies online |
| Audit the confidential informant program more rigorously | Audit the confidential informant program more rigorously |
| Share use of force and complaint data to foster community trust | Provide the community with “performance metrics” on the narcotics unit’s operations |
Narcotics unit
In total, the firm issued nearly 70 specific recommendations, most of which applied to the narcotics unit.
21CP audited records, interviewed personnel, and rode along with detectives to see how they work. More superficially, the consultants recommended the department change the name of the narcotics unit, also known as Organized Crime Intelligence Bureau, to better reflect its mission.
This is the unit that largely makes drug arrests, and uses information provided by confidential informants to conduct stops and obtain search warrants. Per 21CP, it’s in “critical need for training,” and unit members expressed a desire for it.
The firm found that neither detectives nor supervisors in the unit receive formal, routine training on narcotics investigations, and determined that there needs to be a higher bar of entry to serve in the division, which is staffed by about eight detectives — with turnover every few years — and a few supervisors.
Detectives have failed to pursue leads on higher-level drug dealers (also known as working up the supply chain), and reported feeling pressured to make arrests, the consultants found.
With regards to technology, narcotics detectives operate “out of sight and out of sync” on an encrypted, non-recorded radio frequency, reducing coordination with patrol officers and limiting supervision over potential misconduct.
This feeds into a lack of communication with the rest of the department on significant matters, such as vehicle or foot pursuits in which assistance is later needed. It has also created a culture of distrust with the patrol staff that undermines the department’s mission, 21CP said.
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“If they’re doing something, like investigating a shooting, they don’t tell us anything, which is frustrating,” said an officer, who spoke to The Light under the condition of anonymity. Understanding the need to keep some details “close to the chest,” the officer said “it doesn’t make sense that we don’t communicate,” especially in terms of officer safety.
Narcotics detectives are also not required to activate body-worn cameras when conducting searches (they may record the general interior, but turn them off when the seizure of drugs or other evidence takes place). Last fall, The Light reported on an apparent exclusion of narcotics officers from part of the department’s body-worn camera policy.
“Why would they write the policy that way? Why wouldn’t everyone have the same thing, except this one special unit that’s under criticism,” said the officer. “It never should have been in the policy that way. It was very clear to everyone that knows the workings of the department that that’s exactly what it was.”
21CP said this does not align with best practices: encrypted communications should immediately be recorded, and detectives should generally have their cameras on when conducting searches and seizures.
On drug seizures, the firm said the department’s storage of a “massive quantity” of narcotics in its evidence room has reached a “critical stage,” with drugs dating back to 1989.
“These pose significant risks to the agency, including health hazards and opportunities for theft, both internal and external,” the report states. The department is building a new evidence room.
On confidential informants, 21CP found that the department’s policy was “robust,” but that it must be strengthened in many areas. Additionally, the department should conduct yearly audits of registered informants (similar to what Jensen Hughes recommended in 2023).
Confidential informant findings
- An audit of 10 confidential informants showed seven had criminal charges filed on them after they registered with NBPD, some of which were serious in nature.
- NBPD’s current list of informants includes hundreds of individuals, some of whom are dead or inactive.
- On average, NBPD has paid its informants about $19,400 altogether per year over the last decade, with most payments to informants less than $100.
The consultants also considered the impact of the “high-risk” narcotics unit, and raised the question of whether it should be disbanded: “Although OCIB’s arrest figures show significant numbers of drug arrests, the overall impact of OCIB’s enforcement efforts on the crime picture in New Bedford is less clear. Assessing this impact is critical to determining and defining OCIB’s mission going forward, including whether such a unit is necessary.”
Other options they suggested were to divide the unit into two sections (with one focusing on longer-term investigations on higher-level drug dealers or networks), or to maintain the unit but refocus its mission.
Internal affairs
21CP audited the internal affairs unit, also known as the Professional Standards Division. The consultants found evidence of “weaknesses in the system that could allow misconduct to go undetected or undisciplined,” and issues at all stages in the process, from intake of the complaints to the issuance of discipline.
The firm found a significant disconnect between the division’s investigators, department leadership, the city solicitor’s office and district prosecutors. In some cases, 21CP discussed, a party had knowledge that an officer was the subject of a criminal investigation or had misconduct allegations made about them in court, but did not bring that information to internal affairs investigators.
Another issue is that current policy prohibits investigators from opening another investigation for misconduct they discover while investigating the initial complaint.
“On some occasions, Professional Standards investigators identified new evidence of potential misconduct and new complaints were appropriately added, investigated, and adjudicated,” the report states. “In other cases, however, when new allegations of potential misconduct were identified, investigators took no additional action.”
21CP said the department should also require the unit to formally investigate allegations of potential misconduct that are raised in news stories.
The unit has failed to report sustained complaints to the state’s oversight body, the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission, in a timely manner — something The Light has previously found.
Further in violation of POST regulations, the department has failed to issue findings in cases where the officer resigns or retires from the department (they must still complete the investigation and notify POST if the allegations are sustained).
On its evaluation of internal investigations, 21CP said it appears that investigators are “automatically giving officers higher creditability” than civilians during interviews to evaluate allegations.
Civilians often comprise a majority of complaints against officers, and these investigations can sometimes conclude as not-sustained, meaning officers could not gather enough evidence to prove or disprove allegations.
Last year, however, the number of internal complaints (those filed by department staff) outnumbered external complaints (those filed by community members), per the report.
Related to removing bias, the firm states the internal affairs unit should require its investigators to sign a form assuring they are free from conflicts of interest, such as a “significant relationship” with the subject of the investigation. The form should be reviewed and approved by a supervisor.
“Despite these problems, we were encouraged in our review to repeatedly find NBPD officers who were working diligently to investigate and eliminate misconduct,” the consultants said, adding many complaints were being appropriately investigated and documented.
“This report, while critical of current practices in many respects, represents a genuine opportunity for the New Bedford Police Department, city leadership, and the community they serve,” 21CP concluded. For policing to work with the community, “It must be willing to accept criticism and constantly engage in self-examination and, when necessary, self-correction, even if difficult or embarrassing.”
The officer The Light spoke with was skeptical of future reforms: “How many reports are they going to do by different people that say the exact same thing? How many reviews do you want to do of this before something gets changed?”
Mayor Jon Mitchell in a statement called it “an authoritative report” that will allow the department to “build on the significant progress in public safety in recent years, and command the public’s trust in the long run.”
Police Chief Jason Thody, who only took the helm last month, said the report will provide a “useful roadmap for continuous improvement.”
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
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New Bedford is in need of new leadership, after more than ten years of Mayor Mitchell his vision is not working. The issues with police department keep being repeated and it’s time for the Mayor to stop micro managing the police department and let this new chief have the opportunity to do his job and try to address these issues. New Bedford deserves better.
Massive narcotics evidence trove dating back decades? Oh no no no. This cannot be good. What could they possibly be holding onto that for?
Some 21CP Recommendations (2025) are of the exact same content and text as Jensen Hughes’ Recommendations (2023).
Does recommendation plagiarism by 21CP (2025) exist if nothing has changed since the original Jensen Hughes recommendations (2023)?
The “massive quantity” of narcotics evidence needs to be verified and tested by an outside agency to document the actual content of the “narcotics evidence” and that the quantity signed in is the amount present in storage.
This is a very disturbing revelation by this study.