This is the sixth and final part in a series that will look at actions taken by some city councilors over recent years that, when viewed collectively, display a disturbing downward spiral towards a council that serves the interests of its members, not of city residents.

The introductory piece of the series, The City Council Circles the Drain, looks at a City Council resolution supporting Worcester Police Department actions in several recent cases. In isolation, the resolution is harmless. When viewed in the context of the behavior of the majority faction within the council, the resolution tells a different story.

The second piece of this series, Worcester Council Holds Fewest Meetings in 20 Years in 2025, looks at the near-total elimination of the ability of residents to put issues before their local elected legislature and the events from October 2024 through January 2025, which some councilors cited as the reason for eliminating that ability.

The third piece of this series, Worcester City Council Criticizes Manager, Snitches on Itself, reviews a discussion within the city council related to the specialized stretch code during its meeting on April 28. It’s not the stretch code itself that is important here, but how the discussion shows the sources of information councilors base their decisions on.

The fourth piece of this series, One Year After Eureka St., What Officers at the Scene Knew, reviews the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation on Eureka Street on May 8, 2025, the orders under which Worcester Police officers operated that day, and how those orders contradict the later public statement of city officials, including city councilors.

The fifth piece of this series, When Worcester Chose the Trump Bailout Over the Constitution, looks at the campaign to undermine the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation of the Worcester Police Department and the manipulations, changing narratives, and declaration of mission accomplished.

This sixth and final piece of this series looks at the Municipal Civilian Review Board Report released by City Manager Eric Batista to the Worcester City Council, the conflicts of interest surrounding the report, the declining transparency it indicates, and the focus on managing public awareness rather than protecting the constitutional rights of Worcester residents.

City Manager Declares Police Reform Dead

This report by the Batista administration is an exercise in self congratulations. The report says, in short, that we are doing a great job, so we’ll do nothing differently.

This report is not a repudiation of a civilian review board for Worcester. It is a repudiation of independent oversight in any form. In this report, the Batista administration states clearly that it will maintain total authority over all aspects of upholding the U.S. and Massachusetts constitutions within government in Worcester, and the individual rights enshrined in them.

Calling this a report is disingenuous in its own right. This, like many of the reports fed to the Worcester City Council by the administration, is a position paper. The dynamic is quite simple: the administration feeds the majority faction within the council, led by Mayor Joe Petty, what they want to hear. The majority tells him what a great job he’s doing. Then, once a year, the majority produces a stage show they call an evaluation and reinforces what a great job he’s doing, providing the underlying arguments for what they already want to do.

This aligns with Mayor Joe Petty’s statement on the radio show Talk of the Commonwealth with Hank Stolz just a few weeks ago. Petty said that his personal philosophy is that decision making happens behind closed doors.

Executive Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (EODEI)

An obvious red flag about this report is that Batista assigned writing this report to Chief Equity Officer Kevin Lovaincy. As the head of the Executive Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (EODEI), Lovaincy’s area of responsibility includes the Investigations Division and the Human Rights & Accessibility Division.

In other words, the report is written by the head of a division which would lose part of its current portfolio and have its influence challenged by the creation of a civilian review board. Nobody in government ever wants to give up power or portfolio.

Page 3 of the report says:

“Through the Investigations Division and the Human Rights & Accessibility Division within the Executive Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (EODEI), the municipality already possesses many of the foundational elements of oversight models examined by the WRRB.”

The elephant in the room: This is all under the direct control of the city manager. According to the charter of the City of Worcester, the city manager is the chief conservator of the peace. He is at the top of the chain of command of law enforcement in the city.

The goal here is not to enhance the city government’s ability to defend and uphold the constitution. The goal is information control and public relations management.

It is a keen insight into what is important to this administration. What matters is not what happens, but what goes public.

NEPBA Local 911 President Thomas Duffy II described it another way to Masslive:

“This effort is the new defund the police call that takes valuable resources away from public and officer safety simply to create controversy.”

It’s about the controversy. Not the constitution. Not individual rights. Not the law. Not transparency. Not accountability.

Right. Exactly the problem.

(Editor’s note: Duffy has filed a defamation lawsuit again Tom Marino, the author of this piece and principal of This Week in Worcester. I fully stand by our reporting and have total confidence in victory.)

Apparently, now any expenditure by city government that isn’t directly funneled to law enforcement is “defund the police.”

The economics are simple. Estimates for funding a civilian review board are around $750,000 per year. Two lawsuit settlements last year, both relating to liberty stolen from civilians by Worcester Police officers, totaled just over $2.25 million.

I think we should start calling each lawsuit settlement and judgement resulting from police behavior part of the “defund Worcester” campaign.

Human Rights Commission

This report continues to assert that the Human Rights Commission plays a role in accountability. The city manager, contrary to what appears to be the plain language of the city ordinance and relevant case law, has castrated the human rights commission, preventing data on anything discipline-related from being sent to the commission.

Lovaincy, the author of the report, has been the Batista’s primary weapon in limiting the scope of the Human Rights Commission.

Jacqueline Yang was first appointed to the Human Rights Commission in 2018. She received reappointment in 2023. On July 20, she resigned from the commission.

According to the Worcester Telegram and Gazette:

“Yang confirmed she resigned July 20, and used an expletive to describe any suggestion that the Human Rights Commission plays a serious role in police oversight.”

The same Telegram article:

“[Yang] said the Human Rights Commission should not be considered part of a layer of overview of police, arguing it has no actual power and has been impeded in its efforts for years. “

A second member of the Human Rights Commission, Drew Schnoebelen resigned on July 21. Ina statement, Schnoebelen said:

“City leadership has consistently and purposefully manufactured roadblocks and barriers that constrict the Commission in a way that simply cannot be overcome without major systemic change.”

Schnoebelen added:

“These purposeful roadblocks and barriers have rendered the Commission a toothless body that primarily exists to be a symbol of advocacy and change which can be pointed to as evidence of the city’s efforts, all so that real, meaningful change does not have to be enforced.”

Overwhelming Numbers of Worcester Residents are Liars

Page 11 of the administration’s report shows the number of complaints related to the use of force by officers within the Worcester Police Department. The administration intended to show a dimini...

This Week in Worcester

Message History

Delivery option(s)