WORCESTER — The Board of Health Monday voted to support calls for a police civilian review board, with member David Fort castigating city and department leaders over the topic.
“I’m tired of the police department leadership and the city manager’s office basically putting a middle finger to the people of Worcester,” Fort said, adding he believes residents calling for change are being disrespected.
Community groups call for civilian review board
Fort and his colleagues voted unanimously to support a letter that 18 community groups, including the NAACP, sent to city officials and politicians earlier this month calling for a civilian review board with subpoena powers.
Such boards have the ability to investigate police misconduct by subpoenaing witnesses and documents, and are considered by police critics to be necessary to ensure transparency.
Worcester obstructed attempts at transparency
Worcester, like other large cities, has often obstructed attempts at transparency, with the administration of City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. currently fighting a Telegram & Gazette lawsuit over police records.
Augustus, who declined an interview request for this story, has said he will not be recommending a civilian review board.
City manager: State created review board to certify, decertify officers
Augustus said earlier this month he does not believe such boards have acted as an “end all, be all” for other communities, specifically Boston or Springfield. He noted his administration is already implementing numerous reforms, including a racial equity audit of police, and that the state has created a review board that will certify and decertify officers.
“I’m of the opinion that we should focus on bringing all these efforts into fruition,” Augustus wrote in a statement.
Fort critical
Fort said Monday that Augustus’ comments were “not wise,” and smacked of police “excuses” on the topic that he referred to as “BS.”
Fort said that many communities, including Springfield and Boston, have not seen success with civilian review boards because those boards did not have subpoena power.
He noted that Springfield may soon have such authority, as a Hampden Superior Court Judge recently ordered the mayor to create a civilian police commission that the City Council had approved.
That commission would go further than many review boards, allowing the civilian commissioners to hire, fire and discipline officers.
Boston also recently retooled its civilian oversight mechanism into an office that will have subpoena powers and include a civilian review board.
Boston, Springfield ‘beefing up civilian review’ while Worcester opposes it
In an interview Wednesday, Fort told the Telegram & Gazette he viewed Augustus’ comments as disingenuous. Both Boston and Springfield are beefing up civilian review at a time when Worcester is opposing it, he noted, so comments about prior, less-empowered boards in those cities, he reasoned, are irrelevant.
Fort said at Monday’s meeting that he did not believe a civilian review board would be a panacea — nor does it need to be.
He likened the issue to COVID-19, where a number of different recommendations — like social distancing and mask wearing — are paired to attack a problem.
Fort said he believes city and police leaders are treating residents calling for change like “fools,” calling their response “insane.”
Legislators largely silent
The May 12 letter sent by the 18 community groups was sent to Augustus, and copied to all members of the city council and all members of the city Legislative delegation.
The T&> emailed all those to whom the letter was addressed and requested comment the day the letter was sent, and again, Thursday.
The only city councilor to respond thus far has been Councilor at-Large Khrystian E. King, who supports and has been pushing for such a board.
The only legislator to respond has been State Sen. Michael Moore, who said Thursday he would need to see more details about the makeup of the board.
“I have a big concern over any attempt to give subpoena authority to this commission,” he said, adding the membership would be important.
Moore said any board with subpoena power must be made up of fair-minded people who respect the rights of due process.
“The appointment shouldn’t be based on any political philosophy,” he said.
Moore also noted that the forthcoming state POST commission will have subpoena and disciplinary power.
“Every community has the right to determine how they want to oversee the police department,” he said, but too many boards could create regulatory headaches and contradictory rulings.
“We have to make sure these rulings are based on fact, and not political philosophies,” he said.
Unions criticized
Fort Monday said he doesn’t believe police reforms the city has announced go far enough. He specifically criticized the value of the city police equity audit Augustus has ordered.
“It’s simple — there’s no Latinos in leadership, captain and above. There’s one Black person who is a captain, and he had to sue the (department) just to be able to get an opportunity,” he said.
Fort added he does not believe there are any openly gay people or women in “leadership.”
“If you want to know your racial or gender audit, I just did it for you,” he said.
Fort, seemingly speaking to Augustus, argued that the city appears to be disregarding something many people in the community, and now the Board of Health, supports in the review board.
“Who are you listening to?” he asked. “Because outside of the community of the citizens of Worcester and the Board of Health, the only voice you’re hearing, and the only commands you’re following, are the police department’s.”
Fort also had pointed words for police union officials who recently pushed back against the idea of civilian review boards.
The unions, in pushing back, repeated what unions have said in other cities — that they do not believe civilians have a firm enough grasp of policing to do the job fairly.
Daniel J. Gilbert, head of the officer’s union, told the T&> that “people appointed to such boards with no relevant experience and with an axe to grind against the police would not serve to help the city.”
Fort said he believes that kind of comment about civilians is “codeword” for Blacks, Latinos and white people who support justice.
Gilbert could not be immediately reached Thursday for comment.
Fort was sharply critical of Sgt. Richard P. Cipro, who represents the police officials union, for past comments defending the department in public meetings.
Cipro, who is running to be District 1 Councilor, has challenged detractors to provide evidence that police are racist. He has dismissed anecdotes raised by some as insufficient, said the Board is throwing the word racism around recklessly, and said members lack authority on the topic.
Fort said Monday that Cipro is “spewing the line” of white supremacists, calling his comments on the topic “insulting,” “inflammatory” and “disheartening.”
Fort, asked by the T&> whether he believes Cipro to be a white supremacist, said he does not know whether that is the case.
He reiterated that the words Cipro used are the same that many in white supremacist circles use.
Fort also took aim at the unions’ argument that a civilian review board could be divisive.
“Divisive is when you say things like there’s no racism that exists (in WPD),” Fort said Monday.
Fort opined that Cipro, who was not present at the meeting, should take anti-racism training and reconsider both his job and political ambitions.
“When someone denies racism and biasedness (sic) in a police force that has life and death situations, I think that person shouldn’t even run for office,” he said.
Cipro responds
In an interview Thursday, Cipro said Fort’s words were unfair and untruthful.
Cipro said while he did — and does — believe the department is not racist, he has not maintained there is no bias or prejudice within the department.
Cipro said he does not believe that racism — defined as the belief that racial differences produce inherent superiority of a particular race — exists within Worcester police.
He said he does believe that biases and prejudices — including racial bias, gender bias and bias based on sexual orientation — exist throughout society including within police departments.
He said he is open to receiving more information, but at this point has not been shown evidence that racial bias or prejudice exists more in the WPD than other organizations.
“I welcome the equity audit. I welcome it in full, and I welcome further dialogue on this topic,” Cipro said, echoing comments he made at a prior Board of Health meeting.
Cipro took exception to Fort characterizing his remarks as similar to those made by white supremacists.
“He doesn’t know who I am, or what I’ve done,” Cipro said, going on to list a number of responsibilities he’s held teaching police bias and hate training in Worcester and at the state level.
Cipro, who earned his bachelor’s degree in history, said he’s outraged by the treatment Black people have suffered in the past in America, and understands the systemic injustices of Reconstruction and the Jim Crow south.
But police officers serving today did not create those systems, he noted, and he has not been shown evidence of any discriminatory policy or practice within WPD.
“I keep asking, and I ask it again, please point to these policies. Where are they?” he said.
Cipro added that it’s possible police have a “jaded view from the inside looking out,” and said he’s open to others helping them identify blind spots.
But he believes there has been a lack of specificity, and hostility coming from Fort, that makes reasoned and productive discussion impossible.
The approach Fort has taken, he said, is more akin to one a race-baiter takes than a person who is trying to bridge divides.
Cipro, a colonel in the Army National Guard, said he has been commended for work he has done on diversity from superiors.
He provided a recent email from a National Guard superior complimenting him on a diversity policy he put together.
“I’m sharing this with the team as a best practice,” the superior wrote.
Cirpro said in his 28 years as a Worcester officer, including five in Great Brook Valley, he has “never had a problem with anyone,” from a minority group.
Cipro said he believes reforms at the state level will foster greater police transparency, which he said he welcomes. He said he is also an advocate of reforms to civil service that will make promotional processes fairer to all.
Board stresses anti-racism
Fort said he believes the police are resisting the civilian review board simply because they don’t want the community to have eyes on what’s going on.
He said having officers investigate other officers in internal affairs is insufficient, noting the commander of that unit recently declined to provide the Human Rights Commission with the name of an officer with 25 complaints including one sustained for criminal conduct.
“How can the city manager, or how can the police department, expect the community to feel safe?” he asked.
Fort’s comments were the sharpest of any board member Monday. Others spoke for less time, and all agreed a civilian review board was needed.
Member Frances Anthes said she believed the Board of Health should frame its support for such a board in the context of wanting to make the city the “best anti-racist city” nationwide.
“It seems to me that since we’ve dealt with over 400 years of a system that was racist, there’s no middle ground around policies anymore,” she said.
Anthes said policies in her view are either racist or anti-racist, adding she agreed the Board needs to “take a stand.”
Board Chairman Jerry Gurwitz said the recent Human Rights Commission meeting was a “real wakeup call” for him, adding he would like to coordinate efforts more closely with HRC.
Gurwitz said he feels badly that the board’s conversations around race could be construed as anti-police, saying he believes city officers “are overall amazingly dedicated people, and good people.”
Fort at one point Monday paused to recognize two officers he said recently worked extremely hard to save a dog near his home that became trapped beneath a storage container.
Fort: Can’t have leadership that basically says ‘racism doesn’t exist’
“They are the best of Worcester police,” he said. “But you can’t have leadership that’s basically said what they’ve said — that racism doesn’t exist.”
Fort said he believes Police Chief Steven M. Sargent has good intentions and could benefit from learning about anti-racism.
But he said the department’s de facto position that racism does not exist within its ranks has eroded community trust.
“It’s up to the city manager to adopt an anti-racist process,” he said, starting with the creation of the civilian review board.
“(It’s needed) so that we in the community can become more trusting,” he said. “Because right now, the credibility, the accountability when it comes to this issue is gone.”
According to the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, anti-racism is structured around conscious efforts and deliberate actions to provide equal opportunities on individual and systemic levels.
