Cost renders police files inaccessible.

Byline: Clive McFarlane

COLUMN: CLIVE MCFARLANE

In an article published on July 20, Telegram & Gazette reporter Thomas Caywood found that although police internal files are public records, accessing those files of officers with the most citizen complaints against them was rendered pretty much impossible by the Police Department's prohibitively high search and copying costs.

The department, for example, demanded $4,092.62 for access to the record of a 12-year veteran police officer. The cost included paying a police sergeant $41 an hour to search the record and $1,500 to copy the file at $1 per page.

I have admired and supported Police Chief Gary J. Gemme's many initiatives to make the department more transparent in its dealings with the public.

But clearly his financial roadblock to internal affairs files seriously threatens that transparency.

The public needs to trust the Police Department's commitment to police itself, and when internal affairs files are held for thousand-dollar ransoms, trust erodes.

Some people have never been convinced that the department can police itself.

Local lawyer Hector Pineiro has long suggested that the city has been lax in monitoring police misconduct.

In one of several pending lawsuits on police brutality, Mr. Pineiro charged in the complaint that the city has been indifferent to the "proper supervision, training, discipline and retention of police officers ... and to the safety of citizens and persons in the custody of the Worcester Police Department by failing to discipline officers for the excessive use of force."

In this specific complaint, the plaintiff, Daniel Brunell, claims he was severely beaten by multiple police officers after a high-speed car chase involving a stolen vehicle. He claims he was pulled from the vehicle, thrown to the ground and kicked in the head by a number of Worcester police officers.

In another case being handled by Mr. Pineiro, plaintiff Raymond Dennison described being brutally beaten by police while walking CSX tracks in the vicinity of the James Street bridge. He said he suffered a fractured finger, face and elbow contusions, and an eardrum perforation.

Not every charge of police brutality is legitimate, but even when the city settles a case out of court, as it sometimes does, it doesn't mean that the case will trigger any meaningful review of police practices.

Earlier this year, the city paid Daniel Houde $100,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit he had filed alleging police used excessive force when they broke nine bones in his face while arresting him six years ago.

City Solicitor David Moore said the settlement was not an admission of guilt but that "it was in the best interests of the city" to settle the claim rather than go to trial.

Chief Gemme also noted that the settlement was "a business decision (that) does not imply in any way that the police acted improperly."

I don't doubt Chief Gemme's commitment to running a tight ship, and even Mr. Pineiro has acknowledged that the chief has done a good job in changing some dubious policies of the past, such as the one that required documentation and explanation of police force only when that force is applied by the officer's service weapon. Under that policy, no documentation would be provided if the officer inflicted injury by using his hands, feet or other equipment, such as flashlights or handcuffs - all of which were not considered weapons.

The chief, however, is not the final arbiter on issues dealing with the Police Department.

The City Charter designates the city manager the chief conservator of the peace, which gives him the power to review and investigate cases involving complaints against the police.

In fact, The Research Bureau once suggested that as an alternative to a civilian review board, the city manager's authority "may provide the independence, investigatory power and oversight aimed at by civilian review."

Establishing a fair and reasonable fee for assessing police internal affairs files is one way the manager could demonstrate his commitment to transparency as the chief conservator of the peace.

Contact Clive McFarlane via e-mail at [e-mail]

NAME: WORCESTER POLICE DEPARTMENT