Worcester City Manager on Closing of DOJ Report

The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its investigation into the Worcester Police Department. City Manager Eric Batista appears on the Talk of the Commonwealth on Radio Worcester to discuss the department's comprehensive reform initiatives undertaken over the past year, including strengthened policies on sexual harassment and use of force, mandatory body camera requirements for all officers, and enhanced investigative oversight. "We've strengthened our policy. We've strengthened our sexual harassment policy. We've strengthened our policy on this level of work... And again, one of the biggest components of that now is body cameras." Batista emphasized, "We've strengthened our use of force policies as well and made sure there's more oversight of leadership in that department." He acknowledges that the 2024 DOJ report's findings continue to impact the community, "We know that the fact remains that our community has been tremendously impacted by the findings issued in 2024. And we know that that will never change, that impact will never change." He added "Building trust with community is not just implementing one tool and hoping that that tool is going to be the piece that's going to help build community trust. What's going to help build community trust is consistency and leadership, integrity and leadership between the chief and myself and the intention of always improving." "Culture change in different organizations takes time. And so we're committed to that."