DOJ Investigation of the Worcester Police Department

At a glance

What: the U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the Worcester Police Department produced a report of allegations, and the investigation has since been closed. See Police Oversight and Civilian Review Board for the companion debate.
Where it stands: monitoring. Toomey's order for a public discussion was placed on file 8-3 on 2026-09-08.
Next: the tabled City Manager communication (item 23f) was not taken up and remains on the tabled list.

Speakers and councilors described findings on use of force, discipline and sexual misconduct.
The administration disputes parts of the report, and the Council has repeatedly been asked to discuss it publicly.
Speakers recalled December 2024 hearings in which survivors of alleged police sexual misconduct spoke to a chamber and hallway filled with uniformed officers.

The Mayor moved to place on file a Kathleen M. Toomey order asking the Public Safety Committee to hold a public discussion of the closure.
Morris A. Bergman told the chamber that the Justice Department made 19 recommendations, that all 19 are being addressed and that none of them was a civilian review board. Mayor Joseph M. Petty added that the department is also preparing a separate report responding to parts of the Justice report.
Speakers such as Feanna Jattan-Singh said the report did support a board.
These accounts conflict and are as heard in the auto-captions.

Toomey's order was placed on file 8-3 on 2026-09-08 (Bilotta, King and Ojeda opposed); reconsideration got 7 votes of the 8 needed.
The captions show Toomey saying she was withdrawing the order and the Mayor then admitting he had taken the vote before King could speak.
A tabled City Manager communication on how the Justice report differs from the municipality's account (item 23f, held by Khrystian E. King in April-May 2025 and tabled May 13, 2025) remains on the tabled list and was not taken up.

About 6 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-09-08 - City Council	6

2026-09-22 - City Council — Tabled item 19f (City Manager communication on how the DOJ report differs from the city's account) saw no action. Tom Marino argued the DOJ recommendations (for example recommendation 16 on exceptional clearance) have not been fully implemented and that the federal process was abandoned; speakers described the report as finding that officers coerced sexual contact (speaker characterizations, not findings). See Police Reform Proposal (Tom Marino).
2026-09-08 - City Council — Toomey's order for a Public Safety discussion of the DOJ closure (22b) placed on file 8-3; reconsideration failed 7-4 (8 needed); Toomey said she was withdrawing it, King wanted to speak first and the Mayor acknowledged the error. Item 23f stayed tabled. Bergman and the Mayor cited the 19 DOJ recommendations; speakers disputed the characterization.
2026-08-18 - City Council — Toomey held her order for a Public Safety discussion of the DOJ closure (item 13l); the tabled City Manager communication on the DOJ report saw no action.
2026-07-21 - City Council — Tabled DOJ-report communication (27f) saw no action.