Each police department documented the incident and can be retrieved easily., Febo then addressed the incident in which Roca referred to an officer involving an alleged intentional boat accident. Holyoke police officer accuses department of corruption Former Brockton RMV manager, driving school owner charged by U.S. Attorney with giving passing test scores to people who failed, Complete Boston payroll for 2022: Your Tax Dollars at Work, Boston drug trafficker set to do 11 years in prison, give up Louis Vuitton bags, feds say, Union drive: Uber, Lyft drivers rally for right to unionize, Boston sees first open race for Suffolk Superior civil court clerk magistrate in nearly 50 years, High school tournaments: Winchester stuns No. The five-year Holyoke Police officer who posted the video, Rafael Roca, explained in the beginning, that he wanted to "expose the corruption and the lies and the injustice" he felt was taking place within the department. Holyoke St. Patrick's Committee holds 67th Grand Video / Feb 18, 2023 / 10:41 PM EST The 70th annual Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade is now nearly a month away and at the Log Cabin Saturday . Three of those officers claimed more than 800 overtime hours that year, and another claimed more than 1,200 hours. The police are policing themselves., Maldonado Velez is not the first city councilor who has come under fire from Holyokes police unions. When Massachusetts lawmakers passed a sweeping police reform law in late 2020, one of the bills provisions opened up law enforcement misconduct investigations to greater scrutiny under the states public records law. Alex Benjamin Morse (born January 29, 1989) is an American politician who served as the 44th mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts from 2012 to 2021. As for Roca, he said he doesnt regret posting the video or making the allegations. When you are someone who speaks up about injustice and about corrupt police officers, they label you as a liar, they label you as a dirty police officer, they label you as someone who is untrustworthy, he said. Roca said that as a result, supervisors have given him a bad image that has influenced others in the department. Beyond changing the public records law, the 2020 police reform bill also created a new state agency, thePeace Officer Standards and Training Commission, which now tracks police departments internal investigations and can conduct its own preliminary inquiries into alleged misconduct. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Febo said that Roca misportrayed some examples of lost or stolen weapons. The mayors office said it expects the report to be completed in the coming days. Subscribe Today, Amherst Police Chief Livingstone stepping down in May, Unions: UMass putting 100 jobs in jeopardy with privatization plan, Murdaughs fall from grace ends in life sentence for murder, Biden leaving room to change his mind on reelection. The analysis found that 15 officers were paid more than 500 hours of overtime in fiscal year 2020, including four of the departments five highest-paid officers, who earned hourly overtime rates ranging from $94 to $109 an hour. Febo also issued a statement on the matter, and said while he would not be commenting on the internal personnel matter that is ongoing, he did take the opportunity to address some of the allegations and give facts., Febo said with regard to the allegation that the department covered up stolen and/or lost rifles, the incident in question took place 10 years ago and was fully investigated by [the] previous chief, discipline meted out, and every step was reported publicly at that time., Additionally Febo referenced the claim regarding a detective that had his vehicle and weapon stolen, which was covered up. One is a female who is being trained to investigate sensitive crimes involving children, females and domestic violence. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. He said that he saved the state troopers life, only to be treated like a piece of crap afterward, getting turned down for a job with the state police. Roca said he has already appealed that decision to the states Civil Service Commission. Leon Davis, Springfield Police Department. This video posted online by Former Holyoke Police Officer Rafael Roca may well have been lost to history and future litigants contending with the police misconduct in Western MA if it had not been rescued by the Internet Archive (which is currently fighting off a vexatious lawsuit filed by a greedy publishing monopolist lobbying group which wants to burn down the Internet's proverbial 'Library . sites. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising He was deployed in 2009-2010 to Iraq where he assisted military police . Holyoke Chief of Police responds to allegations of department - WWLP Nobody should get away with taking the law into their own hands and being above it, he said. Police misconduct: Discipline records for thousands of cops uncovered Holyoke Officer Refuses to Remove Video Alleging Corruption - The Daily Dot Concepcion alleged that he returned again and again for hours at a time until an HPD supervisor finally interviewed him three weeks later. Isaac Holyoke, director of communications at CleanSpark, said the shift made it easier for employees to communicate with each other and that employees value "autonomy and flexibility." "People are used to being at home when they can go on business when they need to, and we have kept that culture here in the office," Holyoke said. Police Scorecard: Holyoke, MA var sellablestring = "GAZETTE STAFF"; He says he was consistently singled out for vocalizing his opposition to the police chief, made to repeat pieces of training and attacked via email for not supporting one supervisors protest against police reform. Coughlin has been living large on his State Police pension of $131,961 a year. During the mayoral campaign, Garcias opponent, At-large City Councilor Michael Sullivan, responded to the Gazettes reporting by calling for an audit of the police departments handling of state and federal grant programs, calling the use of overtime excessive. Garcia responded to say that he, too, would support an audit. On December 24, 2015 and January 25, 2016, HRD, at the request of the City, sent HOLYOKE, Mass. For this reason, the Holyoke Police department will have no further comment regarding Mr. Roca or his Case.. In this still from a video Roca posted to YouTube on March 7, 2021, Roca alleges there is corruption and racism in the Holyoke Police Department. I dont think the mayors office is the right place to do a criminal investigation of the police, Murphy said when asked whether the city had investigated Rocas claims. Murphy said in a phone interview Monday that he felt no pressure from anyone to terminate Roca before he left office. The five-year Holyoke Police officer who posted the video, Rafael Roca, explained in the beginning, that he wanted to expose the corruption and the lies and the injustice he felt was taking place within the department. He said that the officer had allegedly been instructed to give him remedial training on how to apply a tourniquet. This, he said, was a result of an incident in late January in which he had responded to an incident that resulted in a stabbing and been praised by his coworkers. Some people who filed a complaint with the HPD said that officers actions impacted their lives long after the alleged misconduct took place. The city of Holyoke is not alone in resisting transparency, and I think thats the only way to describe an 18-month delay in providing access to records that clearly were public, said Jeffrey Pyle, an attorney with the firm Prince Lobel Tye LLP who specializes in media and First Amendment law. var currentheadline = document.getElementById("headline").innerText; There was no set up.. Angela Davis en LinkedIn: Two Black Minnesota police chiefs on what I already knew they were going to wait until the last minute, he told the newspaper. Holyoke Police Chief Manny Febo fact-checks allegations in suspended Pyle told NEPM that police departments and other public agencies will continue to withhold records or slow-roll their release until lawmakers improve the states public records law, which many have criticized as one of the least transparent in the country. There are white people who try to make it difficult for us, make it difficult for the people who have done the right thing, make it difficult for the people who want to stand up for whats right, he said. That outcome police officers facing no discipline after a civilian alleges wrongdoing is hardly unique to Concepcions case. var photocredit = "'Screenshot from YouTube.' HOLYOKE, Mass. [15] Located 8 miles (13 km) north of Springfield, Holyoke is part of the Springfield Metropolitan Area, one of the two distinct metropolitan areas in Massachusetts." Story about Holyoke police beating a 12 year old Latino boy in 2014 and fallout: "Three Holyoke police officers beat a 12-year . var photocredit = "'SCREENSHOT/YOUTUBE' 'Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca. if (photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring2) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring3) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring4) > -1) { Service, a Creative Commons MASSACHUSETTS-In early March, two police sergeants were suspended without pay for speaking with a reporter about mismanagement, corruption and racism within the Holyoke Police Department, and for providing him with internal documents. In August, the city of Holyoke hired a firm to audit its police department, including its internal affairs processes. 'Innocent bystander' killed in shooting at Holyoke Mall, one suspect in Officers have. This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. Listen Holyoke police officers arrived at the mall just before 7:00 p.m. for a report of shots fired. And in Amherst, records show that during a 12-year period, theAmherst Police Department investigated 16 civilian complaints; in only one of those cases did an officer face discipline. In the video, Roca also alleged that department leadership has covered up the facts surrounding several instances when weapons have gone missing from the department.