Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. A Massachusetts police officer who posted a video online alleging corruption within his department says he has been placed on paid administrative leave after refusing to take. Schedule an appointment online for a New LTC / Firearms license. When Romero put his hand on the boys shoulder and told him to go back to his classroom, Reyes said the boy smacked the officer's hand and swore at him. And thats the ultimate way of holding police accountable from the commissions perspective.. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. At the time, then-Police Chief James Neiswanger said the weapon had fallen out of Harts pickup truck. Roca also said he wasnt surprised he was fired, but expressed disappointment that no city, state or federal officials fully investigated his allegations, according to the Gazette. Whether its now or later, well see.. John Hart was suspended and fined for losing a department-issued sniper rifle. In January, Holyoke settled the police brutality suit against the city and officers for $65,000. Rafael Roca, 37, uploaded the now viral video early Sunday morning. All rights reserved (About Us). Office Location: 57 Suffolk St. Suite 200 Holyoke, MA 01040 Call Us 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. 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. A newly released independent audit of the Holyoke Police Department finds the HPD poses a "substantial risk" to the city it serves. Concepcion said his experience with the HPDs internal affairs system shows that there isnt any accountability within the department. 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. Reyes the internal affairs officer found the officers actions justified and proper, and consistent with standard protocols for crash-scene response and safety. Reyes ultimately exonerated Romero. (They) never investigated any of my allegations to see if I was lying, he said. To tackle these questions,"I'm a Cop"directly examines the words of READ THE REST, The Boston Globe recently printed an op-ed by former Ithaca, NY mayor Svante Myrick, who talks about his own city's approach to police reform. Ultimately, police found the weapon in February 2012 while Morse was riding along with officers on duty. If you need to reach our office by phone, contact us at 413-538-7118. Garcia said that a sub-group from the city's Police Relations Advisory Committee reviewed several consulting firms' proposals to conduct the audit. 8. I plan to fight this to the end. His video, posted Sunday, has been viewed 27,000 times. In response to a public records request, the HPD has now turned over the 69 investigations it conducted from 2010 through 2019 into civilian complaints. Two officers did respond to say that department policies prohibit them from speaking to the press without permission from higher-ups. 540K subscribers in the Bad_Cop_No_Donut community. The backlash was swift from the citys two police unions, which called on Maldonado Velez to apologize or recuse himself from votes related to the police department. In it, he alleged that superior officers falsify overtime pay, have protected each other from punishment for misconduct and have fostered a culture of favoritism and racism when it comes to promotion. He attested that state troopers consistently call him to translate for them, as they do not have enough Spanish speakers on the force. Officer Rafael Roca posted a 43-minute video early Sunday morning that drew a wave of online attention after Roca accused Febo of being corrupt by looking the other way from certain officers misbehavior, while remaining intent on punishing others. Pages 17 Course Hero uses AI to attempt to automatically extract content from documents to surface to you and others so you can study better, e.g., in search results, to enrich docs, and more. He was deployed in 2009-2010 to Iraq where he assisted military police . Febo did not use any names in his statement, but addressed an incident 10 years ago where rifles were lost. I kept yelling that they were violating our rights and they continued to search my vehicle against my will. }. Holyoke Police Officer Rafael Roca suspended after posting viral video alleging corruption at the department 'Because of this video I will probably be fired': Holyoke officer alleges. That is roughly 75% of minority officers with 8 years or more [of experience] in specialized assignments. Febos statement added, The Holyoke Police Department has a Chief, 2 Lieutenants, and 4 Sergeants who are minority in the department command staff.. In August, the city of Holyoke hired a firm to audit its police department, including its internal affairs processes. One complaint for rudeness was not sustained by an investigation. I already knew they were going to wait until the last minute, he said. Amid Pandemic, Boston Loses Title as Country's Worst City for Traffic, Biden Hopes to Boost Offshore Wind as Mass. Citizens in Holyoke, Colorado should be aware of illegal activities surrounding police brutality among their police departments and take actions against them. Out of the 92 times an officer was named in a civilian complaint, HPDs top brass only sustained, or upheld, allegations against an officer three times: a dispatcher who received a verbal warning in 2012 when she was accused of rudeness, an officer who received a verbal warning after he released a 14 year olds booking photo to the press in 2018, and another officer who received additional training in 2013 after a group of civilians accused her of swearing at them and referring to them as illegals.. And often, legal protections and collective bargaining agreements with police unions prevent those boards from interviewing officers, he added. var sellablestring = "GAZETTE STAFF"; Rafael Roca, a former US Marine who became a Holyoke, MA police officer in 2016, released this 43-minute video on Sunday exposing the corruption in his department. Manuel Febo, a Holyoke native who grew up in the. var sellablestring2 = "STAFF PHOTO"; He also called for the FBI or the state attorney generals office to investigate the department. Read the rules you agree to by using this website in our Terms But that work hasnt fully gotten off the ground yet. Moriarty, the president of the HPDs supervisors union, said at a press conference held specifically to address Maldonado Velezs comments. of It was not there to help me.. Roca said that as a result, supervisors have given him a bad image that has influenced others in the department. Read about what we do with the data we gather in our Privacy Policy. Internal affairs is corrupt as can be, Roca said in his video. Service. Of the remaining 34 non-minority officers in this group, 18 are in a specialized assignment. Roca also alleged that he has been the subject of retaliation for speaking out about misconduct in the department. The police reform bill also required police departments to turn over data on their internal investigations to the commission, which pledged to make that information public last spring. A handful of other officers were "spoken to" or "cautioned" by their superiors for other offenses, but the records show no evidence that the officers were disciplined for those violations of department rules. They took my gun and my badge and kicked me out of the email system," Roca said on Monday,according to MassLive. If youre in the police department, you have to obey orders.. Holyoke Police Department's 24 hour anonymous "TEXT-A-TIP" Dial CRIMES (533-TIPS or 533-8477). Lorna McMurrey, 27, was filling . The incident was fully investigated by previous chief, discipline meted out, and every step was reported publicly at that time, he wrote. 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. 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. Rocas video has reached over 50,000 views. //LBtag_id.innerHTML = ''; Roca said he hopes the Massachusetts government will audit the department. Theyre there to protect each other, to look out for each other, and to come out with force in our community. Daily Hampshire Gazette. In March, Rafael Roca, who had been a Holyoke police officer since 2015, posted the video to YouTube, where it has since been viewed more than 56,000 times. and affiliate links. He was reelected three times, with his final term expiring in January 2022. As of 2019, the estimated population was 40,117. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23. 1 Catholic Memorial; roundup/list of scores, As Adderall shortage continues, DEA plans to limit some telemedicine prescriptions, House where JonBenet Ramsey was found dead listed for sale for almost $7M, Columbia University permanently drops SAT, ACT admissions requirement, The Waterbed Doctor: California retailer lays claim to retro bed with nearly 40 years of service, sales, Felonious Florida podcast: Missing teenage girl leads to several cases of child sex trafficking. He also said that academics have struggled to answer the question of whether a complaint against an officer represents a problem officer, a productive officer or some combination of the two. A 2020 city report of the top 100 salaries in the city shows that, including school staff, 18 out of the top 20 highest paid city employees that year were police officers. 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). HOLYOKE, Mass. When he declined to do so, Roca said he was suspended with pay for failure to obey a direct order on my day off and for violating their social media policy., It goes to show that theyre dirty and they want to cover up the stuff that they do, Roca told the Gazette. "We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we Skilled in Microsoft Word, Police Procedures, Defensive Tactics, Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, Conflict Resolution and Public Speaking. But for Concepcion, the man who alleged police abused their authority pulling him over in 2016, thats exactly the kind of work Holyoke and other cities should be doing. Holyoke Officer Rafael Roca, a former Marine hired in 2016, said in the 43-minute video posted on YouTube that Chief Manny Febo is "corrupt" and plays favorites, and he argued that members of. Hed be gone by then.. Febo, who plans to retire in July, said he has nothing to hide. Irving Concepcion filed a complaint against the Holyoke, Massachusetts, police in 2016, saying they pulled him over with their guns drawn, yanked him out of his car and slammed him down on the hood. of In 2016, Irving Concepcion says the Holyoke police pulled him over with their guns drawn, yanked him out of his car and slammed him down on the hood. He saidthat ultimately there was sufficient cause to terminate Roca. I say what I mean, and I mean what I say, Roca said in March. In 2014, the president of the patrol-officer union wrote a scathing letter to the City Council denouncing Councilors Rebecca Lisi and Jossie Valentin for marching in a Black Lives Matter protest where he said some protesters used anti-police rhetoric., Since that moment, it was very evident to me that some members of the Holyoke Police Department were not happy with me and with Rebecca, Valentin told NEPM in an interview from Puerto Rico, where she now lives. Uploaded By Greenpalace1. The attorney generals office declined to comment on Tuesday. A vehicle was stolen in Granby, Mass., that vehicle was driven by suspects who drove around and broke into parked vehicles in driveways in South Hadley. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Rafael Roca, a former US Marine who became a Holyoke, MA police officer in 2016, released this 43-minute video on Sunday exposing the corruption in his . He said they did the same to a few teenagers in the car with him, taking one of them to the ground, putting a knee to his back and arresting him. Febo responded with a statement that noted that, of the total 29 minority officers on the force, there are roughly 75 [percent] of minority officers with [eight] years [of experience] or more who focus on specialized assignments. Of non-minority police officers with eight years or more of experience, 53 percent focus on specialized assignments, according to Febo. Locally, the city of Pittsfield has a Police Advisory and Review Board. Carla Sinclair 11:00 am Tue Mar 9, 2021. Last year, a judge ruled in favor of the newspaper and ordered the city to pay $5,000 in punitive damages and $100,000 in legal fees. The so-called Lexow Committee revealed to the city and nation in unprecedented detail. On March 7, Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca posted a video on YouTube alleging racism and corruption by the Holyoke Police Department. The man alleged there was a problem with the arrest report Leahy later filed, saying it contained outright lies and falsehoods. He said he never had a gun and never even stepped into the street. Concepcion is not the first to allege that the HPD resisted taking his complaint. var sellablestring4 = "GAZETTE FILE PHOTO"; Prosecutors pressed charges against him until the day he showed up for his trial, when he said they informed him they were dropping the case. 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. The mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts has appointed a new police chief who will be the first Latino to lead the department. Instead of arresting the driver, Monsalve, one of a number of officers who responded, decided to park the drivers car and give him a ride back home. 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. }. Holyoke Police Department Friday: 03/25/2022 Juvenile (16) from Springfield is charged with: Possession of Class A Possession of Class A to Distribute Possession of Ammunition without a FID. That second entry likely relates to an incident in 2017 when Roca fired his gun at a Leeds resident, Dan Guyette, who led officers on a high-speed chase through Holyoke before crashing into parked cars. Youre supposed to act a certain way, talk a certain way. var sellablestring = "GAZETTE STAFF"; When asked about allegations that the HPD made civilians wait in the police department to file a complaint, he described that as an old-school, tried-and-true tactic of the agencies to keep their complaint level down.. var sellablestring3 = "STAFF FILE PHOTO"; The handwritten log, which tracks civilian and internal complaints against officers and their conclusions, features two entries for Roca. He said that Febo and others have stepped in to prevent him from getting jobs with other police departments. AMHERST Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone will retire in May after nearly 14 years leading a department he joined upon graduating from AMHERST Unions at the University of Massachusetts are contending that more than 100 state jobs, and their accompanying benefits, are being WALTERBORO, S.C. One of the last pieces of a legal dynasty that doled out justice in rural South Carolina for decades crumbled Friday as lawyer WASHINGTON President Joe Biden exudes confidence as the next race for the White House approaches.During last months State of the Union address Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca alleges there iscorruption and racism in the Holyoke Police Department. Mayor Alex Morse said in a statement that he could not comment on a personnel matter. The police are among the very worst offenders under the current Massachusetts public records regime, even after all of the legislative progress that has been made.. School Holyoke Community College; Course Title ENGLISH 1301; Type. Concepcion alleged that he returned again and again for hours at a time until an HPD supervisor finally interviewed him three weeks later. Some complaints involve allegations that police officers broke the law. He said he is disappointed with how city officials reacted to his allegations. Holyoke Massachusetts & Pennsylvania Legal Representation. Roca said he had performed consistently in his role as a police officer and engaged in crime fighting when others were allegedly sleeping in their police cruisers and ignoring crime. He went on to say there had been officers he knew of that were allegedly involved in drunk driving incidents, who had assaulted people with their boats who have been labeled as racist and officers who had stolen money. He went on to say there were police officers who allegedly have made an excess of $260,000 a year and no one had questioned the situation. Twelve of the 46 patrolmen with eight years or more of experience are part of a minority group, and nine of them have specialized positions, Febo wrote. The mayors office said it expects the report to be completed in the coming days. In one 2011 complaint, a civilian alleged that during a traffic stop that involved Officer Jared Hamel, police held a gun to the civilian's head and knocked him unconscious, after which officers stomped on his face and dislocated his jaw. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contentious plan to overhaul the country's legal system, as the governm Police Capt. He has since been suspended for . 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. Howie Carr: What's so urgent in Holbrook, Mr. Speaker? Roca said that the department is rife with racism. Consultoria de Marketing e Publicidade holyoke police corruption. license except where otherwise noted. As of March 9, Roca has been suspended from the department due to his violation of a rule prohibiting officers from criticizing the department on social media platforms. He also mentioned that he was fired right before Joshua Garcia was sworn in as Holyokes mayor on Monday. The other officer was chosen specifically due to his extensive knowledge and expertise in firearms, he is assigned to the ATF task force, he said. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email. He said that currently, there were 46 total patrolmen with eight years or more of full-time experience on the job., Out of those 46, 12 are minority officers. His video, posted Sunday, has been viewed 27,000 times. In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area. var tag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkRocaHolyokeFiring-hg-111721,ph1'); In an interview, POST Commission Executive Director Enrique Zuniga said the agencys investigations will eventually come before the full commission, which can go so far as to decertify officers found to have violated state standards a career-ending type of decision, Zuniga said. The driver, who officers alleged smelled of alcohol and had slurred speech, turned out to be a lieutenant with the Holyoke Fire Department. In his own time, he said that he witnessed classmates incarcerated as part of the school-to-prison pipeline.. They pick and choose who they want to discipline and who they dont want to discipline.. Roca, a five-year veteran of the police force who served in the U.S. Marines before that, said he refused to remove the video upon Febos orders on Sunday. HOLYOKE, Mass. if (photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring2) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring3) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring4) > -1) { HOLYOKE A Holyoke police officer said he has been suspended after posting a lengthy video online alleging widespread corruption and racism within the police department. Here is the list of officers: Devon Bones, Holyoke Police Department. Febo said a detectives vehicle was broken into and taken from that vehicle was 2 ballistic vests with 2 magazines in the pouches, along with some K9 gear, and a first aid bag. Some, but not all, of those items were later found in a vehicle stolen from Granby that was recovered in Hartford, according to Febo. . if (photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring2) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring3) > -1 || photocredit.indexOf(sellablestring4) > -1) { GAZETTE FILE PHOTO var photocredit = "'GAZETTE FILE PHOTO' 'Holyoke police officer parks in the train station on Main Street on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. The report, which Roca shared with the Gazette, was completed on July 2. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Roca said he has received support from former co-workers who are scared to speak out and from many others in the city. 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.
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