Despite Union Protest, Worcester Police Chiefs Will Exit Civil Service: Council

WORCESTER, MA — The Worcester City Council on Tuesday authorized the city to start the process of removing the chief and deputy chief positions from the civil service process, one of the key recommendations made in a new racial equity audit of the department.

City Manager Eric Batista will now petition state lawmakers for authorization to remove the positions from civil service. The vote came after the International Brotherhood of Police Officers (IBPO) Local 504 executive committee protested the change in a letter to councilors. The union represents sergeants, lieutenants and captains.

"It’s not just me recommending this, it has the support of the police department, folks in the community, many different community groups," Batista said during Tuesday's council meeting.

Tuesday's vote was unanimous, but At-Large Councilor Kate Toomey, chair of the council's public safety committee and a police booster, was absent from the meeting.

The Worcester police equity audit, conducted by the nonprofit research and analysis firm CNA, found that the use of civil service is preventing a diverse workforce in the upper ranks of the department.

"[CNA] noted that the Civil Service process has been controversial because promotions are based on a written multiple-choice test that white officers historically perform better on than officers from communities of color. That results in those white officers being placed higher on the resulting score-based lists," Batista wrote in a memo to council.

Both the chief and deputy chief are white, almost 90 percent of captains and sergeants are white and about 95 percent of lieutenants are white, according to the audit.

In a survey of Worcester officers, a majority said they "strongly disagreed" that officers can advance by hard work alone.

"The majority of the staff believes that there is not a fair procedure for advancement at the department. Thirty-two percent of respondents strongly disagreed with the statement that if an employee works hard, they will advance their career at the WPD. Forty-five percent of the respondents also strongly disagreed with the statement that promotions in the department are based on job-related qualifications, and 26 percent strongly disagreed that the promotional process is fair and impartial," the audit said.

That clashes with the IBPO Local 504, whose executive committee called civil service "fair and balanced."

"We understand that both locally and nationally, chiefs and their command teams are being removed from civil service requirements, however, civil service gives a fair and balanced opportunity for career police officers to rise through the ranks, and maybe one day lead the department," the letter said.

Batista's request for the chief and deputy chief to be removed from civil service is less than what CNA recommended. The firm said the department should consider leaving civil service completely. The Worcester Committee on Diversity and Inclusion made the same recommendation in 2021.

"The City of Worcester and the WPD should work with state officials to initiate a review of civil service procedures that affect the WPD’s hiring, internal evaluations, and promotions, and the department should consider removal from the civil service system," the audit said.

Batista acknowledged at the council meeting that other departments — including Framingham, Webster and Marlborough — had exited civil service entirely. But he also said it'll be a longer process in Worcester due to the size of the department compared to other cities.

The city's other police union, the NEPBA LOCAL 911, did agree as part of recent contract negotiations to study the idea of leaving civil service. The IBPO Local 504 warned that it may file an unfair labor practice charge if the council allows the removal of the deputy chief position from civil service because there's an active promotion list for the position, according to the letter. Batista said the captains on that list would be eligible for hiring even with the change.

"This is important to the city, it’s important to the community," Mayor Joseph Petty said Tuesday. "I think this brings the city forward."

Chief Paul Saucier is serving in an interim role following the sudden retirement last year of Steven Sargent.