Racial disparities, lack of adequate data flagged in equity audit of Worcester police

WORCESTER ― City police don’t collect enough data to comprehensively evaluate patterns of racial bias across the department, researchers hired by the city found in a long-awaited equity audit that flagged disparities in arrest rates that the city manager called “concerning."

In a 131-page racial equity audit completed in January and released by the city Friday, the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally-funded nonprofit the city hired in 2022, made a series of recommendations that city officials are expected to discuss in the coming weeks.

The center, which has completed similar studies in other departments across the country, noted throughout its report that a lack of demographic data prevented it from conducting tests it uses elsewhere to probe bias.

“The audit team's analysis was hindered by the absence of comprehensive data on racial demographics, preventing a thorough examination of potential racial disparities,” researchers wrote. “The WPD’s current reports on use of force, traffic stops, pedestrian stops, and field contacts do not collect detailed information that reveals a person’s race, gender, or age during a stop or interaction.”

The researchers, among nearly three dozen recommendations for the department, recommended the “systematic collection, analysis, and annual reporting of data related to stops, searches, and seizures categorized by ethnicity, race, gender and location,” and that the data be published online.

“This move toward greater transparency and accountability holds the potential to shed light on potential disparities that cannot currently be examined and that could inform more equitable policing strategies,” the researchers wrote.

The data researchers were able to analyze showed, between 2017 and 2021, a “noticeable overrepresentation of Black and Hispanic individuals in arrests, with Hispanic individuals being almost 2 times more likely to be arrested, and Black individuals being approximately 2.2 times more likely to be arrested, than their White counterparts.”

Researchers found "youth" of color are arrested at disproportionate rates. Black youth accounted for 28% of juvenile arrests, but make up 16.6% of the school district’s enrollment, they noted, while Hispanic students accounted for 48% of arrests, and make up 43.3% of enrollment.

The researchers noted there are many factors other than police bias that can account for disparities in arrest figures, and wrote that, based on their analysis of traffic tickets, citations given to motorists of color did not rise when it came to offenses for which officers had higher discretion.

“In fact, as officers have greater discretion in making citations, disparities have decreased,” researchers wrote. “This pattern suggests that the introduction of higher discretion in law enforcement scenarios does not exacerbate preexisting racial inequalities.”

The researchers said that collecting the kind of data they suggest is needed to “gain a better understanding of the factors contributing to higher arrest rates for Black and Hispanic community members,” as well as to enhance community trust.

On the subject of community trust, the researchers alluded to comments made by former Police Chief Steven Sargent as harming relationships between the department and outside groups.

Sargent, in comments that conflicted with internal records and lawsuits, denied seeing racism in the department in conversations with the Board of Health in 2020, comments the chairman of that board criticized sharply.

“The WPD should consider publicly recognizing the results of this audit’s data analysis that identify disparities and acknowledge historical incidents involving police practices that have negatively impacted communities of color,” researchers recommended. “This could help nurture positive community relationships by giving community members an opportunity to observe the department actively acknowledging their most pressing concerns and viewpoints.”

Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier is deferring public comment on the audit until after the City Council meeting on Tuesday, while City Manager Eric D. Batista was out of the office Monday, spokespeople said.

In his summary of the report to the council, Batista wrote that the disparities regarding Black and Hispanic arrests were “concerning,” but that it is “important to look at those numbers in context.”

Batista noted that the overall figures are “based off the demographic breakdown of the population of the entire City,” but that “the majority of people being arrested in the City are young people.

“Worcester is becoming a more diverse city every day and because of that the demographics of its younger population don’t match the demographics of the older generation,” he added. “When you look at the arrest data compared to Worcester Public School enrollment data the populations line up more closely.”

Batista wrote in his communication that he looks forward to a detailed discussion of the report during the council’s committee process.

The recommendations offered by researchers span a number of topics, from diversity, equity and inclusion (with the Center for Naval Analyses opining the department needs a clear DEI plan), to promotion, training, discipline, officer support and morale.

Researchers highlighted several findings they said were cause for concern, many of them culled from an anonymous survey of officers that had a roughly 25% response rate.

According to the researchers, nearly half of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that they would recommend WPD as a workplace to others.

“The majority of the staff believes that there is not a fair procedure for advancement at the department,” researchers wrote, sharing a number of statistics they said were cause for concern.

“These results related to promotion and career advancement raise serious concerns and should be elevated to a top priority for the City of Worcester and WPD leadership to address,” researchers wrote.

The researchers further wrote that officers did not feel the city has a robust enough process to address their well being. Officers generally did not believe they engaged in racial discrimination and believed they had positive relationships with communities of color, the researchers wrote — findings they said contrasted with feedback from community groups.

"The disparities in opinions between the WPD survey and community input reflect a disconnect between the WPD and members of the community,” researchers wrote.

The researchers also wrote that both police officers and community members felt the department’s process to investigate and discipline officers was flawed and unfair.

While complaints against police have declined in recent years, researchers wrote, that could be because the system is not perceived as legitimate.

Researchers noted that the department, “collects relatively little information about use-of-force incidents and does not collect data on the race of involved community members.

“This hinders useful analysis of these data and does not allow for developing an understanding of any disparities in use-of-force incidents,” they wrote.

The city’s internal affairs division is among the divisions that federal authorities at the Department of Justice are evaluating as part of a completely separate civil probe, called a pattern-or-practice investigation, that it launched in Nov. 2022.

In announcing the probe, the Justice Department said it had found, “significant justification to investigate whether,” Worcester police engage in a “pattern or practice of racially discriminatory and gender-biased policing," and use excessive force.

The audit does not appear to mention the federal probe, which remains ongoing.

The city hired the Center for Naval Analyses as part of a number of orders issued by former City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. following protests over racial equity issues nationwide and in the city following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester police equity audit finds racial disparities, data issues