Asked on Monday what he thinks will happen to him after he spoke out against the department and other officers, Roca said he expects to be fired a possibility he mentioned in his video. 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. //var LBtag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkLBRocaHolyokeFiring-hg-111721,ph1'); The attorney generals office declined to comment on Tuesday. Leon Davis, Springfield Police Department. 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. Alex Benjamin Morse (born January 29, 1989) is an American politician who served as the 44th mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts from 2012 to 2021. He said he was in the hospital due to stress from the situation. In an interview with NEPM, Maldonado Velez said his critique of the police department is not about individual officers but rather the system of policing. Police Scorecard: Holyoke, MA //LBtag_id.innerHTML = ' Buy this Image'; Roca said the straw that broke the camels back and resulted in him posting the video was a call from a coworker he received the day the video was posted, March 7. 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. Febo said that Roca misportrayed some examples of lost or stolen weapons. Read the rules you agree to by using this website in our Terms Reserve Online Appointment for New LTC / Firearms' - TimeTap Alex Morse - Wikipedia 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. Rafael Roca, 37,. MUGSHOTS: Nearly two dozen arrested in Holyoke during high - WWLP That is roughly 75 percent of minority officers with eight years or more in specialized assignments, he said. Howie Carr: From lab scandal to pool death, a statie's sad story [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 . No probable cause, there was no weapons, there was no reason to assume there were weapons., An officer told him to shut my mouth or much more than my rights would be violated, Concepcion wrote in a complaint he later filed with the police department. 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. Daily Hampshire Gazette. OSHA, cannabis company reach $14k settlement in Holyoke worker's death . Lorna McMurrey, 27, was filling . Roca also suggests the state attorney general or the FBI should look into his claims against Febo and the department. Holyoke police officers arrived at the mall just before 7:00 p.m. for a report of shots fired. Suspected. Police officer placed on leave, alleges corruption within department 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. Have you ever had a vision READ THE REST, We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. On March 7, Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca posted a video on YouTube alleging racism and corruption by the Holyoke Police Department. 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. Many of those officers all but one of whom are supervisors collected tens of thousands of dollars last year in overtime pay. Mount Holyoke College Assistant Vice President for Civil Rights and He said: The chief saw your video and hes ordering you to take it down, Roca said. Roca said he expected to face discipline after posting the video but was invested in calling attention to what he saw as problems within the department. Roca, however, claimed that somebody stole the gun from Harts house during a party. The police are policing themselves., Maldonado Velez is not the first city councilor who has come under fire from Holyokes police unions. list of candidates for Holyoke police officer. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Roca said that as a result, supervisors have given him a bad image that has influenced others in the department. Iowa Police Chief arrested after selling black market military machine guns, "I'm a Cop" is a classic horror comic using real-life quotes from police departments, Transform your ideas into unique art with this CES-featured, AI art tool, now on sale for $49.99, Safely organize your devices and chargers with the CES-featured Bento Stack Charge 8000, Start your musical journey with the Populele Smart Ukulele, now only $159.99, Terms Ernest Fontaine, Fitchburg State . For those reasons, Reyes cleared the officers of violating department policies. Roca had argued that the citys social media policy illegally infringed on his First Amendment rights, and that his statements were true and therefore were not defamatory. Reyes, Police Chief David Pratt and Capt. Degnan said in her report that she offered him the ability to participate via telephone and that she did not receive a physicians note with sufficient detail to verify that he could not participate in the hearing. Last August, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia hired the New. Holyoke mayor: Low rate of officer discipline doesn't mean police Concepcion is not the first to allege that the HPD resisted taking his complaint. The 69 complaints that NEPM obtained are just the ones that civilians managed to file with the HPD in the first place. Nine of those 12 are in specialized assignments other than patrol operations. Roca has NEVER provided any credible information or documentation to substantiate his claims to the HPD, his union, the FBI, Attorney General or any other investigators that I am aware of, Pratt wrote, adding that Roca was given due process. He alleged that he was denied a job with the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus police at the request of his police chief and that when he saved the life of a white state trooper, the state trooper was rewarded over himself. "We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we In an interview last week, Garcia said he planned to follow through with an assessment of the police department, later adding: This is not an investigation, its an assessment.. A former military police officer, Terrill has for many years researched civilian complaints against police officers in cities across the country, including a2016 study that looked at departmentsin eight different cities. 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 parks in the train station on Main Street on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. When you speak up and when you expose corruption, thats what they do. As of 2019, the estimated population was 40,117. Now that Roca has filed an appeal, the Civil Service Commission will decide whether the termination holds up. I stand behind the video and what I said in it.. All rights reserved (About Us). var sellablestring4 = "GAZETTE FILE PHOTO"; His video, posted Sunday, has been viewed 27,000 times. He went on to say that he had tried to sue, tried speaking with the supervisors, Ive tried my union, Ive tried it all. Roca said he hoped that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Attorney General, along with the FBI, would open an investigation into the department. Roca said he did speak to both the attorney generals office and FBI at the same time, but that there was no subsequent follow-up from them. 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. This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. var photocredit = photocredit.toUpperCase(); That outcome police officers facing no discipline after a civilian alleges wrongdoing is hardly unique to Concepcions case. Because Roca has filed an appeal, the state Civil Service Commission will now determine whether his discipline will stand. The man alleged that Leahy tackled him to the ground at 2 a.m. after he had left a club, put a gun to his head and told him to shut up when he asked what was going on. When the state Legislature passed its police reform bill, state Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Ashland, described the legislation as a necessary first step towards achieving systemic change through law enforcement accountability and transparency.. They would just tell me to just stop doing what I was doing, its not going to go nowhere, its only going to cause me more hardships and problems, Concepcion said. Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca alleges there iscorruption and racism in the Holyoke Police Department. 8. tag_id.innerHTML = ' Buy this Image'; The driver, who officers alleged smelled of alcohol and had slurred speech, turned out to be a lieutenant with the Holyoke Fire Department. We definitely had examples of moments where we felt we were treated differently because of our activism and there was an underlying tone of retaliation.. Similarrecords from the Northampton Police Department, for example, show that of the 90 times an officer faced a civilian complaint from 2010 and 2020, department superiors only disciplined officers nine times. He has since been suspended for . The suspended officers are listed below: Devon Bones, Holyoke Police Department Bryan Custadio, Fall River Police Department Leon Davis, Springfield Police Department Ernest Fontaine,. Our forum rules are detailed in the Community Guidelines. //LBtag_id.innerHTML = ' Buy this Image'; But he said other studies have found that civilian review boards have a minimal effect on accountability. //var LBtag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkLBHolyokePD-hg031021,ph1'); At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade, an investigation by USA TODAY Network found. 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. Theyre there to protect each other, to look out for each other, and to come out with force in our community. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. They took my gun and my badge and kicked me out of the email system," Roca said on Monday,according to MassLive. Holyoke officer who exposes police corruption in video gets suspended Internal affairs is corrupt as can be, Roca said in his video. Audit finds Holyoke Police Department poses 'substantial risk' to city