license except where otherwise noted. In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area. Murphy said that Roca had been on paid leave for eight months, and that the city needed to resolve that matter. Thank you! I think the challenge with that is in most jurisdictions that have a civilian review board or some version of that, its very rare for that board to have investigatory powers, Terrill said. 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. In fact, a year later, Valentin filed a civilian complaint against an HPD officer over his rudeness to her at the scene of a car crash involving her wife treatment Valentin alleged was related to her political stances. Hours per week:37.5 Weeks per year:52. They kept trying to use the grabbing of the genitals to kind of quiet me down as a form of punishment and pain, Concepcion said. The Appellant left the Holyoke Police Station at approximately 11:00 p.m. and proceeded to the detail in his personal vehicle by means of Southampton Road. 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 it down and will probably lose his job. 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. They took my gun and my badge and kicked me out of the email system, Roca toldMasslive.comon Monday. ", He calls outgoing Police Chief Manny Febo "corrupt," contending minorities are routinely passed over for upper-tier assignments and disciplined at higher rates. The mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, has broken his silence about an NEPM investigation that revealed the city's police department almost never disciplines officers whom civilians accuse of wrongdoing. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Because when you speak up and you expose corruption, he said in the video, thats what they do.. Roca, however, claimed that somebody stole the gun from Harts house during a party. 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. Whos policing the police? he asked. Roca also claimed in his video that recently, a police officer had his car stolen with guns and equipment inside. He alleged that the car was found in Hartford, but the guns and equipment were missing. //var LBtag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkLBRocaHolyokeFiring-hg-111721,ph1'); Here is the list of officers: Devon Bones, Holyoke Police Department. They label you a liar, he said. Holyoke Police Captain Matthew Moriarty told Western Mass News that Holyoke police officials responded to a report of gunfire on 136 Sargeant Street around 9 p.m. on Tuesday night. Roca said a police captain called him about a day after he posted the video. Holyoke police officer parks in the train station on Main Street on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Nine of those 12 are in specialized assignments other than patrol operations. 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. Rafael Roca, 37,. HOLYOKE, Mass. The report, which Roca shared with the Gazette, was completed on July 2. That outcome police officers facing no discipline after a civilian alleges wrongdoing is hardly unique to Concepcions case. After Customers Paid Large Deposits for Home Projects, Contractor Files for Bankruptcy, How Much Snow Has Fallen in Your Area So Far, The House Where JonBenet Ramsey Was Found Dead Is Listed for Sale at Nearly $7M, FIRST ALERT: Wintry Mix Keeps Falling as Storm Hits New England (Live Radar). In a legal opinion sent to Murphy, which Roca provided to the Gazette, Assistant City Solicitor Kathleen Degnan said that Rocas public statements were not protected by the First Amendment, and therefore the police chiefs order for him to remove the video was lawful. Roca said he was suspended for violating the departments social media policy, which bars officers from criticizing the department on social media platforms. 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. And often, legal protections and collective bargaining agreements with police unions prevent those boards from interviewing officers, he added. Officer Leahy made up a substantial portion of his report, the man wrote. Concepcion is not the first to allege that the HPD resisted taking his complaint. None of them provided comment on the civilian complaints they faced or the departments investigation of them, and the heads of both the patrol officers union and supervisors union did not respond to questions from NEPM. NEPM has obtained a decades worth of civilian complaints against HPD officers and the departments own internal investigations of them. And the department has yet to turn over a single investigation initiated by department supervisors or other agencies, which include allegations of everything from untruthfulness to an intercepted phone conversation revealing possible misconduct from the Hampden County jail, according to the HPDs log. Boing Boing uses cookies and analytics trackers, and is supported by advertising, merchandise They took my gun and my badge and kicked me out of the email system, Roca told Masslive.com on Monday. Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca alleges there iscorruption and racism in the Holyoke Police Department. 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. var sellablestring2 = "STAFF PHOTO"; Pictured above: thumbnail of the Youtube video posted by Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca. Ernest Fontaine, Fitchburg State . 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. Roca also told the newspaper he plans to file a lawsuit over how he was treated. The HPD is not the only local department that rarely disciplines officers based on civilian complaints. We reenter the clubhouse, as we go back to the pool table the brother that just received the pot starts to brag about having a brother as a Holyoke police officer and that he gets stuff like pot and can make some money that way., In its investigation, the HPD found the allegations against Monfett not sustained because there was insufficient evidence to either prove or disprove the allegation.. list of candidates for Holyoke police officer. In his video, Roca references alleged abuse of overtime pay. 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. Neiswanger said that a tipster found the gun in an alley, and that the mayors presence was a coincidence. Roca said that the department is rife with racism. On Nov. 10, then acting mayor Terence Murphy followed that recommendation after a city lawyer determined there was just cause for firing Roca. He went on to say that he felt as though he would either be fired or suspended for posting the 45-minute long video. N/A civilian complaints of police misconduct. }, Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca. If that doesn't work, move to step 2: literally shoot the messenger We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising 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. Jorge Monsalve. . v. Civil Service . Graduated from 36th Massachusetts Police Officer . I kept yelling that they were violating our rights and they continued to search my vehicle against my will. All rights reserved (About Us). //var LBtag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkLBRocaHolyokeFiring-hg-111721,ph2'); I already knew they were going to wait until the last minute, he said. 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.. In his internal report on the incident, HPDs internal affairs officer, Manuel Reyes, said police pulled over Concepcion for a traffic violation. 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. 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. But that work hasnt fully gotten off the ground yet. But the police reform bill changed that, clarifying that those investigations are not personnel records. March 15, I wasnt looking for them to be on my side, but youd think if somebody was making allegations about their city they may have questions themselves.. 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. 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. The stolen vehicle was later recovered in Hartford, CT and one of the vests and some K9 gear was recovered. var tag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkRocaHolyokeFiring-hg-111721,ph1'); Mayor Joshua Garcia also declined to sit down for an interview with NEPM. Growing up Puerto Rican in the Flats neighborhood of Holyoke one of the citys majority-Hispanic lower wards Maldonado Velez said he heard plenty of stories from those whom that system harmed. 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. Holyoke Police Department's 24 hour anonymous "TEXT-A-TIP" Dial CRIMES (533-TIPS or 533-8477). Reyes, the HPD captain who oversees internal investigations, said in his final report that the boy had let his twin brother and another student back into the building after they were suspended a major breach of security because of shootings and gang activity in the community. This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. The city settled that lawsuit for $65,000 in 2020. Roca said that as a result, supervisors have given him a bad image that has influenced others in the department. 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.