Worcester Cops Retaliate Against Protesters

Retaliation and Harassment

At the January 13, 2015 Worcester City Council meeting Councillor Lukes said that the Worcester Police were reduced to the tactics of harassment to drive out the people she did not like near her rental property in the Canal District.  The same seems to be taking place again with the Black Lives Matter protesters.

On January 20, 2015 Worcester Police Chief Gemme said that he was looking for something to charge the Black Lives Matter protesters who blocked Kelly Square on MLK Day. About 50 protesters, some holding signs on the sidewalk and others standing in the crosswalk, held up traffic for four and one half minutes to bring attention to the four and one-half hours Michael Brown lay dead in the street after being shot by Ferguson Mo. Police.

Like Councillor Lukes said, the Worcester Police has been again reduced to the personal, of some government officials, tool of retaliation and harassment.  The evidence that Chief Gemme is retaliating and harassing is the fact that he could not articulate any charges that could be brought against the protesters. His comments that he was looking into a “variety “charges is evidence of the pretext.

The protesters who blocked I 93 near Boston two weeks ago were charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and willfully blocking an ambulance. None of these charges apply to any of the protesters in Worcester. The sidewalks and crosswalks are public spaces and there was not a trespassing violation.  The police did not witness any disorderly conduct. There were no arrests and therefore there could not have been any resistance of arrest. The protesters allowed the ambulance to pass without the ambulance stopping.

The City Council will have to create another oppressive ordinance to charge the Black Lives Matter protesters like it did when it banned poor and homeless people from asking for help by the means of panhandling.  Once again it will hide behind the straw man of “public safety”.

At the City Council meeting of January 20, 2015 Councillor Lukes and others compelled the City Manager to explain the “protocols” for demonstrations. Although the Black Lives Matter demonstrations have gone on for months, the City Manager Ed Augustus had not said much about them. Now he is speaking against them, aiding the police in its retaliation and harassment.  The City Manager is supposed to be the “civilian” review board for the City. It is clear that he is not capable of making any necessary reforms to the Worcester Police Department, even though he is the titular boss.

I can’t remember any time that the City Council deliberated any policy for the Worcester Police Department. As a rule it allows the Police Chief to do as he see fit and the City Managers just rubber stamps the Police activities. It is ironic that police policy was deliberated at the January 20, 2015 City Council meeting when the issue of how to handle the Black Lives Matter protests was discussed.

I was told that the City Council has requested about forty reports from the City Manager about the activities of the Worcester Police and none have been given to the Worcester City Council. The Chief of Police uses as an excuse for non compliance the lack of personnel to do the research. No one really knows what is going on in the Worcester Police Department.

The following are a list of issues that the City Council should be setting policy, but is not: prostitution in Main South, increased shootings in the City, increased overdoses in the City, the need or lack of need for stationary license plate readers, and the use of body cameras. What are the City Council’s respective policies that it wants to the City Manager to instruct the Police to effectuate? Do not expect anything controversial on these issues this election cycle.

The harassment of the Black Lives Matter protesters by the Worcester Police and by some in City Council is unethical and possibly illegal. The City government is wasting people’s money and time by looking for new laws to harass the protesters. Instead it should be having open discussions about real policing policies, including police misconduct.