slides: Worcester’s Crime Issues Continue - An Ongoing Challenge for New Chief

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

GoLocalWorcester News Team

New Chief Steve Sargent

Last Friday was just the latest incident of a Worcester taxi driver being robbed at gunpoint. This is the sixth armed robbery, shooting or stabbing of a Worcester taxi driver this year. For a city the depends of taxis for many people to get to work, go grocery shopping or for healthcare appointments, these repeated episode threaten the industry.

SEE THE CHALLENGES FOR WORCESTER’S POLICE CHIEF BELOW

On Friday, Worcester Police responded to Preston Street for a report of an armed robbery of a cab driver. The 50-year-old taxi driver said he was dispatched to pick up a fare at a Preston Street address. When the taxi driver arrived at the address. A black male, 5’9”, thin build, short hair, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, entered the backseat of the vehicle, according to Worcester Police.

The taxi driver robberies is one of the ongoing crime issues that have plagued the city.

READ ABOUT MORE ATTACKS HERE

As GoLocal reported last week the challenges for new Chief Steve Sargent are significant. The position of Police Chief in Worcester is one of the most important position. With no full-time mayor in the city and concerns about increasing violent crime, the Police Chief has a heightened importance in the city.

The old saying is a great police chief is like a great umpire — you don’t notice they are their because crime is not the biggest concern in the city. For Deputy Chief Steve Sargent, he has a tremendous opportunity to modernize the Worcester Police Department both inwardly and outwardly.

The great news for Sargent is the bar is low. Now-retired Chief Gary Gemme had alienated minority groups, members of the council, and the media.

Related Slideshow: Challenges for Police Chief Steve Sargent

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1)

Public Confident

The opportunity for Chief Sargent is to transform the Department from being reactive to being proactive. Crime should not get to the level that members of the City Council are calling for the State Police to be deployed. The Chief and the Department needs to have the public’s confidence and confidence is built through confidence.

The press should not have to be the one that flags that there is a trend in home invasions before resources are deployed.

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2)

Relationship with the Minority Community

The previous Chief canceled meetings with the minority community — Gemme canceled after he had already committed.

Worcester is a diverse community with a growing Hispanic and Latino community. The relationship between the Department and all parts of the community needs to be improved.

Ultimately, the Department needs to begin to look like the population of the city and Worcester has a long way to go.

The most recent class of recruits to the Worcester Police Department have a higher percentage of Latinos and women than the previous class in 2013, but this year’s class has no African-Americans and does not come close to reflect the population of the City.

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3)

Ask for Help

Great leaders have a great support system. Advisors that have a broad spectrum of experiences and expertise. The danger for Sargent is too limit his advisors to the voices inside Headquarters on Lincoln Square.

The new Chief should be developing relationships with Chief William Evans in Boston, former head of the State Police Tom Foley, former Boston Chief Ed Davis and experts outside the Commonwealth. Worcester is different, but good policing is not.

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4)

Compassion

The biggest disconnect between Gemme and many stakeholders in the city was the Mayor did not seem to care about victims, drug addicts, criminals. When the heroin and other opioids were sweeping across Massachusetts and the rest of the northeast, Worcester was one of the last significant cities to deploy NARCAN with police officers. The response was late and lacked compassion.

Police Chiefs are powerful voices in the community to bring people together and raise awareness about issues like addiction.

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5)

Transparency

The old Mark Twain adage is “never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel” may be a bit outdated, but pixels are even cheaper. When the media asks for a police report — you have a legal obligation to give it to them. When a minority group ask for an analysis of complaints about police response time in their neighborhood, conduct the analysis.

For the past decade, the police leadership initiated and elevated conflict with the community and the media. This is an opportunity to create a new and more open approach to community relations.