Crime is Worcester’s Plague - Gemme Goes Silent

Friday, August 22, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme has refused more than 40 press inquiries in the past month during a period in which the city has seen a spike in gang violence, a weak response to a heroin epidemic, and rampant vandalism in the city. According to FBI Crime Data, Worcester is 7th highest ranked in the Commonwealth for violent crime.

While the Worcester Police Department takes no qualms in a lack of response to media requests, law enforcement officials on both the county and state level feel that successful partnerships between news organizations and law enforcement are highly beneficial.

“I think what benefits out relationship with the media is that we don’t try to dodge any questions,” said Dave Tuttle, Chief Deputy Sherriff of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office. “I have done interviews on Christmas, weekends, and after hours. I have been a part of interviews as short as five minutes and as long as two hours, and have even met reporters at their offices. If the media calls us, we try to respond the best we can.”

The Worcester Police Department – in addition to Police Chief Gemme – has two employees whose job it is to answer and deal with media requests: Sergeant Kerry Hazelhurst and Media Specialist Katie Daly. These three employees made a combination of $375,547 in gross pay in 2013; Chief Gemme himself made $199,430, which leads all city employees.

"Police have to be held accountable to the taxpayers,” said Rick Daniels, COO of GoLocal24 and former President of the Boston Globe. “It has been my experience in leading large media companies that this works best when there is a partnership between news organizations and the police. If the police department refuses to answer press inquires, there are huge questions raised about why the taxpayers are paying their salaries."

Relationship Between Media and Police

In their mission statement, the Worcester Police Department say they “[promote] an atmosphere of community wide partnership in public safety, [foster] trust and confidence of the citizenry by examining their concern about crime, and collectively [work] on solutions to the root causes,” a statement that is hindered by lack of response and transparency to news organizations.

Both the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and the Massachusetts State Police take pride in their relationships with news organizations, answering all questions to the best of their ability. According to Tuttle, if he can’t answer a question for a news organization, he typically tries to point out other helpful sources.

In the case of accusatory or aggressive lines of questioning – which are pretty common since police are constantly dealing with crime – many law enforcement officials chose to still answer the question, knowing that professional courtesy is always at the forefront.

“As Director of Media Communications, calls or inquiries of a sensitive, aggressive, or accusatory nature are generally forwarded to me. We strive to handle these inquiries as professionally as we do any other call, with courtesy and accurate and timely responses,” said David Procopio, of the Massachusetts State Police. “Emotion does not factor into it. I will not hesitate, however, to point out and correct any bias, incomplete understanding of a situation, or inaccuracies that I perceive a reporter to have, if necessary.”

Police Accountability

A common lesson in both the journalism and the criminal justice education deals with the concept of media being the “fourth estate,” referring to the press acting as a watchdog over government and others on behalf of the people.

According to Quinsigamond Community College Criminal Justice Professor Bill McCarthy – who is also a former Connecticut State Police Officer – a common lesson in his entry-level criminal justice classes deals with the role of journalists in the criminal justice field.

March 2012

The Worcester Telegram had reported that the Worcester Police were one of a group of local police departments that were presenting challenges to the public in regards to looking at police logs, something that is public record by law.

Read more here