Worcester Police Chief Gemme Can’t Be Fired With Current Contract

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Monday, October 06, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

With a city in the midst of dealing with a variety of crime-related issues including heroin overdoses, robberies, youth and gang violence, and more, Worcester’s Chief of Police Gary Gemme has been picking and choosing the media outlets that himself and the media department respond to.

While residents within the city have become unhappy with the lack of response to the media – Steve “Q” Quist, a resident and activist in Worcester, recently approached the city council with a petition speaking to this issue – the Chief’s contract ensures that barring the City Manager speaking up, Gemme can hold his position for as long as he desires.

“I tell you what, I would love to have whoever negotiated this contract in my corner,” said Quist. “This is a guy that does not have the resources or the temperament to be the Police Chief of Worcester but he has a contract that essentially makes it so that he cannot be fired, which is not advantageous for anyone in the city expect for him.”

Even if Gemme is to be removed as Worcester’s Chief of Police, his contract ensures that he can retain a position within the police force, returning to the rank of captain, retaining his rights under civil service and IBPO local 504.

A Generous Contract

Worcester City Councilor Konstantina Lukes – who was around during the Chief’s contract negotiation in 2005 – believes that this particular contract is one of the most generous contracts given to a department head in the city of Worcester.

With this being such a generous contract – health insurance benefits, rate increases, protections from wage and benefit cuts, retirement benefits, a return to the rank of captain, and more – Lukes says that it typically becomes the discussion point for those who are upset with the Chief’s performance.

“This is an issue that comes up periodically against the chief,” said Lukes. “I know that there has been a problem with his availability to the media, so I don’t know if this is surfacing because of that or if it is the rumblings of something deeper. The contract certainly hasn’t changed, but there could be some sort of moral issue within the police department or something else that has come up.”

Repetitive Benefits

According to Worcester City Councilor Michael Gaffney the Worcester City Charter already offers a degree of protection to the Police Chief, making him unsure as to why some of these contract stipulations are in place.

The Charter makes it so that politics can in no way influence the removal of the chief, as it is the City Manager who is held responsible in terms of dealing with and removing the Chief. This is so that the decision is based on performance rather than politics.

“I don’t know why the chief is so protected by this contract because he is already offered a degree of protection under the city charter,” said Gaffney. “I wasn’t a part of the negotiation process so I don’t know why the contract is the way it is but I think that the Chief staying on as a Captain in the police force if he was removed as Chief for whatever reason could be problematic.”

Media Issues

Much of the negative backlash against the Police Chief as of late is how he has handled dispersing information to the media as of late.

In a recent question and answer session on the Worcester Police Department’s Facebook page, the Chief went as far as to say that the Police Department ranks media outlets in terms of how important they are in warranting a response. While some Worcester news outlets were granted a higher ranking, others were listed at the bottom of the priority list with out of city media outlets.

“I think that the chief has his hands full with all of the issues going on in the city and the police are doing a great job of enforcing the city right now,” said Bill Breault, Chair of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety. “The Chief is clearly someone who doesn’t like the press; he obviously has no use for them. I know that this is a problem that has been going on for some time now and to be honest, I have no idea why he wouldn’t respond to media requests; there is no reason why he shouldn’t be trying to push information out through all local media.”

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