Who Police's the Police?
More specifically, the sheriffs.
Because it’s sure as heck not the city.
The 2020 Act relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth created the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) commission in the wake of the Black Lives matter movement to provide a way to ensure that law enforcement knew the rules they were supposed to be following, operated safely and took accountability for their peers. In addition to banning choke-holds, no-knock warrants and Sexual Intercourse with a Person in Custody (this apparently wasn’t unlawful before), it specifically addresses “Use of Force” and “Duty to Intervene” which allows someone to get in trouble for NOT STOPPING another officers unlawful use of force.
This 9 page document is a pretty good breakdown on it
So, the short version, is that if you’ve had an issue with law enforcement in Massachusetts, you can report it here. There is no statute of limitations - you can report something as old as you want, and they will look into it according to this process. Notably, if you file a complaint directly with the department, they are supposed to provide it to the post commission within 2 business days, which is relatively quick.
It’s a pretty good resource, and you can look an officer of the law up here to see if he is certified to have police powers - they all should be, but obviously there are exceptions.
The commission spent the past three years ensuring all twenty two thousandish officers in Massachusetts were certified - some chose to retire instead. Constables avoided it, which Worcester has finally taken a stand on, by sending this notice
So, it’s pretty clear from this that a constable isn’t allowed to intimidate people just because they’re a constable. It specifically addresses “An exercise of official powers that is facilitated by the use or display of a weapon”.
So, a constable in Worcester can’t do what Deputy Carr did - and he discusses that in the video, because he seems to have thought we were talking about this notice, rather than the laws the notice was referring to.
He thought that even though a constable couldn’t legally do it in Worcester, a sheriff could legally do it in Holden. His three coworkers showed up to enforce his threat, and the local Police Department stood by to “preserve the peace” from the sidewalk while armed men approached the house with intent to seize it, saying the court said they could.
The Captain outright tried to tell me that “it’s only a guidance for us” which forced me to make this meme.
Sidenote: If you don’t want people to make memes with your logo, don’t make the vector file available at https://worcestercountysheriff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logo-Badge.svg
Anyways.
I took this picture as Deputy Carr was approaching the house.
Below is my email to them regarding my experiences with the Worcester Sheriffs Department yesterday morning.
Hello,
On the morning of February 19th, 2025, I was a lawful protester at an eviction blockade in Holden Massachusetts, where a disabled homeowner with a heart condition and autistic child had been served with an eviction notice by Deputy Carr of the Worcester Sherriff's department.
As I understand it, Deputy Carr is not and was not at that time certified by the POST commission, which makes his notice threatening physical removal of the occupants an unlawful threat of assault, as he did not have lawful authority to exercise police powers. The Holden police did not appear concerned with this, despite - as I understand it - their obligation to not allow unlawful activity from uncertified people.
The Worcester County Sheriff's department appears to recognize that he did not in fact have lawful ability to follow through on this threat, as Deputy Carr specifically showed up to the unlawful eviction with three other members of his department who were certified, who stated that the court said they could be there and to "seize the property" when I brought up the concept of it being legally assault.
In the below linked videos, you will find an (uncertified) Deputy of the Worcester County Sherriff's office do EXACTLY what Worcester constables have been told they can't do, and then later reference the letter sent recently to Worcester constables by the Worcester city manager. He seemed to understand that he could not do what he was doing in Holden in Worcester. Captain Mailmain affirms that he is there because of Deputy Carr's lack of certification, but doesn't appear to have seen an issue with Deputy Carr sending notices making threats he is not able to lawfully follow through on.
Considering the casual nature that the Worcester Sherriff's office, led by a captain, was about to proceed with use of force, and their communication that the POST commission is "only a guidance" it appears they do not respect and are not abiding by the relevant laws in a systematic way and this is extremely concerning. Additionally, none of these law enforcement officials had bodyworn cameras.
I have attached ALL of the records provided to me by the Holden Police Department and Worcester County Sheriff Department in response to my public record requests. As I understand it, these attachments are the ONLY documentation of the proceedings from this morning, aside from my video and photos, despite the presence of between six and eight armed law enforcement officials.
As Captain Mailman mentions at multiple points, they have done this before. The last time I am aware of included members of the Worcester Sheriff's departments so-called "special operations" taskforce and despite one of the deputys holding a gopro, they did not maintain ANY records aside from the Use Of Force report from that event.
According to their policies, the Special Operations Group can only be deployed under limited circumstances, and required a team leader approving their use, but that determination was not documented either.
When I asked for specific records, such as a medical report, that I believed must exist based on their policies, I was informed that those polices were not applicable for incidents occurring outside the Worcester County Sheriff's Office facility.
I have attempted to report these issues, and raise concern to my local city government, but have been informed by the Worcester city clerk that the Worcester County Sherriff's department is not under the jurisdiction of the city council, so I am unsure where to take my concerns about this pattern of practice of upholding unlawful evictions.
If I wasn't here with my cameras, the only record of this morning's colonization would be the change of deed, and maybe a use of force report for removing other protestors. Something has to change. And it would be helpful if there was required documentation for events like these.
David Webb
