No probable cause, there was no weapons, there was no reason to assume there were weapons., An officer told him to shut my mouth or much more than my rights would be violated, Concepcion wrote in a complaint he later filed with the police department. I want to ensure the citizens of Holyoke that they can continue to have confidence in the men and women of the Holyoke Police Department and the great work that they do every day, he wrote. var tag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkHolyokePD-hg031021,ph1'); In his internal report on the incident, HPDs internal affairs officer, Manuel Reyes, said police pulled over Concepcion for a traffic violation. Advocates call for more police oversight after WBUR investigation, Mass. var sellablestring4 = "GAZETTE FILE PHOTO"; In his own time, he said that he witnessed classmates incarcerated as part of the school-to-prison pipeline.. During the debate, City Councilor Jos Maldonado Velez referred to the police as a gang., It literally is, he said in the meeting. The 69 complaints that NEPM obtained are just the ones that civilians managed to file with the HPD in the first place. Mr. Joshua Garcia was sworn in as Holyokes 45th mayor on Monday. He said the promoted individual allegedly lost two weapons as an officer. He went on to say that one weapon had allegedly been lost and another had been stolen from the officers home, an incident which Roca claimed was covered up.. Now that Roca has filed an appeal, the Civil Service Commission will decide whether the termination holds up. On December 24, 2015 and January 25, 2016, HRD, at the request of the City, sent For example, he characterized it as a workplace where now-former Police Chief Manny Febo favorites were not disciplined despite losing weapons and facing restraining orders, according to the accusations. HOLYOKE - A Holyoke police officer recently released a YouTube video accusing the Holyoke Police Department of corruption. Carla Sinclair 11:00 am Tue Mar 9, 2021. In a nearly 45-minute speech, he alleges that superior officers in the department falsify overtime pay, have protected each other from punishment from misconduct and have fostered a culture of favoritism and racism when it comes to promotion. Im very confident that something is going to come of it, he said. Holyoke Officer Rafael Roca, a former Marine hired in 2016, said in the 43-minute video posted on YouTube that Chief Manny Febo is "corrupt" and plays favorites, and he argued that members of minority groups are passed over for plum assignments and that discipline is handed out selectively. Rocas video has reached over 50,000 views. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23, Holyoke Police Officer Rafael Roca suspended after posting viral video alleging corruption at the department, Because of this video I will probably be fired: Holyoke officer alleges police corruption in viral video, Holyokes fiscal future appears bright as Joshua Garcia enters office. Holyoke Police Officer Rafael Roca suspended after posting viral video alleging corruption at the department 'Because of this video I will probably be fired': Holyoke officer alleges. }. When he declined to do so, Roca said he was suspended with pay for failure to obey a direct order on my day off and for violating their social media policy., It goes to show that theyre dirty and they want to cover up the stuff that they do, Roca told the Gazette. Murphy didnt have to answer to anybody. Ultimately, police found the weapon in February 2012 while Morse was riding along with officers on duty. Pictured above: thumbnail of the Youtube video posted by Holyoke police officer Rafael Roca. He said that is because he is a proactive police officer who tries to engage in crime fighting., I was a very proactive officer, I would do my job, I tried to do traffic stops, he told the Gazette. The Appellant left the Holyoke Police Station at approximately 11:00 p.m. and proceeded to the detail in his personal vehicle by means of Southampton Road. At the time, then-Police Chief James Neiswanger said the weapon had fallen out of Harts pickup truck. Reyes, Police Chief David Pratt and Capt. ", He calls outgoing Police Chief Manny Febo "corrupt," contending minorities are routinely passed over for upper-tier assignments and disciplined at higher rates. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. Boing Boing uses cookies and analytics trackers, and is supported by advertising, merchandise Last August, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia hired the New Hampshire-based consulting firm Municipal Resources, Inc., to audit the city's police department. Internal affairs is corrupt as can be, Roca said in his video. Position Type:Staff Full-time. On Nov. 10, then acting mayor Terence Murphy followed that recommendation after a city lawyer determined there was just cause for firing Roca. Based on the report, Police Chief David Pratt suspended Roca for five days and recommended that the citys mayor terminate him. Cannabis company Trulieve will pay $14,502 after reaching a settlement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over the death of an employee who worked at Trulieve's Holyoke cultivation site. He alleged that later, somebody who had been arrested tipped police off to the rifles location in an effort to receive leniency in court. When you speak up and when you expose corruption, thats what they do. "whether the employee has been guilty of substantial misconduct which adversely affects the public interest by impairing the efficiency of public service." School Comm. }. In an interview with the Republican, Febo disputed Rocas claims. Roca said he retired from the U.S. Marines after a lengthy career in 2016 and pursued his lifelong dream of being a police officer. //var LBtag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkLBHolyokePD-hg031021,ph1'); That part of the commissions work has yet to materialize either. var currentLocation = window.location; According to the Holyoke Fire Department, at approximately 8:30 p.m . They kept trying to use the grabbing of the genitals to kind of quiet me down as a form of punishment and pain, Concepcion said. Jorge Monsalve. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Two officers did respond to say that department policies prohibit them from speaking to the press without permission from higher-ups. var tag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkRocaHolyokeFiring-hg-111721,ph2'); He said he was in the hospital due to stress from the situation. HOLYOKE, Mass. He saidthat ultimately there was sufficient cause to terminate Roca. In 2016, Irving Concepcion says the Holyoke police pulled him over with their guns drawn, yanked him out of his car and slammed him down on the hood. He said they did the same to a few teenagers in the car with him, taking one of them to the ground, putting a knee to his back and arresting him. Because when you speak up and you expose corruption, he said in the video, thats what they do.. It varies, obviously, from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and time to time, but generally the studies have found that the sustained rate, if you sum them all up, is usually about 10%, Terrill said. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Screenshot from YouTube. Hours per week:37.5 Weeks per year:52. Uploaded By Greenpalace1. var photocredit = "'Screenshot from YouTube.' But he said other studies have found that civilian review boards have a minimal effect on accountability. Rafael Roca, a former US Marine who became a Holyoke, MA police officer in 2016, released this 43-minute video on Sunday exposing the corruption in his . Daily Hampshire Gazette. We dont have that today.. After nearly a year, Reyes closed the departments investigation of the incident, saying he was unable to reach the man who complained. Mayor Joshua Garcia also declined to sit down for an interview with NEPM. 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If you go behind the curtain of law enforcement, oftentimes youll hear officers say the surest way not to get a complaint is not to interact with the public, he said. "We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we Febo, who plans to retire in July, said he has nothing to hide. The agency still has not released that data because of the need to clean up and validate the massive data set, according to Zuniga. Twelve of the 46 patrolmen with eight years or more of experience are part of a minority group, and nine of them have specialized positions, Febo wrote. Roca said he has received support from former co-workers who are scared to speak out and from many others in the city. N/A civilian complaints of police misconduct. Murphy said that neither the district attorneys office nor the attorney generals office ever spoke to him about any investigation of Rocas allegations. He said when he spoke out against the alleged injustice, racism and favoritism and nepotism that he had witnessed, he was punished and shunned. Roca said his attempts to transfer to a different police department were allegedly sabotaged by the chief, and cited a single informal complaint made against him that he said ended with no investigation and him working in an administrative role for more than a month. Roca, a five-year veteran of the police force who served in the U.S. Marines before that, said he refused to remove the video upon Febos orders on Sunday. Read about what we do with the data we gather in our Privacy Policy. Febo, according to Roca, allegedly promoted a friend to the position of provisional lieutenant. Suspected. I plan to fight this to the end. This video posted online by Former Holyoke Police Officer Rafael Roca may well have been lost to history and future litigants contending with the police misconduct in Western MA if it had not been rescued by the Internet Archive (which is currently fighting off a vexatious lawsuit filed by a greedy publishing monopolist lobbying group which wants to burn down the Internet's proverbial 'Library . In March, Rafael Roca, who had been a Holyoke police officer since 2015, posted the video to YouTube, where it has since been viewed more than 56,000 times. Roca also claimed in his video that recently, a police officer had his car stolen with guns and equipment inside. He alleged that the car was found in Hartford, but the guns and equipment were missing.