We recommend this article: Years of alleged abuses by Fall River cop reveal limits of internal police investigations.
The Fall River Police Department ignored multiple credible complaints about Officer Pessoa using improper force and making racist and sexist comments. Instead of disciplining Pessoa, the Department gave him the job of training new officers in the field with additional pay. Last May, after a 19-year career rife with allegations of police brutality, Pessoa was convicted and sentenced to prison for assaulting a civilian and filing false reports. The civilian obtained security camera video showing that Pessoa assaulted him. Fellow officers lied to cover up Pessoa’s conduct and ultimately lost their jobs. It took a case with surveillance video for Pessoa to be held accountable criminally. Pessoa showed he understood that recording the police is a powerful tool for accountability, since numerous civilians claimed that Pessoa threatened to break their phones if they tried to record his actions.
Our firm represented two of Pessoa’s many victims. Howard is quoted in the article, discussing Fall River’s unusual policy of destroying internal affairs investigations after a few years and other issues with their disciplinary practices.
As this article shows, the police cannot police themselves. Let's hope the POST commission changes discipline for police officers in Massachusetts.