New Bedford Hires Firm to Look Into Police Use of Confidential Informants

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — In the wake of the Boston Globe’s Spotlight series “Snitch City,” the City of New Bedford has hired a firm to conduct an independent evaluation of the New Bedford Police Department’s use of confidential informants and the conduct of internal affairs investigations.

Mayor Jon Mitchell announced today that the City has selected 21st Century Policing Solutions (21CP) to conduct the review.

This is in addition to the ongoing evaluations of the firm Jensen Hughes, which the City first brought on board in 2022 for a comprehensive review of the NBPD and its policies. Jensen Hughes has already made a number of recommendations for improving policing, which the department has begun implementing.

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“Jensen Hughes’s work has been, and continues to be, invaluable to the NBPD,” Mayor Mitchell said.

“We are going to build on that good work with a focus on ensuring best practices in the Department’s narcotics and internal affairs units," he said. "I am grateful to have the first-rate team at 21CP Solutions conduct this important review, and we look forward to receiving an actionable set of recommendations that will enhance the department’s ability to protect our residents and strengthen public trust.”

“Snitch City” Shines a Spotlight on New Bedford’s Policing

Earlier this month, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team began releasing the different parts of “Snitch City” in both print stories and audio podcasts. According to Spotlight Editor Brendan McCarthy, it was a “yearlong Globe Spotlight Team investigation into law enforcement’s use of informants at the local level.”

“This series is based on interviews with more than 100 people from all corners of the criminal justice system, including informants themselves,” McCarthy wrote. “Reporters examined tens of thousands of pages of police reports, court documents, and various law enforcement files that spanned three decades.”

“One city stood out. New Bedford,” he wrote.

The Spotlight series suggests that New Bedford Police Chief Paul Oliveira – who announced his impending retirement on February 18, shortly after the Globe began promoting “Snitch City” – operated outside the bounds of the law while a narcotics detective and was the subject of multiple FBI investigations.

He is set to retire on May 3, despite signing a new three-year contract last summer.

Oliveira has denied knowledge of any FBI investigations, and the department has published extensive responses to the claims made in each episode of the “Snitch City” series.

In a statement released on Facebook, Mayor Mitchell said that “in the interest of transparency” he “directed the department to forward the paper’s inquiry to the FBI.” He reiterated that in his weekly appearance on WBSM following the Facebook statement.

In an appearance on WBSM this morning, Spotlight editor McCarthy said there is one more podcast episode on New Bedford that will be released tomorrow, although the team may revisit New Bedford in future episodes of the series, but the plan is to move on to investigations in other cities.

LISTEN: Spotlight Editor Brendan McCarthy on WBSM’s Tim Weisberg Show:

21CP Solutions Team Will Be Led By “Highly Experienced Law Enforcement Professionals”

The team will include Charles Ramsey, the founder of 21CP. He is the former chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department and former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department.

Also on the team will be Kathleen O’Toole, 21CP partner. She is the former Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety, former Boston Police Commissioner, former Seattle Police Chief, and former Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate in Ireland.

Meanwhile, New Bedford Searches for Its Next Police Chief

Mitchell has plans to create a “screening committee of sorts” to help him find the City’s next police chief, and said he is looking to “cast a wide net” for candidates both within the department and outside of it.