Mitchell said Thody’s leadership style emphasizes accountability and transparency.
“It
is essential that the NBPD sustain the improvements it has made in
recent years,” Mitchell said, “and Chief Thody is particularly
well-suited to make that happen and to fortify the public’s trust and
confidence in its police.”
The move comes in the wake of a Globe Spotlight Team investigation, “Snitch City‚”
a multipart series that revealed widespread misconduct and misuse of
the department’s confidential informant system, some of it involving
then-Police Chief Paul Oliveira.
The Spotlight series and podcast, published in March,
found that officers had invented informants or urged them to lie in
court, had sex with them, lied in search warrants, and more. Oliveira,
who was seven months into a three-year contract extension, abruptly
announced his retirement in February, shortly after the Globe began
promoting its series.
In
the wake of the reports, the mayor, a former federal prosecutor,
largely defended his police department. But he also asked the FBI to
review the Globe’s findings. And the city hired 21st Century Policing
Solutions, a firm that specializes in law enforcement training,
to examine the department’s use of informants, as well as its internal
affairs process.
City
officials have declined to share details of that contract. A final
report from the firm, including reform recommendations, is expected to
be provided to the city later this summer.
Thody
will be officially sworn in once the terms of his contract have been
finalized, Mitchell said. New Bedford assistant deputy chief Derek
Belong is serving as acting chief in the interim.
“I
promise to listen, engage, and bring relentless attention to the things
that matter most to the people of New Bedford,” Thody said Tuesday at
an introductory press conference. “We may face challenges, we may face
mistakes, but we will be open and honest about how we deal with those
mistakes.”
Thody’s selection, which was guided by a nine-member search committee, came as a surprise to many in the department.
New
Bedford police union president Lorenzo Gonzalez said he learned of
Thody’s selection only during a Tuesday press conference to announce the
appointment. Gonzalez called the lack of communication with the union
“disappointing.”
“We
would’ve liked to do our homework on the matter just to see, ‘Hey, who
are the finalists, what are they about, what’s their backstory, their
history?’” said Gonzalez. “Unfortunately, we were kind of kept in the
land of rumors.”
The decision to look outside for a new leader is typically indicative of a city’s desire for fresh perspective to change the culture, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum.
“A
new chief comes in knowing that there is a series of documented
problems and there is a mandate to fix them,” Wexler told the Globe.
“Anyone coming into that department knows they are coming in to make
changes, but [they] still want to make changes in a way that the
organization feels like they are part of it.”
The
last outsider to serve as New Bedford police chief was Arthur J. Kelly
III, who also learned how to be a cop in Hartford, where he rose through
the Police Department ranks. Unlike Thody, Kelly served as chief for
four other police departments – from Sanford, Maine, to St. Joseph, Mo. –
before taking the helm in New Bedford.
Police departments are insular organizations, Kelly said, and New Bedford is more provincial than most.
“If
this is the first city you’re going to, that makes your learning curve
exceedingly sharp,” Kelly said Wednesday. “You know that you’re being
viewed as an outsider because you are.”
Thody
began his career in Hartford as a patrol cadet in 1996. Through the
years, he served as commander of the crime scene division, supervisor of
the emergency response team, and commander of accreditation. As the
department’s “special advocate,” he aided in the prosecution of major
cases of police misconduct, according to a city press release.
His tenure in Hartford was marked by several controversies.
A
2010 internal affairs investigation found that Thody, who was then a
lieutenant, was the aggressor in a fight outside a bar while off-duty,
according to a report
from the Hartford Courant. When police responded, Thody shouted at and
pushed an officer, who did not immediately recognize the lieutenant
because his face was covered in blood, the investigation found.
An
internal investigator recommended two internal charges against Thody
for conduct unbecoming an officer, as well as a separate count of making
a false report or record, the Courant reported.
In
2020, shortly after being named chief, Thody was disciplined after he
struck a guardrail while driving a department-issued vehicle, resulting
in more than $3,000 in damage.
Thody
told investigators he was driving distractedly at the time of the crash
after spending the afternoon at a local marina. According to media reports, another driver called 911 after witnessing Thody “driving all over the road” and reported they believed Thody was intoxicated.
“He’s
going like a bat out of hell,” the caller told dispatchers, according
to a recording of the call published by the Courant. “I watched him
bounce off the guardrail at about 60 miles an hour.”
Two
Hartford City Council members called for Thody’s firing because they
argued there were several discrepancies in his account of the crash, the
Hartford Courant reported at the time.
Hartford
Mayor Luke Bronin backed Thody at the time, saying the incident didn’t
rise to the level of suspension or Thody’s removal as chief. He also
said Thody had failed to follow city policy regarding take-home vehicles and also made inadequate efforts to report the incident.
In response to Globe questions about Thody’s past, a spokesman for Mitchell said the city had reviewed the allegations.
“We
were made aware of both incidents and conducted due diligence into
them, including asking Chief Thody about the attending circumstances,”
spokesman Jonathan Darling said in a released statement. “We are
satisfied that neither incident would diminish his ability to lead the
New Bedford Police Department.”
Like
Oliveira in New Bedford, Thody was also the subject of a no-confidence
vote by the Hartford police union during his tenure as chief.
Thody
retired from his previous post in March 2024, saying he hoped to spend
more time with family and pursue a healthier lifestyle. He said at the
time he had no plans to run another police department.
Dugan Arnett can be reached at dugan.arnett@globe.com. Andrew Ryan can be reached at andrew.ryan@globe.com or via the encrypted messaging app Signal at @andewryan.61
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