HOLYOKE — Mayor Joshua Garcia announced this week that the city has hired a firm to conduct an audit of the Holyoke Police Department.

Garcia said that a sub-group from the city’s Police Relations Advisory Committee reviewed several consulting firms’ proposals to conduct the audit. The committee ultimately chose Municipal Resource, Inc., a New Hampshire firm that has reviewed and offered guidance to police departments across New England.

“The audit will focus on the management structure, staffing levels, efficiency and effectiveness of day-to-day operations, and the sufficiency of supporting data management tools and data collected used by the Holyoke Police Department to prepare for and guide the department,” Garcia said in a statement.

The city is paying $29,750 to MRI for its services, according to Garcia’s office.

Some elected officials have called for an assessment of the Holyoke Police Department since March 2021, when a Holyoke police officer, Rafael Roca, posted a video to social media alleging corruption, overtime abuse and racism within the department. The city eventually fired Roca in November.

In October 2021, Garcia and his then opponent in the race to become Holyoke’s next mayor, Michael Sullivan, both called for an audit after a Gazette investigation found that 15 city police officers filed between 507 and 1,234 overtime hours in fiscal year 2020. Those officers included four of the department’s five highest-paid officers that fiscal year, who earned hourly overtime rates ranging from $94 to $109 an hour.

In response to that reporting, Garcia said that “excessive overtime” is a problem in city departments. Sullivan called for an audit of the department’s “handling of state and federal grant programs.”

In its 47-page response to the city’s request for proposals, MRI outlined the work it intends to do over a nearly five-month time period from being awarded the contract and delivering a final report to Garcia.

The audit, MRI said, will analyze key aspects of the Police Department: its organizational structure, inner workings, governance, management and culture; its communications; the efficiency and effectiveness of its policies and the regulations guiding it; the operating budget and “financial considerations of the budget with city constraints;” strategic and capital planning; and “the application of professional standards and organizational accountability.”

The audit also will include comparisons with “similar-situated” cities in Massachusetts that the city will identify, according to the company’s proposal.

Asked on Thursday whether the police audit would specifically probe overtime use and grant management, Garcia’s office declined to comment, referring the Gazette back to MRI’s proposal.

MRI will be using a team of four “senior police consultants,” a project manager and administrative assistant. The firm will be gathering feedback from officials, employees and other “key stakeholders,” as well as reviewing city documents and data, before delivering a report with recommendations to the mayor.

The firm’s proposal does say that some of the questions it intends to answer include whether current operating budgets and staffing levels are appropriate, whether the budget is being properly administered and personnel efficiently deployed, and if “adequate financial and management controls are in place” related to department-owned property and equipment, cash receipts and purchasing.

“The report will contain specific suggestions for actions either by the agency through changes in its own internal policies or requiring action by the Mayor,” the proposal says. “Recommendations will be given for a reasonable timeframe for completion to provide direction for the Department in incorporating the changes. Budgetary constraints on implementation will be taken into consideration.”

Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.]]>