Officers with past complaints recertified by state policing commission amid first batch of names released

The state agency charged with creating police certification standards and holding abusive officers accountable released the first tranche of a long-awaited public database of certified officers Monday, which includes some Boston Police officers who have had complaints against them sustained by internal investigators.

The names of 18 officers who were investigated internally — 10 of whom had complaints sustained — are included in the list of 8,228 certified officers, whose last names begin with letters A through H.

The 18 officers, including one the Boston Globe once dubbed the “avatar of cop violence,” were included in public records published by the now-defunct transparency website Woke Windows. The records acquired by the website’s owner were from 2010 to 2015. The “sustained” allegations against 10 of the officers include “use of force,” “conduct unbecoming” and “conformance to laws.” Several of the officers had repeated complaints, some unsustained in the end.

“The fact that there is a past disciplinary matter does not mean that an officer will not be certified,” said Cindy Campbell, spokeswomen for the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. She also noted that some allegations against Boston Police officers from the Woke Windows list were unfounded or unsustained.

The Boston Police Department did not immediately respond to queries from GBH News about why officers with past complaints were included on the certification list, and whether there are concerns about the impact on public trust when such officers are recertified to work.

The first group of officers from the POST Commission includes 8,228 recertified officers and 1,094 newly certified officers who have graduated from academies since December 1, 2021.

In the initial tranche, there were 251 officers “not recertified.” Of those, 133 are out on leave and haven’t complied with some requirements, and will be allowed to complete them within 90 days of their return to work. The remaining 118 were not recertified for a variety of reasons. The commission said in a statement that this could include an officer being on leave, failing Bridge Academy training, retiring, resigning or being the subject of a disciplinary matter.

No officers have yet been “decertified” by the commission, the spokeswoman confirmed. It’s a step beyond being denied certification that would “[precude] all Massachusetts law enforcement agencies from employing that person as a law enforcement officer,” she wrote.

POST Commission Executive Director Enrique Zuniga said in a statement that publishing the list is a step towards meeting the commission’s statutory requirements. “The public can now look up certified law enforcement officers by name or by law enforcement agency.”

Zuniga said the plan is to update the database and release additional information on officers in the future. The commission has a couple more years to work on recertifying officers whose last names come after H.

The commission was formed and tasked with building the public database by the 2020 criminal justice reform law, passed in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer.

One name listed on the certification list is Boston Captain John Danilecki, who has been publicly criticized for aggressively interacting with protesters, in many instances caught on video. In May 2020, Danilecki allegedly told a Black protester to “go back to the ’hood,” and was caught on video riding up to the unassuming protester on his bike, grabbing a sign out of his backpack, then ripping it in half.

In 2019, Danilecki was lambasted for pepper spraying and pushing counterprotesters who were opposing the Straight Pride Parade in downtown Boston. As of 2020, Danilecki was the subject of six internal investigations. It is unclear what the outcomes of those were, and if they are ongoing. GBH News asked the Boston Police Department to reach out to Daniliecki for comment, but recieved no response.

With recertification comes the ability to continue to work in law enforcement and collect a salary. In 2021, Danilecki made over $343,000, according to city records.

When now-U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins was Suffolk County District Attorney, she produced a list of police officers whose credibility issues made them bad witnesses for prosecuting crimes, a list that included Danilecki. District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office confirmed to GBH News he remains on the list.

Change has been slow-going for police accountability through the POST Commission, and the laundry list of tasks is long. The commission was charged with creating a mandatory certification process for police officers, processes for decertification, suspension of certification and rules on how to reprimand officers for misconduct.

The agency has yet to release 4,500 disciplinary records from over 300 police departments, as it has to under the 2020 law, despite many false starts in spring and summer 2022. The complaint database was initially set to be published in May.

Zuniga said at the time there were concerns that the data received by the commission included redundant or missing names, and unclear entries about officers who moved departments.

There is also an ongoing lawsuit against the commission from police unions arguing that some of the questions on officers’ recertification questionnaires are too invasive.