SPRINGFIELD -- Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday met with city and police officials to inform them of the start of a federal investigation into possible civil rights abuses by Springfield narcotics detectives.

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno pledged the city would cooperate with any investigation.

Meeting with Sarno in City Hall were Andrew Lelling, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, and Steven Rosenbaum, the chief of the Special Litigation Section of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

Representing the city with Sarno were Police Commissioner John Barbieri, City Solicitor Edward Pikula and Sarno's Chief of Staff Denise Jordan.

The meeting, according to Sarno's office, was to discuss the opening of an independent federal investigation of police practices, in particular to see if any "persistent patterns exist" with police narcotics enforcement.

There was no discussion during the meeting that the investigation will examine any particular time period or the actions of any specific officers. Instead it will examine whether the narcotics unit in that time "engaged in a patter or practice of using excessive force in violation of the Constitution."

The Narcotics Unit in 2016 was the center of a controversy when video came to light showing two detectives interrogating two teens charged with stealing an undercover Springfield police car. One of the detectives, Gregg Bigda, was recorded threatening to kill one of the teens and to plant drug evidence on the other in order to send him to prison.

Fallout from the video's release continues to be felt since. Several drug cases were dismissed because of Bigda's involvement.

There were repeated calls for him to be fired. Barbieri suspended him for 60 days and demoted him to the records unit. Barbieri said he was unable to fire Bigda because he did not learn of the video until after a 90-day window, required under the union contract for filing disciplinary actions, had passed.

Bigda remains employed and is one of several patrol officers on the civil service list to be made sergeant.

The other detective, Luke Cournoyer, was not disciplined following the release of the video.

Lelling indicated any investigation would take a "cooperative, collaborative, and transparent approach" with the police, city officials and with the office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

Investigators will gather information from interviews of police and members of the community, and examine records and documents for events relevant to the investigation.

"We seek to work with the DOJ, with input from community stakeholders, to effectively remedy any unlawful practices that may be found," Sarno said. "It is my hope that the City will be able to institutionalize and adopt any reforms the experts can offer us as we move the City forward."

He said he appointed Jordan to be his liason between the Department of Justice and the city.

Pikula also said the city will cooperate "in all phases of the investigation to make sure the process is as transparent as possible, without compromising the need to maintain confidential information."