BPD Commissioner William Gross has had a bad few days. Last week, ACLU Massachusetts sued the city of Boston for using “a system—nicknamed the ‘gang packet’—which awards points for choice of clothes and social media selfies, and [is] used to designate ‘gang affiliation’ without any accompanying allegations of criminal activity,” according a Guardian article […]
CAUGHT ON CAM-SHARE
BPD seeks access to private security cameras, experiments with new surveillance network The Boston Police Department wants to deputize your surveillance system. After a crime, police canvass for private security cameras. Sometimes, they obtain a warrant for the tapes or data, or simply ask for the owner’s consent to access footage. But since last November, […]
CAPE FEAR
Sheriff sides with Trump and ICE, against constituents and immigrants “It’s essentially an end run around the bail process,” said Laura Rótolo, a staff counsel and community advocate with the Massachusetts branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. Rótolo was referring to plans by Barnstable County Sheriff James Cummings to use cooperation with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency […]
SMALL TOWN SWAT TEAM
A special investigation into the ‘militarization of Mayberry’ in Mass For a police department of only 40 officers, the April 23, 2015, raid by Ludlow Special Response Team had to be an all-hands-on-deck affair. At shortly past five o’clock in the morning, a team of 12 Ludlow officers — amounting to more than a quarter of the town’s […]
LICENSE TO CONNIVE
Boston still tracks vehicles, lies about it, and leaves sensitive resident data exposed online Prior to two weeks ago, when this reporter alerted authorities that they had exposed critical data, anyone online was able to freely access a City of Boston automated license plate reader (ALPR) system and to download dozens of sensitive files, including hundreds […]