Hey, there! Log in / Register

BPD officers worked 9,000 hours at bigot march, but not a second was captured on body cams

WBUR reports Boston Police do not require officers working overtime to wear the cameras, and all the officers who worked the parade and subsequent arrests were on overtime.

Neighborhoods: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

This is utterly outrageous. We citizens of Boston continue to allow the police union to stand in the way of public safety and accountability. It is unacceptable. If you are on duty, being paid, the camera should be on. No exceptions. Enough game playing!

up
Voting closed 0

What’s a bigot march?

up
Voting closed 0

While they can be a nice community events (thinking Roslindale parade, Parkway Little League kickoff) even those don't deliver enough to justify the costs in terms of police OT to close all the roads let alone having unaccountable thugs like that pepper spray copy from the Nazi parade running around.

My kids liked them until they were about 5 and then lost interest. Who's the 'customer' for these?

up
Voting closed 0

You mean like they do in China? Great idea! Maybe we can just put all the protests in little caged off areas...call 'em "Free Speech Zones." That way if citizens get too rowdy we can round 'em up and cart 'em off that much faster.

up
Voting closed 0

Have a rally on the Common, Copley Square or myriad other public spaces which require fewer road closures. I did not suggest that public meetings are to be banned just that road closures are a bit much for most things.

You really think, for example, closing down Centre St so my kid's little league team can march from one part of West Roxbury to the other is a constitutional issue?

up
Voting closed 0

https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1135/parades

In Gregory v. City of Chicago (1969) the Court reviewed a protest march aimed at the Chicago city government and held that as long as marches are “peaceful and orderly” they are protected by the First Amendment.

up
Voting closed 0

I wonder where the limits are. For example, could the city just say ok, you can march from Arlington to Tremont or something and that's it. A march designed to provoke, like the bigot one, is pretty much designed so that we, the tax payers of Boston, have to pay for some out of town trolls, which is a bummer because it cost us $600K in money that was truly wasted.

up
Voting closed 0

All of this stuff has been addressed by the courts in the interest of free speech. Skokie Nazi march, KKK protests, etc, etc...

up
Voting closed 0

Roads are for everyone, not just cars and their entitled drivers. You seem to care about saving money so how about banning cars? That would save the city tens of millions per year in road maintenance, police work, etc and would also save lives.

up
Voting closed 0

That Rozzie's event and a parade for the mostly white kids playing baseball is cool with you but all others should be stopped.

up
Voting closed 0

Those are examples of parades which are much less controversial but ultimately also not that valuable to me either.

Remember the rallies on the Common for science and women's rights? Those weren't parades - were they less effective public demonstrations because they didn't get to march all the way down Boylston St?

Serious question BTW.

up
Voting closed 0

The Women's March in 2017 was most definitely a march. Subsequent ones have ben stationary rallies (Cambridge Common in 2018, Boston Common in 2019).

The March for Science was a march. I recall it starting at Harvard and marching through MIT on the way to downtown Boston.

up
Voting closed 0

Ain't really that controversial either.

But we'll be sure to check with you next time, just to make sure you're ok with it.

up
Voting closed 0

mostly white kids

What does kids' skin tone have to do with anything?

up
Voting closed 0

We have a lot of them in Boston.

Evacuation (St. Patrick's) Day Parade, in Southie
Dorchester Day Parade
Roslindale Day Parade
Allston-Brighton Parade
Bunker Hill Day Parade, in Charlestown
Columbus Day Parade
Puerto Rican Parade
Dominican Parade
Greek Independence Day Parade
Haitian parade, in Mattapan
J'ouvert and Caribbean Carnival parades
July 4 parade
Pride parade
First Night parade
Duck Boat parades for Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins

A lot of people participate in and enjoy these events. I'm sure I've missed a few, so please reply with any I have forgotten.

up
Voting closed 0

and would enjoy any one of these. Perhaps for economy's sake, and to increase the entertainment factor, we should schedule them all for the same day.

up
Voting closed 0

How many cops was this (allegedly)?

up
Voting closed 0

9000 hours divided by, lets say an eight hour parade tour of duty, is:

1125 police officers.

up
Voting closed 0

Not sure what the fraud rate is in BPD compared to the Staties. With the Staties you assume a healthy amount of fraud in any reporting of hours worked.

up
Voting closed 0

...are there actually 1125 cops on the BPD payroll? Not talking clerks and auxiliaries here.

up
Voting closed 0

A shade over 2000 Boston police officers on the payroll.

However, many outside forces were invited in. Most notable, Somerville residents were not happy at all that their officers were invited.

Somerville officers were paid to pepper spray antifa goons through drug forfeiture money from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund

Heheheheh

up
Voting closed 0

The people have been told we need to be monitored.

Our movements, travels, purchases, it had to be watched to keep us safe.

Once we got used to that, surveillance became big business and our lives were monetized. It was all supposed to be to our advantage. Hell, even some of our phones and TVs listen to our private conversations.

Except there's ONE group who has resisted being watched, being monitored, and being held accountable.

The ones who are watching us, the people who pay them, are hiding behind their badges.

Behind their unions.

Behind their crimes.

It is unfathomable that it isnt a law that ALL officers of the law are required to have a camera.

You want a badge? You wear a camera.
It's really as easy as that.

But we all know it'll never happen

ACAB

up
Voting closed 0

Cops love protests; they make $ hand over fist.

And so what if there are no pics. Same thing happens when ANTIFA protests. Or any protest/demonstration for that matter.

I'd be shocked if there was a lack of decent quality pics + vid of any of these types of extremist vs extremist protests. Not to mention that many of these protests are honey traps.

up
Voting closed 0

In a city like Boston, there are plenty of ways for police officers to make overtime that don't involve getting between two groups of people who hate each other.

up
Voting closed 0

those fully armored Staties that came in by bus seemed like they were pretty amped up to be there.

up
Voting closed 0

NEWSFLASH! Labor Day weekend and all hands were called out, days off cancelled. To agree with Adam, I am sure that the vast majority of persons who were working that day would have much rather spent the weekend with their families and friends, and would have gladly sacrificed the overtime. Believe it or not, most of these police officers are human (sarcasm, they are all human).

up
Voting closed 0

No. We hate them. Adam’s absolutely right.

I worked this event. I personally saw several officers wearing their body cameras. Each one told me it was for their protection from false accusations. So either the department has no interest in releasing the videos, doesn’t know about them or WBUR didn’t look hard enough, but someone is lying here.

- a Boston Cop

up
Voting closed 0

Forgive me for not believing you, your co-workers, your employer, or your union.

up
Voting closed 0

I’m sure the cops were thrilled to be there on Labor Day weekend.

up
Voting closed 0

Parade, Protest March, or Rally uniformed Boston Police Officers should always have their cameras on. As the WBUR article implied that piece of equipment protects the Officers as well as the Participants.

up
Voting closed 0

The implication by this headline and by the WBUR headline that BPD officers refused to wear body cameras at the parade is false. The non-use of body cameras at such events is a deliberate policy decision.

BPD doesn't use body cameras at these events because the proponents of body cameras (like BPCAT in the article) oppose the use of body cameras at first amendment events. So does the ACLU. See .

So, there's nothing really to see here. The number of public cameras coupled with (1) the fact that almost every person at the event has a camera in his/her pocket and (2) the number of witnesses to any interaction with police make it unlikely that unlawful or disproportionate use of force by the police would go unnoticed.

up
Voting closed 0

ACLU opposes body cameras at First Amendment events

With no citation, this sounds like a big, fat lie.

And so it is.

up
Voting closed 0

I have 4 hours of video footage I need to make into something useful of that march...

maybe when I get my head above water..

up
Voting closed 0

Which leans left put out a fair actual report about this parade. I’d suggest watching it, its not like you’ll get any unbiased here.

up
Voting closed 0

thanks

up
Voting closed 0

Cops are supposed to be the good guys. Unions are supposed to be the good guys. Start acting the part, for Christsakes

up
Voting closed 0

but you can bet Antifa protesters, (and many free speech organizers in general) do not want body cameras during parades or free speech demonstrations.

up
Voting closed 0

There are all kinds of public safety, accountability, privacy, and civil liberties arguments for and against police officers wearing body cameras. Whether or not a given officer happens to be on regular time or overtime at any given moment has precisely zero bearing on any of them.

up
Voting closed 0

Not trying to argue either way.

up
Voting closed 0

but I'd bet nearly all of us who recognize that law enforcement is complicit in inherently fascistic practices would love a body cam mandate.

up
Voting closed 0

I assume you would only want those cameras on when you want them on.

up
Voting closed 0

All the time.

up
Voting closed 0

When an officer has to go in on some warrant exemption?

up
Voting closed 0

I rent, so maintenance already has a key to my place; my ISP and cell provider have more info on me than any cop could hope to obtain on a walkthrough; if an officer is in my apartment, I'd prefer to have that on record, since I have literally nothing to hide. Just don't fuck with my cats. If you are more concerned with privacy than you are with other civil rights, you're probably wealthy enough to own a literal house with surveillance equipment.

up
Voting closed 0

Unfortunately there are 100 other different opinions including that of the ACLU who pretty much dictates body camera policy around the country.

So you and I don't really what we want in this case.

up
Voting closed 0

The BPD rule on Body Worn Cameras prohibits their use to record “First Amendment Protected” activity’s. Which is why no one had the cameras.

up
Voting closed 0

To quote from the actual rule:

“The Department prohibits recording civilians based solely upon the civilian’s political or religious beliefs or upon the exercise of the civilian’s constitutional rights, including but not limited to freedom of speech, religious expression, and lawful petition and assembly.”

up
Voting closed 0

or both? just curious.

up
Voting closed 0

On duty required to wear them, OT and details not required. One reason is the battery is limited in the devices. Being ordered to work is a major problem right now in BPD. Most officers are routinely ordered to work past their shift and days/nights off. The battery capacity is not capable of recording the amount of total hours worked so the emphasis was placed on regular shifts. Not positive but I suspect that it may be a data issue as well - all recording are stored in the cloud and that costs money to maintain.
And if anyone thinks any cop likes to work a protest or parade on a 75 degree Saturday away from their families while being yelled at by extremists from both sides then you are not looking at this logically.

up
Voting closed 0

Then they could be compelled to produce footage that proves that they were actually working that day, and not taking their "turn" at a time-and-a-half paid day off.

up
Voting closed 0

nt

up
Voting closed 0