The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the use of police body cameras to record voluntary statements of possible crime victims, in a case in which a man who was ordered back to jail on a probation violation in part because of those statements argued they violated the state ban on wiretapping - even though he was not involved in the recording. Read more.
Three faces of Fisher in DC, one with cap with Pats, Bruins and Celtics logos, via FBI.
The FBI today arrested a former Boston cop on charges he didn't just bust into the Capitol with fellow coupsters on Jan. 6, he rammed a chair into a police officer running after a pepper-spraying member of Y'all Queda, then began beating the cop, only the cop got the better of him and knocked him to the ground. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the city of Boston's 2021 order requiring municipal workers to get vaccinated against Covid-19, saying public-health needs outweighed the collective-bargaining rights of the police and fire unions that sued over the policy. Read more.
The Boston Police Department has released the detailed findings of a deputy superintendent that led to the recent firings of Sgt. Shana Cottone and officers Joseph Abasciano and Michael Geary, in response to a Universal Hub public-records request. Read more.
Shana Cottone, who helped organize bucket-banging screamers outside Mayor Wu's house, announced last night she's been fired from the BPD sergeant's job from which she'd been suspended for more than a year. Read more.
GBH takes a look at the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency after its creation nearly two years ago.
The US Attorney's office reports that four current and former Boston Police officers and supervisors at the department evidence warehouse in Hyde Park have had a new charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud added to their existing charges related to an alleged scheme in which the supervisors approved payments for overtime the officers did not actually work. Read more.
The Dorchester Reporter reports on the return of a walking beat to Bowdoin/Geneva.
For the second time in a week, Boston Police have arrested one of their own on a charge of domestic violence. Read more.
A Boston Police officer who is already part of a suit seeking millions of dollars in damages from Boston over its rescinded indoor vaccination requirements today filed a separate suit seeking at least another $2 million because the city fired him last month after rejecting his request for a religious exemption from Covid-19 vaccinations. Read more.
ACLU's Crockford makes point at council hearing.
City Council President Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown), who last year joined all his other colleagues in passing an ordinance requiring Boston Police and seven other departments to detail their use of cameras, cell-phone interceptors and other surveillance technologies, today voiced concern that forcing BPD to actually comply could result in the release of information that would help bad guys. Read more.
The Bay State Banner reports on a contentious City Council hearing on the idea of letting civilians get part of the construction detail game, in which the police union president went over his allotted five-minute talk time and so city councilors Kenzie Bok, Kendra Lara and Ruthzee Louijeune walked out until he was done.
Correction: Officer's gender corrected in story.
A Boston police officer was released on $500 bail at his arraignment today on domestic-violence charges, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Read more.
Retired BPD officer Francis Foley, who died Oct. 23, at 80, was to be buried today in Mount Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury, 31 years to the day after he and his fellow bomb-squad member, Jeremiah Hurley, responded to 39 Eastbourne St. in Roslindale to investigate a suspicious package. Read more.
A man who says police injured him in a rush to crush anti-fascist protesters at the conclusion of a white supremacist march through downtown has sued the city, state and Boston Police - and a Boston Municipal Court judge he says had him stripped of a religious covering and then refused to drop the charges against him despite a request to do so by the DA. Read more.
CommonWealth Magazine reports Capt Haseeb Hosein was cleared of the most serious charges against him by a hearing officer who "said the complaints against Hosein appeared to be orchestrated and called for an investigation."
The unions representing Boston Police superior officers and detectives have a lot of bones to pick with the city council and mayor and want a judge to order them to back off telling them how to do their jobs but also hire at least 500 more officers right away. Read more.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
