In a hearing last week at the Boston City Council, police leaders signaled that they would support a measure to require community control over police surveillance, and community advocates highlighted extreme racial disparities in policing in Boston as a primary driver of...
Did you know that right now, Massachusetts county and state prosecutors can access your phone and internet records without a warrant, without independent oversight, and without you even knowing that law enforcement might be snooping on you? When Edward Snowden revealed the NSA...
As of January 5, the Boston Police Department still hadn’t signed a contract to spend as much as $1.4 million on social media surveillance software. We know this because I’ve been filing weekly public records requests seeking the winning bid for the enormous...
Yesterday dozens of people turned out to a Boston City Council meeting hosted by the council’s Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice to raise their voices in opposition to the Boston Police Department’s plans to buy $1.4 million worth of social...
By Nancy Murray, 2016 Table of Contents I. Introduction Twenty-first century ‘homeland security’ policing took over Watertown’s streets during the hunt for those responsible for the heinous attack on the 2013 Boston Marathon. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reportedly...
Photo: Gabe Camacho The United States is not a battlefield, and our homes and communities should not be targets for military raids. But throughout Massachusetts today, forces composed of members of our public police departments increasingly resemble military units, backed up by...
Nearly two years after two bombs detonated moments apart at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, the lone person accused in the crime stands trial in federal court on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges. The jury is all but...
Photo: Gabe Camacho Cops in the Commonwealth The pitfalls of militarized, federalized policing by Nancy Murray Table of Contents I. Introduction Twenty-first century ‘homeland security’ policing took over Watertown’s streets during the hunt for those responsible for the heinous attack on the...
