Boston Police
Boston Police announced today that Commissioner Ed Davis has fired Justin Barrett, a police officer who sent out a mass e-mail referring to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates as "a jungle monkey."
In a statement, Davis said: Read more
Simon Glik, who wound up arrested when he used his cell phone to video a drug bust on Tremont Street along the Common in 2007, yesterday filed suit in US District Court, alleging his First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by police.
Glik was also charged with "aiding escape" of a prisoner and disturbing the peace. All the charges against Glik were dismissed in court - including the charge of violating the wiretapping law, which he says was meant to cover secret taping of private conversations, not public recording of events out in the open, such as an arrest on the Common near Tremont Street.
Complete complaint.
Check out this video, released this week by BPD. I pose the question because normally, the only people to stride purposefully through neighborhoods in slow motion as they listen concernedly to local residents while inspirational music plays are candidates, right?
Adam posted earlier about Ed Davis swearing that lying will get you "fired". It may sound familiar.
Circa July 2009:
The words an officer writes down in a police incident report, the statements an officer makes to Internal Affairs investigators, the sworn testimony an officer gives to a grand jury or in court - it has to be truthful or else, Davis says. “The penalty will be termination, no matter the officer’s reputation. First one - and you’re out.’’
Circa today:
Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis will fire any officer convicted of perjury or shown to have lied during internal department investigations
Inquiring minds would like to know what happened to Patrick Wood, author of Jamaica Plain Babies Pushed Into My Cruiser. Also, what happened to Rance Cooley, author of Criminals I Recognize?
At least when it comes to internal-affairs investigations, Commissioner Ed Davis tells the Globe. Relates to investigations into disgraced cop Kiko Pulido.
The Globe reports on the 4:30 p.m. accident, but says no details on the crash or the condition of the two officers.
Boston Police tweet an officer was hit by a car at 1 International Place late this afternoon and had to be taken to the hospital. No word on his condition. The incident happened only a few hours after a motorcycle cop was sent flying in a collision on Corey Street in West Roxbury.
Something to be thankful for. The Globe reports.
Year-to-year stats, broken down by police districts.
A summary of the Stern report on the Celtics fan who died of a cardiac disorder after the Celtics championship in 2008 is here. Also see Police Commissioner Ed Davis's statement.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's office said today a six-week investigation failed to find enough evidence to charge a male Boston police officer with rape of a female colleague, at least, in Suffolk County: Read more
The Globe reports on the award in the case of Shawn Drumgold.
Boston Police are looking for somebody who'd like to design a logo for BPDNews. No money, but they will issue a press release and photo.
A few days ago, the Globe's metro desk filed a story that raised the question of whether a senior BPD commander was demoted because he dared to tangle with Tom Menino's son, a detective. Read more
The venerable police blog has a new logo and now links to all the other online services Boston Police offer, including crime maps, district e-mail alerts (which seem mostly unused these days), but also YouTube copies of the "Call the Cops" cable show and Neighbors for Neighbors, an effort by former E-13 community liaison Joe Porcelli to build a social network for each of Boston's neighborhoods.
Just be glad you haven't lived on eeka's block the past two months.
Capt. James Claiborne, who currently heads up Boston Police's B-3 district (Mattapan and parts of Dorchester and Roxbury), is retiring at the end of the month - and will take a job as deputy chief of the Harvard University Police Department.
In a statement, Harvard University says Claiborne and retired Cambridge Police Superintendent Michael Giacoppo will both serve as deputy chiefs and help the university make policing improvements proposed in a report by former Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph Martin.
"His background with community policing, his management experience and his experience working with Boston-area universities will be an asset to the Department," Harvard says.
Boston Police tweet a State Police K-9 bit a Boston Police officer during a joint search on Norfolk Street early this afternoon. No word on how serious the bite was.
Boston today lifted its moratorium on new permits for sightseeing vehicles.
Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis says there's no longer any reason to limit the number of permits for tour vehicles given that the original reason for the moratorium - the Big Dig - is long finished. The moratorium went into effect in 1998.
In February, a Medford man sued Boston in federal court over the ban on new licenses. Assuming the city's decision today doesn't make that case moot, it wasn't even scheduled for pre-trial motions before May, 2010.
You may have read the other day about Michael O'Brien's suit against several Boston police officers, alleging they nearly choked and beat him to death when he started recording them after a minor fender bender involving his friend.
Read his entire complaint on the alleged incident on Hanover Street, which O'Brien says started when his friend clipped a double-parked BMW belonging to a guy who claimed to be a federal agent.
The city and the sued officers have yet to respond to the complaint, filed last week.
Associated Press reports on a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a Middlesex County jail guard against Boston Police, whose officers he says threw him to the ground and beat him in March when he wouldn't stop videoing them responding to a car accident involving a friend of his. Police say they have yet to see the suit.
Matt Conti reports Boston Police will be asking motorcyclists to voluntarily reduce the noise their bikes make as a good-neighbor gesture. The City Council passed an ordinance that would have forced quieter mufflers, but it's currently held up in court.
Kerry responds that people who can't stand the sound of revving bikes should move to Newton.
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