Boston Police
At least 2,000 people will miss the Super Bowl tonight
By adamg - 2/5/12 - 10:29 amIt's all hands on deck tonight at Boston Police: Every single one of the department's 2,000 officers has been ordered to duty tonight. Don't worry - the department will staff its regular shifts in the neighborhoods, so there'll be no mayhem in Mattapan, no rioting in Roslindale and no beatdowns in Brighton, at least no more so than usual.
Meanwhile, the previously announced lock down of the North Station and Kenmore Square areas is being supplemented by parking bans in certain other beer/student heavy locations, including Harvard and Brighton avenues in Allston, the area around Northeastern and the streets bordering Faneuil Hall.
Hackers take down Boston Police blog
By adamg - 2/3/12 - 12:09 pmAnonymous, the group that had earlier posted login info for the Boston police-union Web site, busted BPDNews today, Gizmodo reports.
Unlike other official city Web sites, BPDNews has always been hosted on a private third-party server.
The attack is supposedly over the way BPD allegedly sent "undercover TSA agents to assualt [sic] and attempt to steal from some organizers."
This is possibly a reference to an incident the night BPD shut down the Dewey Square encampment, when an off-duty TSA agent in a suit allegedly slapped an Occupier and stole her cellphone after calling her and other women prostitutes. He was, however, promptly arrested by Boston Police officers.
Earlier:
Anonymous hacks police-union Web site.
DA seeks Twitter info on some Occupy Boston supporters.
Police to lock down North Station, Fenway Park areas at halftime
By adamg - 2/2/12 - 2:54 pmBoston Police say anybody not ensconced in a bar in those areas by the time Madonna starts to sing on Sunday will be turned away from the area. And people who are in a bar who leave after she starts belting it out will be escorted out of the area.
In its listing of Important Super Bowl Safety Tips for Patriots Fans Looking to Behave Like Champions, police say that in addition to massive presence around North Station and Kenmore Square, they will also "employ extensive use of video-cameras" to capture evidence of hooliganism.
The document warns that five or more people "tumultuously assembled" on the street can be ordered to disperse immediately.
Cop at center of Michael Cox beating case fired over another case involving excessive use of force
By adamg - 1/19/12 - 8:46 amThe Globe reports (paid subscription required) on the firing of David C. Williams for putting a man in a prohibited choke hold during a North End traffic stop, then lying about it.
This is the second time Boston Police have fired Williams. The first time was after the beating of Michael Cox, an undercover cop whom other cops beat, allegedly because they thought he was a homicide suspect, in 1995. Williams won his job back on appeal; his lawyer says he plans to appeal the latest firing as well.
Two BPD officers face discipline for arresting man who videoed them making an arrest
By adamg - 1/11/12 - 7:57 amThe Globe reports Boston Police now acknowledge the pair were wrong to arrest Simon Glik on the Common in 2011 after they spotted him using his cellphone to video an arrest. Charges against Glik were dropped in Boston Municipal Court; Glik still has a federal lawsuit pending against Boston Police and the officers, in a case in which a federal appeals court said people have a right to video police in public place. Police had initially told Glik the officers had done nothing wrong.
DA seeks Twitter info on some Occupy Boston supporters
By adamg - 12/25/11 - 10:21 pmTake a look at this subpoena, sent by the Suffolk County District Attorney's office to Twitter for information on people who used certain accounts and hashtags related to Occupy Boston in the days immediately before and after Occupy Boston's eviction from its Dewey Square encampment.
Occupy Boston showdown at high noon on Monday
By adamg - 12/3/11 - 5:12 pmThe Occupants plan to bring in a "fire safe, military style tent" on Monday, of the sort the city says is a "permanent" building structure that simply will not be tolerated, you know, like sinks.
Meanwhile, BPD is going into crackdown mode, posting signs around Dewey Square that warn against certain prohibited behaviors, including some things police had previously tolerated, such as marching the wrong way down one-way streets and disrupting traffic (so sounds like no more BPD motorcycle and bicycle cops blocking traffic to let Occupy Bostonians march down streets).
Everything but the kitchen sink at Occupy Boston tonight
By adamg - 12/1/11 - 10:36 pmSink-seizing police. Video by Bob Plain.
Boston Police tonight activated its emergency-deployment system and brought in officers from across the city to seize a sink Occupy Boston tried to bring in for dish washing. Channel 5 reports three people were arrested during a skirmish over the sink, which comes as city officials claim they need the authority to clear out the encampment in part because of hygiene concerns.
Man charges police beat him for videoing an arrest
By adamg - 11/3/11 - 7:35 amWBUR reports on Maury Paulino's lawsuit, filed yesterday in US District Court in Boston.
Paolino is at least the second person to sue police over issues related to videoing of arrests. Simon Glik, an attorney arrested under the state wiretapping law, also has a lawsuit pending in federal court.
Anonymous hacks police-union Web site
By adamg - 10/21/11 - 9:19 pmSC Magazine, which covers information security, reports the shadowy hacker group managed to break into the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association Web site and make off with more than 1,000 member logins.
Boston Police tonight acknowledged a break-in, in a warning to officers:
It has come to the attention of the Boston Police Department that various websites used by members of the BPD – including the website belonging to the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association – have been hacked into and possibly compromised. In light of this information, the Boston Police Department is requiring all department personnel to secure their login information by resetting their passwords on the BPD network. In the case of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, members are asked to visit the BPPA.org website – www.bppa.org – in order to change their password. Moreover, it is recommended and suggested that members change passwords to all internet and wireless devices so as to ensure the safety and integrity of those sites and programs.
BPD didn't specify just what happened, but said the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, an intelligence-gathering consortium of local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies, is now investigating.
