Boston Police

BPD to Anonymous: We're baaaack

adamg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:02:55 +0000

Addresses hacked, now fixed, BPDNews.com.

Remembering Willis Saunders

adamg — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:48:59 +0000

WBUR takes a look at the life of Willis Saunders, a Tuskegee Airman from Roxbury who became one of Boston's top cops.

At least 2,000 people will miss the Super Bowl tonight

adamg — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:29:03 +0000

It'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

adamg — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:09:31 +0000

Anonymous, 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

adamg — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:54:11 +0000

Boston 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

adamg — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:46:59 +0000

The 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

adamg — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:57:00 +0000

The 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

adamg — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:21:25 +0000

Take 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

adamg — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:12:35 +0000

The 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

adamg — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:36:38 +0000

Sink-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

adamg — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:35:45 +0000

WBUR 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

adamg — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:19:36 +0000

SC 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.

You think it's easy lifting people lying on the ground?

adamg — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:14:22 +0000

A BPD official tries to explain to BU students why people should stop looking at police as the heavies in last week's mass arrests.

Somebody misoverestimated cost of policing Occupy Boston

adamg — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:11:23 +0000

Just yesterday, City Council President Steve Murphy said BPD told him it was costing $2 million a month to watch over those scamps on Dewey Square. Channel 4, however, reports today that BPD has put the total cost of its supervision of Occupy Boston since Oct. 1 (the occupation began 9/30) at $146,189.55. Assuming that's current through yesterday, and assuming it includes another massive early morning crackdown, that comes out to roughly $350,000 a month.

Two bicycle police officers injured in collision that started when one was doored

adamg — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:33:22 +0000

Channel 25 reports on an incident this afternoon on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. Note the location of one of the bicycles - right by a "sharrow" meant to tell drivers and bicyclists to watch out for each other in the shared lane. Injuries were minor, 25 says.