During an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” the President of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, Larry Calderone, offered his perspective on the recent transfer of 24 Boston police officers to the fire department.
As a result of a vote by Democrats, approximately $3.4 million in new money for the Boston Police Department’s investigative unit was rejected. This decision came at a time when the city’s crime rate was on the rise.
The Boston Regional Intelligence Centre (BRIC) was denied money by half of the city council members in a meeting held the previous week. These council members are in opposition to the city’s progressive Democrat mayor, Michelle Wu, who recently changed her attitude and now supports the funding.
The mission of BRIC is to protect the citizens of Boston and the neighbouring areas against acts of criminality and terrorism. Concerns were raised by members of the opposing council group about BRIC’s gang database, which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently said unfairly targeted young Black and Hispanic people. This allegation prompted the attorney general of the state to launch an investigation into the matter.
However, Wu stated that new leadership at the city’s police department and attempts to clear names that were no longer relevant from its gang database forced her to change her perspective and support financing for the investigative arm of the Boston Police Department, according to a story in the Boston Herald. Wu’s statement was made in response to a question about whether or not she would support money for the investigative arm of the Boston Police Department.
Carabinier de police de Boston
As a result of a vote by Democrats, approximately $3.4 million in new money for the Boston Police Department’s investigative unit was rejected. This decision came at a time when the city’s crime rate was on the rise. (courtesy of Stuart Cahill and the Boston Herald)
“There were lots of questions about the gang database, how it was being used to potentially feed information to further a school-to-deportation or school-to-prison pipeline,” Wu said on WBUR’s Radio Boston. “There were lots of questions about the gang database, how it was being used to potentially feed information to further a school-to-prison pipeline.” “I did not think that the gang database should continue to exist in its form at that point with the structures that were there because I believed that it was actively causing harm.”
According to the Herald, Wu stated that during her first few weeks in office she met with members of the police department to discuss BRIC and its gang database. The purpose of these sessions was to “understand some of the changes they were making,” as quoted in the Herald. Wu said she spent “many hours” on these discussions.
“One change, for example, was around names that were inactive in terms of any interactions with law enforcement but had somehow gotten into the database and were just there, always affecting someone’s future potentially,” said Wu. “These names had somehow gotten into the database and were just there, always affecting someone’s future.” Because of the adjustments that they’ve made to their processes regarding the way that database has been kept, thousands of names have been erased. Inactive names are routinely removed from the list.”
On November 3, 2022, in Boston, Massachusetts, this view of the skyline of the Financial District can be seen when gazing across the Fort Point Channel. (Photo taken by Matt Stone for MediaNews Group/Boston Herald and made available by Getty Images) (Photo by Matt Stone/Boston Herald/MediaNews Group; used with permission from Getty Images)
However, the majority of the city council voted against the money, citing worries about racial bias, and as a result, the issue has been left unresolved for years.
Police Commissioner Michael Cox said he is “dumbfounded” that the BRIC is not “so well-received” for the work that it does, which “is so central to do what we do as a police department,” according to the Herald.
According to what Cox had to say, “the work that they do is not about vilifying people of colour.” “It’s really about identifying the people who are driving the violent crime in our city, and you’re keeping track of that information,” said the officer. “You’re doing that.”
The funds, he said, would help to fill several gaps in BRIC’s analytical operation, by hiring eight civilian analysts, positions that would be sustained for five years,” the Herald reported. According to officials from the police department who spoke with the site, the BRIC currently has insufficient manpower in that division, with only one analyst working each shift from Friday through Monday.
