police Archives

ONLY TIME AND TAPE WILL TELL

Will New Bedford finally find out what happened to Malcolm Gracia?

EOIN HIGGINS January 16, 2019

KILL WHITEY

In this special throwback, reporter Jon Riley looks back at why the government may have wanted Bulger dead more than anyone else

JONATHAN RILEY December 19, 2018

Mayor Walsh announcing William Gross as new police commissioner from July 2018 via City of Boston

GROSS POINTS BLANK: BOSTON’S TOP COP SHOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE BASHING THE ACLU

BPD Commissioner William Gross has had a bad few days. Last week, ACLU Massachusetts sued the city of Boston for using “a system—nicknamed the ‘gang packet’—which awards points for choice of clothes and social media selfies, and [is] used to designate ‘gang affiliation’ without any accompanying allegations of criminal

JASON PRAMAS November 27, 2018

FIRE SALE PT. 1 1/2

More about how police solicitation of guns and other combat gear is done solely by departments that weigh options and decide on agreements, without any scrutiny from other agencies.

CHRIS FARAONE November 22, 2018

THIN BLUE LINEAGE

What’s up with all those flags lining the roads outside of Boston? Once only an occasional sighting, these flags, stickers, and other apparel have become increasingly common not just south of Boston, but all across the Commonwealth.

BRIAN Z. ZAYATZ October 2, 2018

ATTACK OF THE PEACE POLICE

Despite cries from advocates and experts, heavily armed SWAT teams are increasingly deployed to nonviolent protests in Mass

SETH KERSHNER June 7, 2018

CHILDREN AND SWAT RAIDS

The unintended consequences of militarized police in Massachusetts homes At 5 a.m. on a hot August night in 2015, a van carrying the Worcester SWAT team pulled up outside a triple-decker on Hillside Street. The officers were wearing body armor, ballistic helmets and camouflage clothing. They came bearing shotguns, handguns

SETH KERSHNER March 1, 2018

SEX, CONSENT AND CUSTODY

Is there a loophole in Mass law that helps cops who rape perps? Earlier this month, BuzzFeed published an explosive article about a New York City teenager accusing two police officers of raping her while she was in custody. The entire story is harrowing. But one aspect seems especially pertinent — as it turns out,

KORI FEENER February 25, 2018

AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE

This originally appeared as a two-part story centering around police officers injured and allegedly injured during the shootout with Boston Marathon bombers in Watertown on April 19, 2013. It was published in multiple newspapers around Massachusetts including the Brockton Enterprise, the Quincy Patriot Ledger, and the Watertown Tab. On April

ADAM SENNOTT July 12, 2016

MASS BAIL REFORM NOW

November 9, 2015 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Lots of innocent people are spending time in jail in Massachusetts. And unsurprisingly many of those people are poor and a disproportionate number are people of color. But they are not convicted criminals. They are people who are charged with a crime—often a

JASON PRAMAS November 9, 2015