On Wednesday, the Boston City Council passed a series of grants totaling $3.4 million in new money for a contentious police intelligence gathering centre despite concerns over potential abuses of civil liberties and racial profiling. Votes were cast along racial lines, and the council’s approval was met with mixed reactions.
A series of votes that were 7-5 in favour of approving the financing for the Boston Regional Intelligence Centre were held by the city council. This centre is responsible for maintaining the city’s gang database and coordinating antiterrorism operations with other law enforcement agencies. Every single councillor who voted in favour of the grants was a white person, whereas every single councillor who voted against them was a person of colour.
The four awards, which were awarded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety & Security, would enable the centre, which is more popularly referred to as BRIC, to hire an extra eight analysts, which would strengthen its skills to combat gang-related crime and terrorism, as well as to provide emergency responses. According to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, four of the analysts would “monitor active events and communicate in real-time,” two would coordinate with the State Police, MBTA police, and MassPort police, and two would help strengthen an initiative designed to share information directly with residents in an effort to build trust.
