The MBTA wanted criminal charges to be filed against a man who tried to drive his car off the roof of the MBTA’s Alewife Garage in February, but a judge on Monday dismissed the case prior to arraignment.
Criminal Justice
Posted inBy The Numbers
Study finds Boston shoplifting rates up from pre-pandemic levels
With Black Friday signaling the arrival of the holiday shopping season, a new report says shoplifting rates in Boston are up compared to levels before the pandemic, though the city has avoided the spike in retail theft that several major US cities have experienced.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Campbell hires gun control advocate to lead gun violence unit
Attorney General Andrea Campbell has tapped a rural litigator who previously worked for a gun control advocacy group to head up a new unit aimed at reducing gun violence.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Auditor takes sex offender board to task
YEARS AFTER a 2017 audit of the Sex Offender Registry Board, the board has not made recommended changes to record and verify the current addresses of sex offenders in violation, according to state Auditor Diana DiZoglio. In a newly released audit, following up on recommendations from prior Auditor Suzanne Bump, DiZoglio’s office found that SORB […]
Posted inPolitics
Black Lives Matter comment stirs Boston City Council race
A TOP CONTENDER for one of Boston’s four City Council at-large seats is drawing heat for stating Black Lives Matter set race relations back 50 years. Bridget Nee-Walsh, a union ironworker from South Boston who is one of eight candidates running for the four seats, made the comments at a Dorchester forum on October 12 […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
How ‘cop watchers’ can help improve policing
CAN POLICE TURN a perceived nuisance into an opportunity? Can they benefit from the efforts of smartphone-wielding “cop watchers” who dog them at crime and emergency scenes? The answer is yes. The images and words captured from these encounters could, as part of a larger reform, help to improve police practice. Police are on camera […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Court weighs custody of young offenders
WHEN A YOUNG PERSON is convicted of a crime, Massachusetts and the federal government agree that they shouldn’t be put into the same custody as adult convicts. But one state law seems to treat young people charged with murder, but not convicted, like adults, requiring that juveniles who are facing trial on serious charges be […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Boston city council approves controversy-plagued police grants
AFTER REJECTING state funding for a Boston police intelligence unit multiple times over the past two years because of concerns that a gang database it maintains has racially profiled Black and Latino residents, the Boston City Council voted on Wednesday to accept the funding. In a 7-5 vote that broke along racial lines, the council […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Boston business leader speaks out in support of police grants
DETAILS OVER THE inner workings of the Boston Police Department are not the usual focus of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. But after watching a two-year standoff over whether the department should accept millions of dollars in grant funding from the state, the group’s president, Jim Rooney, is stepping into an issue that has […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA employee indicted 6 years ago pleads guilty
An MBTA EMPLOYEE who was indicted and suspended six years ago for leveraging his job as a buyer to solicit kickbacks and illegal gifts pleaded guilty on Monday and was sentenced to a year in jail and required to pay restitution of $37,860. Timothy Dockery of Plymouth pleaded guilty to 13 charges related to misuse […]