Thanks to everyone who came out to oppose the Boston Police Department’s (BPD) request for City Council approval for BPD to use three new social media surveillance tools. Because of your effort, the City Council voted against this proposal. The BPD started using these tools claiming “exigent circumstances” months before asking for approval.
We know that any tool BPD uses will feed into the Boston Regional Information Center (BRIC) and Federal agencies such as ICE, CBP and the FBI. Those tools will be used to spy on and abuse people who are doing nothing wrong. We are happy that the Boston City Council agreed.
Councilors Breadon (District 9), Louijeune (At large), Mejia (At large), Pepén (District 5), Weber (District 6) and Worrell (District 4) voted to reject the report, sending it to an oversight board that will assess whether Boston Police overstepped the surveillance ordinance. Councilors Durkan (District 8), FitzGerald (District 3), Flynn (District 2), Murphy (At large) and Santana (At large) voted to accept the report and allow BPD to continue to spy on the residents of Greater Boston.
We hope Bostonians consider how these councilors voted when they cast their ballot in the September 9th preliminary and November 4th general election. For the:
- Preliminary election: It is too late to register to vote. Early voting is September 2 – 5 and mail voting is open.
- General election: The voter registration deadline is October 25, 2025. Early voting will be October 25 – 31 (Sites and times to be determined)
Polls are open 7 am – 8 pm on election days. Boston seeks poll workers. Volunteers must attend a two-hour paid training and earn stipends of $160 – $200. Bilingual speakers are strongly encouraged to apply. Sign up at their portal.
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