Here are the media reports of alleged law enforcement misconduct in Massachusetts that I’ve tracked during the last week.

State and local

More cops caught tracking women with Flock cameras

With the new stories reported last week, we’re up to seven Massachusetts police officers who have been accused of misusing Flock license-plate readers during the last few weeks. In every case where the details of the officers’ alleged actions have been made public, the officers have been accused of using Flock to track current or former romantic partners. In at least one city, that’s apparently not a firable offense.

• “A Revere police officer [Michael Tiso] is back on the job after serving a suspension stemming from an investigation that found he misused the department’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) system and the state’s criminal records database, authorities said. … According to an internal affairs report obtained by The Boston Globe, Tiso accessed the department’s Flock cameras more than a dozen times on four separate occasions to track his ex-girlfriend.” (Boston.com)
• “The [New Bedford] Police Department found two officers abused the Flock system to track their ex-romantic or current romantic partners, according to findings released on [September 3]. The department referred the cases to the Bristol County District Attorney’s office for possible criminal charges. Police Chief Jason Thody is recommending the termination of Detective Emily Pacheco, who has been on leave since [August], and Sgt. James Marinelli. As they are union members, they will get a hearing as part of the process.” (New Bedford Light)
• “A Swampscott police officer has been placed on administrative leave after the department was notified of concerns about potential misuse of Lynn’s Flock license-plate reader system.” (Swampscott Tides)
• “Among the law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts that have so far managed to dodge the backlash over the use of traffic surveillance cameras from Flock Safety is the Boston Police Department, which dropped the vendor [in 2025] after a short trial. But this year, Boston instead started pilot programs for automatic license-plate-reading cameras with Flock’s main competitors: Motorola Solutions in January, and Axon in June, according to city records obtained by the Globe. … Axon and Motorola carry seemingly identical features to Flock — and for critics, identical concerns. And in Boston, disclosure of the pilot programs triggered a separate dispute: whether Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration should have sought permission from the City Council first under an ordinance governing deployment of surveillance technology that took effect in 2022.” (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “A private database for Massachusetts State Police to track drivers will soon be made public knowledge after a state judge ruled information collected from automatic license plate readers and similar technology must be made available to civilians. … This comes after the ACLU filed a lawsuit in 2023 asking for that information.” (NBC10 Boston)

More misconduct allegations

• “A Massachusetts state trooper resigned [in July] amid an investigation into a party at his apartment that ended with a guest being charged with child rape. … State police dishonorably discharged Trooper [Joel] De Barros Pina when he resigned, which is standard policy if someone steps down while under investigation.” (WCVB)

• “A federal jury has acquitted Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins who was charged on two counts of extortion for a cannabis investment. … Tompkins has maintained his innocence; he’s on leave from his elected role as sheriff as he faces the extortion charges.” (WBUR)
• “The state public defender’s office filed a lawsuit [August 31] against the State Police saying it hasn’t been able to access records related to a trooper’s traffic stop in Springfield that led to him facing assault charges. Rebecca Jacobstein, an attorney with the Committee for Public Counsel Services, filed a public records request in July with the State Police asking for records about a January traffic stop made by State Police Sgt. Joel P. Daoust in Springfield.” (Republican)
• “The state’s police oversight agency has suspended the certification of an Orleans police officer [Dylan Reid] following his arrest on domestic violence and intimidation charges, according to state and court records.” (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “A [Springfield] police officer was recently suspended by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. Late [in August], the commission voted to suspend Juan L. Cruz ‘upon determining that it is in the best interest of the health, safety, or welfare of the public,’ the suspension order says. He is suspended until the commission makes a final decision. Why he is suspended is not clear.” (Republican)
• “A high-ranking member of the UMass Chan Medical School campus police is scheduled to face charges of drunken driving after he allegedly crashed into several cars in July. Lt. Gregory Markiewicz is third in command within the medical school’s Public Safety Department. Meanwhile, an internal investigation determined that Worcester police violated its own policy that should have resulted in Markiewicz facing arrest instead of a court summons to determine whether charges were warranted, according to a statement from Worcester Police Chief Paul B. Saucier.” (Telegram & Gazette; paywalled)
• “The leading advocacy group for prisoners in Massachusetts is claiming Suffolk County correctional officers tied to the December death of Shacoby Kenny have continued to work directly with inmates, despite the Sheriff’s Department repeatedly asserting otherwise. Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts says some of those officers working at the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston — often referred to as South Bay — have been involved in additional use-of-force incidents since Kenny’s death. The Sheriff’s Department disputes those claims entirely.” (Republican/MassLive)
• “One of the letters pertained to a former officer to whom [Worcester] Police Chief Paul B. Saucier alluded, though not by name, during an Aug. 31 meeting with the city’s Human Rights Commission. According to the letter, the DEI office, ‘in partnership with’ the internal affairs department, concluded the former [Worcester police] officer, Michael Luong, had made ‘unwanted advances of a sexual nature’ toward a minor who worked at Price Chopper during a paid detail on Aug. 29, 2025.” (Telegram & Gazette; paywalled)

Federal

• “The federal appeals court will hear arguments this fall in the case of a Babson College student who was deported to Honduras despite a court order temporarily blocking her removal, according to a scheduling order. The Oct. 5 hearing before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes as attorneys for Any Lucia Lopez Belloza argue federal courts retain the power to order her return to the U.S. and consider challenges to her detention and deportation.” (MassLive)

Other news

More municipalities ditch Flock

According to the Lowell Sun, “Town officials said in a statement [on August 31 that] Groton will terminate its contract with Flock Safety and ‘commit to developing a permanent solution’ to be presented at the spring Town Meeting next year.”

And according to MassLive, “The Southbridge Police Department on [August 31] announced it is suspending its use of Flock automated license plate reader technology. … In a post on Facebook, the police department wrote its decision to end its usage of Flock cameras was done out of ensuring trust within the community.”

Keeping up with the police-industrial complex

Last week, I saw this story about a town that doesn’t have license-plate readers but is nevertheless grappling with the issue (CapeNews.net):

The Falmouth Police Department has no plans to install Flock cameras or similar automated license plate readers (ALPR), but concerns over privacy, civil liberties and data security have prompted the Select Board to consider a surveillance camera policy. …

While the discussion raised concerns about the cameras’ capabilities, their potential to violate civil liberties and data privacy and recent examples of misuse in other communities, Falmouth Police Chief Jeffrey Lourie’s assurance that the department has no plans to implement the technology helped the board put the policy discussion aside for now.

And this story about a city that’s thinking about preemptively banning the police department from using electroshock gloves:

Holyoke officials are beginning to consider a ban on electroshock gloves used for compliance and de-escalation, with the proposal first heading to committee review if advanced by the council. …

The proposal follows recent national attention about the devices after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced plans to spend up to $20 million on the electric-shock gloves. 

This should go without saying, but if you have to ban a government agency from buying sci-fi torture gloves, then that government agency is not responsible enough to spend money on anything and should not be allowed to do so.

Here’s a thought: Instead of requiring local governments to keep up with every sadistic torture device and creepy stalker tech invented by the police-industrial complex, a better approach would be a state law that preemptively bans police from buying or using any newly developed weapons or surveillance devices. The police should not be allowed to experiment on the public with dangerous new technologies. If a new technology is invented, then police should not be allowed to use it until the state legislature has held extensive public hearings, determined that it’s safe and effective, and passed a law that regulates it and provides independent oversight and accountability for misusing it.

The elephant in the room

On September 9, the governor’s office put out a press release about the state’s new Blue Envelope program:

Governor Maura Healey today launched the statewide Blue Envelope Program, a free and voluntary program designed to support safer, more effective communication between law enforcement officers and people with autism.

Beginning today, Blue Envelopes are available at all Registry of Motor Vehicles Service Centers, participating AAA locations and through an online mail request form.

“People with autism and their families deserve to feel safe and understood when they interact with law enforcement,” said Governor Maura Healey. “By helping residents communicate their needs and giving officers useful guidance, the Blue Envelope can prevent misunderstandings and make traffic stops safer for everyone. I’m grateful to our police officers for their partnership and commitment to making this program work across Massachusetts.” …

The bright blue envelope can hold a driver’s license, vehicle registration, contact card, and other important information. During a traffic stop or other interaction, the envelope alerts an officer that the driver or passenger may communicate, process information or respond differently. Guidance printed on the envelope helps officers adjust their approach.

Governor Healey signed legislation establishing the statewide program in June. The law builds on a voluntary initiative launched by the Massachusetts State Police in 2024 and expands access to Blue Envelopes through the RMV.

Governor Healey said in the press release that “the Blue Envelope can prevent misunderstandings and make traffic stops safer for everyone.” What does she mean by “misunderstandings”? Based on the press release, it’s not clear. There’s no mention of what “misunderstandings” might occur at a traffic stop involving an autistic driver and how those “misunderstandings” could lead to “everyone” being unsafe.

But we know what this is about. It’s about police officers committing acts of violence against autistic people.

This is how Ilyse Levine-Kanji, an advocate for the program, described it in an April opinion piece for WBUR:

Its price tag is small. Yet its impact is significant because it could help prevent avoidable misunderstandings, such as the tragic stories of the imprisonment of Matthew Rushin and the shootings of Linden Cameron and Charles Kinsey, who was caring for Arnaldo Rios Soto. 

Levine-Kanji’s piece also talks about the Blue Envelope “making all parties involved safer,” but all of her examples of potential harm involve police inflicting that harm on autistic drivers.

A program that helps people efficiently and effectively communicate their individual needs in a situation like a traffic stop isn’t a bad idea in a vacuum. But autistic drivers shouldn’t need to disclose personal details for police to treat them with respect and dignity rather than violence. The creation of this program is a tacit admission that police are a danger to the public. The press release describes the program as “voluntary,” but given the context, it sounds like an offer you can’t refuse.

I was reminded of this story published by the Patch in May 2023:

A Worcester boy with autism whose elbow was fractured by two Worcester officers while they restrained him during a 2017 confrontation will receive $120,000 in a settlement, according to court records. …

According to the lawsuit, the boy’s mother, Lindsey Beshai Torres, called Worcester police on Sept. 25, 2017, after her son — who was 10 at the time — threw a Gatorade bottle at her. Torres and her son were in a car outside Gates Lane Elementary School near Webster Square.

“Concerned over her son’s medication issues and behavior, [Beshai Torres] did something she has never done before with [her son], she called 911 to ask for medical assistance,” the lawsuit said.

Worcester officers John Alers and Paul McCarthy responded. Torres’ son was calm when the officers arrived, the suit said, but at one point threw a bag of potato chips out a window. That’s when Alers began pulling the boy out of the car, the suit said.

The officers then threw the boy on the ground, kneeled on him and began to twist his arm in an attempt to restrain him, the suit said. The two officers “tackled [the boy] to the ground and while attempting to restrain him broke his arm requiring emergency hospitalization, surgery, mental turmoil and distrust for the police.”

The Worcester Police Department was fine with the terrible outcome of this incident:

The lawsuit also cited an internal Worcester police investigation, which effectively cleared Alers due to a lack of corroboration, except for the mother’s account. …

Worcester Chief Steven Sargent was also interviewed during the internal investigation, and told the Bureau of Professional Standards [he] believed the use of force was “appropriate.”

The problem with this story has nothing to do with whether the police officers knew this small child was autistic—it’s that they thought breaking a small child’s arm was fine and their department, all the way up to the chief, agreed with them.

Trying to improve communication and prevent misunderstandings is all well and good, but at some point you’re going to have to address the elephant in the room. That the governor can’t even acknowledge the purpose of this program in her press release suggests that she’s not interested in doing so.

Mass State Police hire outside company to oversee policy changes at police academy (Boston Herald)

The Massachusetts State Police has hired an independent evaluator to oversee more than 100 reforms at its police academy, which was thrust into the spotlight when a recruit died following an exercise there [in 2024]. …

The MSP announced [on September 4] that it had hired PFM Group Consulting LLC (PFMGC) as the independent evaluator who will monitor the implementation of 103 reforms recommended in an International Association of Chiefs of Police assessment released earlier this year.

Trump administration hiring people without experience in immigration law as immigration judges (Boston Globe; paywalled)

The four newest judges appointed by the Trump administration to serve in Massachusetts immigration courts have something in common: They have little experience in immigration law.

One recently worked as a lawyer for the military in Ohio; another for the Internal Revenue Service in Florida. A third served as an assistant district attorney in Bristol County; the last as an assistant attorney general for the Massachusetts attorney general’s gaming enforcement division.

Yet they will wield immense influence over the lives of immigrants here and across New England, in many cases deciding whether to allow someone to stay in the US or to issue deportation orders against them. …

Since last January, at least 17 immigration judges in Massachusetts, including the four announced last week, have been fired or have left their posts, according to a Globe analysis of public staff directories. Many of the fired judges had backgrounds as immigration lawyers.

The administration has replaced them with what it refers to as “deportation judges,” appointees who were often previously working as military lawyers, ICE attorneys, or as state or federal prosecutors.

The Boston Globe Partnered With Axon, Maker Of Tasers And Network Surveillance Cameras

How the Boston Globe partnered with surveillance giant Axon, sponsoring content and panels on AI-powered policing.

BINJCHRIS FARAONE

Jake Auchincloss, of course. @repauchincloss.bsky.social #Massachusetts #mapoli

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— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) September 3, 2026 at 2:51 PM

“[Seth] Moulton ran on a conservative line, recycling right-wing talking points and echoing Donald Trump to suggest, erroneously, that Democrats have been failing because they have not been conservative enough.”

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— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) September 6, 2026 at 4:45 PM

“A Cedartown police officer has been placed on administrative leave after a donkey was fatally shot in Polk County on [August 30]. … Farm owner Hannah Israel said … it took her family up to 20 minutes to search the pasture and find HeeHaw's body because officers did not direct her to the location.”

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— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) September 1, 2026 at 9:49 AM

Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe.

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— Evan Greer (@evangreer.bsky.social) September 4, 2026 at 6:19 PM

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