Mass law enforcement misconduct news, Nov. 2-8

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

State and local

• “Video shows the tense moments when police officers in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, found the top cop of a neighboring community drinking vodka in his department vehicle, according to body camera footage obtained by the NBC10 Boston Investigators. The incident involving Westborough Police Chief Todd Minardi occurred in a Shrewsbury parking lot on Oct. 23. Officers later determined Minardi had been sitting in his unmarked SUV for more than 24 hours after making a purchase at the liquor store.” (NBC10 Boston)

• “Massachusetts’ police oversight commission suspended the certification of a state trooper on [November 4] following his arrest on a breaking and entering charge [the prior] weekend. Michael McGuire, 37, of Quincy, is facing one count of breaking and entering at nighttime to commit a felony in Boston Municipal Court Central, according to court records.” (MassLive)
• “A federal prosecutor on [November 6] delivered their closing statement in the case against [former Stoughton police officer] Matthew Farwell, telling jurors he killed Sandra Birchmore to ‘end any possibility she would expose him.’ Farwell’s defense attorney, in turn, countered by raising doubts about the government's case.” (WBUR)

Federal

• “The regime’s prosecutorial office in Boston [on November 3] asked a federal judge to let it dismiss the criminal case against Harvard Medical School bioinformatics expert Kseniia Petrova because battling her attorneys over pre-trial document production is just too exhausting and prosecutors now have more important things to do than try to imprison the Russian immigrant for up to 20 years on smuggling charges that were definitely for real and not just some petty attempt to punish a Harvard-affiliated foreigner who refused to simply let herself be shoved onto a plane back to her dictatorial homeland.” (Universal Hub)
• “The portion of the PROTECT Act that prohibits civil immigration arrests in and around courthouses without a judicial warrant went into effect on [November 3], but advocates say it’s already been violated. "‘I went to the court, and right in front of me, four individuals were taking a young man right inside the courthouse,’ said Gladys Vega, president of La Colaborativa, a social services nonprofit in Chelsea.” (GBH)

Other news

Springfield police Flock data was searched by outside agencies in immigration-related cases (Republican)

Before Springfield police limited who could tap into automatic license plate reader data, outside police departments made more than 1,000 searches of the city’s system in immigration-related cases.

For example, the Texas Department of Public Safety searched networks across the country, including Springfield, in June 2025 for a license plate, citing the reason as “criminal alien.” In early February of this year, a South Carolina police department gave the search justification as “Immigration (civil/administrative).” Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is also mentioned.

That’s according to audit data from 2025 through mid-September obtained by The Republican in a public records request.

World Cup was overtime bonanza for Boston police (BINJ)

According to a Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism analysis, adjusting for cumulative inflation, the city likely allocated more on police overtime pay during the FIFA run than it ever has for any other defined series of events, planned or unplanned. That means Boston alone apparently spent more on BPD OT for the 2026 World Cup than it did for the 2004 Democratic National Convention, more than five times more than during the trial and sentencing of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and even more than it did throughout three months of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and Occupy Boston in 2011 combined.

The World Cup Was The Biggest BPD Overtime Event In Boston History

Other BPD hires worked details for teams and behind the scenes, while one group broadly scanned for threats from online to the streets, tracks, and roads connecting Boston to the heart of the action in Foxborough

BINJCHRIS FARAONE AND EAMON CORBO

North Andover police chief retires (NBC10 Boston)

The embattled police chief of North Andover, Massachusetts, is on his way out after the town announced it had reached a separation agreement with him.

Charles Gray has notified the town of his decision to retire, town officials said, as part of a voluntary agreement between the two sides. His retirement takes effect immediately.

Gray had been out on paid administrative leave at his own request since April, in the wake of the controversial Kelsey Fitzsimmons case.

Norfolk County DA finds officer was justified in shooting man experiencing mental-health crisis (MassLive)

Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey has determined that a Weymouth police officer was justified in killing a man who was experiencing a mental health crisis at a state park after he charged at two officers with a knife.

According to the district attorney’s office’s findings, which were released to the public on [November 2], Officer Jack Brown shot 25-year-old Weymouth resident Sean R. Barry on March 18 following a minutes-long interaction at a Webb Memorial State Park bathroom.

Norfolk County elects news DA (Enterprise; paywalled)

Voters in Norfolk County picked a new district attorney. Democrat Djuana Perkins [won] in a landslide, with 71% of the votes across the county's 27 towns and one city, according to unofficial results.

The political newcomer declared victory over independent Joseph Pagliarulo, who called to concede, after embattled Democratic incumbent Michael Morrissey opted not to run for re-election. Pagliarulo won 29% of the votes. There was no Republican candidate.

Perkins told The Enterprise on election night she’d follow through on campaign pledges to shake up the DA’s office. She plans to interview every State trooper who is assigned to her office as well as all existing employees.

Former Suffolk DA subpoenaed in lawsuit against Karen Read (Boston Globe; paywalled)

Rachael Rollins, the former Suffolk district attorney who later served as the state’s top federal prosecutor before resigning in scandal, has received a subpoena to testify in the defamation suit filed against Karen Read, Rollins said [November 3] via social media.

Rollins posted a photo of her deposition subpoena in the suit filed against Read and Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as Turtleboy, by witnesses in her criminal case.

Lawrence shuts down “homeless church,” prompting outrage (MassLive)

Twenty-four hours after a formalized tent community on private property in Lawrence was forced to dismantle, city councilors were on the receiving end of sharp rebukes from residents.

The homeless encampment consisting of 26 tents on Bay State Road was an organized initiative by House of Mercy Church, which owns the unpaved riverfront lot where about 60 people were residing. The church had installed porta potties and outdoor lighting, creating what residents said was a stable place for them to put down roots and live in community while accessing House of Mercy’s services in its building across the street.

But on Oct. 29, House of Mercy founder Roger Farah received a $1,200 fine and cease-and-desist order from the city’s inspectional services department, telling him to clear the tents from his property immediately — as well as renovated shipping containers that were intended to serve as temporary housing in the future. If Farah didn’t comply, he faced potential criminal or civil action for what the city described as four violations of local ordinance and state law.

Voters pass public records reform, but legislature might have last word (CommonWealth Beacon)

Massachusetts voters on [November 3] gave overwhelming approval to a ballot measure subjecting the House, Senate, and governor’s office to the state’s public records law. There’s just one catch: In the remaining eight weeks between the election and the start of the next lawmaking term, Democrats who control the Legislature might erase what voters decided in a landslide.

Although lawmakers have been openly grousing about the measure for months, they opted not to mount a formal opposition campaign, and few voters were swayed by legislative complaints about its constitutionality. The measure wound up smashing its way to victory. With about 80 percent of votes counted, the “yes” side led 86 percent to 14 percent.

Governor Healey says she will comply with updated Public Records Law (Boston Globe; paywalled)

Governor Maura Healey said [November 5] she will comply with the requirements of a ballot question voters passed on [November 3] to subject both her office and the state Legislature to the state’s public records law. …

“Whatever the law is, whatever the voters voted for, we’re going to do,” said Healey, who was reelected to a second term [November 3]. “The team will be ready to comply.”

Massachusetts public defenders gain right to unionize (WBUR)

Massachusetts voters just cleared the way for the state’s public defenders to form a union.

The “yes” vote on Question 2 means employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services — lawyers and advocates who represent folks that can't afford their own attorney — can collectively bargain for a contract, which is currently barred under state law.

About 500 lawyers and hundreds more paralegals and support staff work for the agency. For years, they’ve pressed the state legislature to let them collectively bargain. Having made no progress with the state’s elected officials, organizers decided to put the question to the electorate instead, filing the ballot question.

To maximize consumer protection, new data privacy law must include a ‘private right of action’

Regular people’s ability to sue businesses for the alleged violation of a law is called private right of action, and it is a necessary inclusion if the future Massachusetts data privacy law is to truly protect citizens’ rights, safety, and privacy.

CommonWealth BeaconMaler Suresh

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That’s all for now.

Spotted on a pinball machine at Flat Top Johnny's in Cambridge, Mass.

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— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) November 7, 2026 at 3:07 PM