Mass law enforcement misconduct news, Sept. 7-13
Prosecutors say state trooper’s colleagues knew had been drinking before fatal crash, state trooper fired for racist texts to ex-girlfriend, and more
First, if you haven’t seen it yet, please check out my story from earlier today about James Carver:
Andrew Quemere
It’s a long one, but I hope you’ll read it.
Next, here are the media reports of alleged law enforcement misconduct in Massachusetts that I’ve tracked during the last week.
State and local
- “One New Bedford police officer [Emily Pacheco] searched the license plate of her ex-girlfriend more than 650 times in Flock. She then ran the plate of her ex’s new romantic partner more than 200 times this summer, tagging the searches as a ‘traffic infraction.’ Another officer [James Marinelli] was found to have run his girlfriend’s plate nearly 70 times, tagging the searches for a variety of reasons, including ‘hit and run’ and disorderly conduct.” (New Bedford Light)
- “After his acquittal on federal extortion charges [earlier in September], Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins (or at least his lawyer and spokesperson) said he plans to return to the job in the near future. … It’s still possible the State Ethics Commission could investigate whether Tompkins ran afoul of state laws against state government employees soliciting or receiving ‘anything of substantial value’ due to their position.” (WBUR)
- “A Boston police officer had intended to plead guilty [September 9] on charges of running an illegal underground nightclub in Jamaica Plain that fellow officers discovered after a patron shot and injured a bouncer during a confrontation, according to prosecutors. But after a Suffolk County judge rejected the plea deal, Officer Richard McDermott could instead face trial, prosecutors said.” (MassLive)
- “An inquest has begun into the death of a 64-year-old man who was fatally shot by Cambridge Police in Central Square [in Ausust]. Two weeks after the shooting on Aug. 21, a district court judge on [September 9] began an examination of the facts around the shooting of 64-year-old William Woodworth.” (GBH)
- “New court filings in the criminal case against former Massachusetts State Police Detective Scott Quigley reveal fellow troopers knew he had been drinking before a fatal 2023 crash and kept that information to themselves.” (Boston 25 News)
- “The state trooper suspended with pay for allegedly assaulting a colleague in an off-duty brawl at a Quincy bar has been granted pretrial diversion. Quincy District Court Judge Mark Coven has approved a request from Christopher Regan’s attorney for the BRAVE Act to apply to his client, delaying the trooper’s arraignment from [September 10] until Oct. 9.” (Boston Herald)
- “WBZ-TV I-Team sources say Jay Arapi, a Massachusetts State Police trooper assigned to the Newbury barracks, allegedly targeted his former girlfriend with racist messages after she began dating a man of color. … He was subsequently fired on Sept. 8.” (WBZ)
- “The [Worcester] Police Department has initiated an internal investigation after officers responded to a car crash involving Councilor-at-Large Kathleen M. Toomey. … An internal investigation was started the same day of the crash ‘to ensure that no preferential treatment was provided and that all departmental policies were followed,’ a police spokesperson said in a statement.” (Telegram & Gazette; paywalled)
- “The Sandwich Police arrested one of its own officers after he allegedly crashed his personal vehicle while driving intoxicated, according to the department. The department arrested Officer Matthew Cotter on operating while under the influence-related charges following the [September 11] crash.” (Boston Herald)
Federal
- “A federal judge [on September 8] refused a regime request to close a Florida woman’s suit against ICE just because ICE released her after ten days in its Burlington basement dungeon - on his orders. US District Court Judge Myong Joun instead gave Maria Rosales until Nov. 3 to submit a revised lawsuit focusing on her charges that the way she was grabbed without a warrant and held violated her constitutional and legal rights.” (Universal Hub)
- “A Boston federal judge ordered an immigrant freed immediately … after concluding he can no longer treat ICE arrest reports, such as the one used to keep the man locked up - or, indeed, much of what ICE says in court - as inherently truthful.” (Universal Hub)
Other news
Worcester city council votes against creation of civilian review board (GBH)
The Worcester City Council on [September 8] voted against creating a civilian review board to help oversee the police department, ending months of debate that have pitted city leaders against residents calling for more police oversight.
The City Council meeting was the first time councilors discussed the idea of a civilian review board since City Manager Eric Batista released a report in July recommending the city not establish one. …
That stance has outraged many residents who’ve spent years calling for more independent oversight of the police department following a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found police have used excessive force, disproportionately targeted Black and Latino people, and committed other “outrageous” misconduct.
Police investigate alleged sexual assault at State Police barracks (MassLive)
The Oak Bluffs Police Department is investigating a reported sexual assault at the Oak Bluffs Massachusetts State Police barracks, Chief Jonathan Searle announced [September 10]. …
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts State Police … wrote that the distressed person said they were assaulted by someone who was visiting a trooper assigned to Martha’s Vineyard for the summer.
Neither people are affiliated with the department, according to the spokesperson, who added State Police became aware in August of the reported sexual assault.
Police unions endorse Maura Healey for governor (WBUR)
[Massachusetts Governor Maura] Healey … got some backup [on September 10] from a quartet of groups that aren’t always rallying behind Democrats: police unions. The Massachusetts State Police Commissioned Officers Association, State Police Association of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Coalition of Police and the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association all endorsed the incumbent governor at an event in Dorchester.
This is actually unsurprising news considering that Maura Healey is a cop and loves ICE.
Andrew Quemere
During pilot 2025 program in Boston, Flock shared license-plate reader data with outside agencies despite agreeing not to do so (WBUR)
Three days into a pilot program with the Boston Police Department, city officials realized Flock Safety had been distributing data it promised not to share with external law enforcement agencies, according to the city’s 2025 Surveillance Technology Report. …
Access to data collected through 45 Flock cameras around the city should have been restricted to a small number of Boston police detectives who’d been trained on how to use the technology, but according to the report, that wasn’t the case. …
It wasn’t clear which agencies accessed the data, or how many drivers in Massachusetts were exposed, but thousands of agencies have access to Flock’s national network. …
Since ending the trial with Flock, the Boston Police Department began pilots with competing license plate reader companies. One, with Motorola, began this February with 45 cameras, and another with Axon began in June with 30 cameras, according to the report. It’s unclear whether any trials are ongoing. No errors like the one that Flock was responsible for have been repeated, officials said. But concerns persist.
This comes after, in July, “[o]fficials [said] that five of Littleton’s Flock Safety cameras were switched back on by the company without informing the town after the town temporarily disabled the cameras earlier this year,” according to the Lowell Sun.
We’ve seen multiple cases, just in Massachusetts, of police using these cameras to track women. Some people are arguing that we need more regulations to prevent officers from misusing them. But evidently the company making this stalker tech for cops can’t be trusted to keep the data safe either. Police departments that are using these devices—even if they’re only signing up for free trials to test them out—are putting countless people in this state in danger.
State rep files bill to regulate police use of license-plate readers (State House News Service)
Rep. Steve Owens, a Democrat from Watertown, filed legislation (H 3755) that implements guidelines and restrictions on how law enforcement can use automated license plate readers and data collected by the technology. …
The bill “establishing driver privacy protections” was apparently not controversial for the Transportation Committee, whose House members endorsed it with an 11-0 vote in March. It has been pending in the House Committee on Ways and Means since.
The legislation bars anyone “under color of law” from accessing data from other entities without a warrant, according to the Transportation Committee’s bill summary. Under the bill, data collected from the technology could be retained for up to 14 days, unless it’s in connection with a criminal investigation. The legislation also bars government actors from using the technology to monitor constitutionally protected activities.
New Bedford city council to vote on ordinance regulating license-plate readers (New Bedford Light)
Amid a lack of state regulations, city councilors plan to vote Sept. 24 on an ordinance restricting the city’s use of automatic license plate readers, better known as Flock cameras. …
Councilor-at-large Shane Burgo introduced draft legislation on [September 7] that would require both council approval and public input before the adoption, renewal or expansion of automated license plate reader technology. It would also bar the city from renewing its current contract with Flock, which expires on Nov. 12.
Burgo said in a statement that the ordinance would not ban the technology: “This is not saying ‘never.’ It is saying, ‘not now,’ or at least not in the way this technology currently operates and was implemented.”
Wow, it's totally worth giving police tools to stalk women if they can also use them to solve big cases like this.
— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) September 10, 2026 at 1:22 PM
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Most forensics are not actually based on science—but even when they are, there's still the risk that misconduct by practitioners can lead to wrongful convictions.
— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) September 13, 2026 at 5:14 PM
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Remember when The Boston Globe editorial board tried to gaslight people into thinking Charlie Kirk wasn't just a giant asshole who spent his life demonizing marginalized people for money.
— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) September 10, 2026 at 9:36 AM
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