News Posts and Articles
Flaherty slams Boston City Council for rejecting police intel funds amid latest shooting
Boston Herald, By GAYLA CAWLEY September 18, 2023
Hours after the latest mass shooting in Boston, City Councilor Michael Flaherty took another swipe at his colleagues, who voted down $2.5 million in state grants for the investigative arm of the city’s police department.
Mayor Michelle Wu has refiled the three $850,000 grants, for fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023, that were rejected by the City Council, via a 7-5 vote, last Wednesday, and filed an additional $850,000 grant from FY20.
Although the state continues to earmark this grant funding for the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, to improve technology aimed at fighting crime, gangs and terrorism, the council continues to vote in opposition, leaving the police department unable to access the funds.
"My hope is that the Boston City Council can back up their thoughts and prayers with giving you guys the resources and to foster that partnership,” Flaherty told police leaders at a Monday morning hearing on gun trafficking, referencing the sentiments several councilors shared about the prior night’s shooting in Dorchester.
View the news article here.
Boston City Council rejects $2.55M set aside for police department intel
Boston Herald, By Gayla Cawley, Dated September 13, 2023.
The Boston City Council, in a post-election flurry, voted to reject $2.55 million in state grants earmarked for the investigative arm of the city’s police department.
City Councilor Michael Flaherty had pushed to suspend the rules and pass three grants for $850,000 apiece for the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, for the purposes of improving “technology and protocols related to anti-terrorism, anti-crime, anti-gang and emergency response.”
“These funds are vital,” Flaherty said. “They’re needed to thwart anyone looking to do harm in our city.”
Mayor Michelle Wu had filed communications for the grants for the day’s City Council meeting, for fiscal years 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Council voted to reject the grants in FY21 and FY22, and did so again Wednesday, via a 7-5 vote.
View the complete article here.
Boston City Council considering new ways to curb gun violence
Boston 25 News By Robert Goulston, September 18, 2023, WBUR.ORG
Boston is considering a new strategy to try to curb gun violence. The City Council held a hearing to get public feedback on requiring local law enforcement to put together an annual report on exactly where guns are coming from.
Boston police say they regularly pull guns off the streets. Boston City Councilors are now looking at a new ordinance that would help put what police know about these guns into an annual report.
Council President Ed Flynn and Councilor Brian Worrell, out of District Four in Dorchester, are backing the idea of tracking guns more closely.
View the news article here.
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