BPD revamps stop-and-frisk procedures

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/07/bpd_revamps_stop_and_frisk_procedures



Report finds racial disparity

BPD revamps stop-and-frisk procedures
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Matt Stout

~snip~

Changes instituted by the department include:

• All reports must now give detailed info, including the “intelligence purpose” for making a stop, after the ACLU noted that 75 percent of reports only included “investigate person” as the reason for an encounter. “It is not sufficient to state ‘Suspicious Person’ or ‘Investigate Person’ as the basis for the stop,” the new BPD order states.

• The department is identifying officers who completed the most FIOs in 2014, and “will retrain those officers during the summer months on the constitutional standards for stops, and proper documentation.”

•  Evans is also convening a task force, with invites going to the NAACP, Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts and other community leaders to review police policies. At the request of Mayor Martin J. Walsh, the department has also brought on Northeastern University professor Jack McDevitt to review the report and make recommendations.

“Clearly what it says to me is that we have a lot room for improvement,” said Darnell Williams of the Urban League. “With police being at the table, we can help sharpen and focus the approach that is being taken and remove race as a factor and criteria.”