Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Policing

Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston on Election Day, November 3, 2020.

It’s Election Day – Here’s What We’re Watching

By Christian MilNeil | Nov 3, 2020 | No Comments

Here’s a quick roundup of things that aren’t the Presidential race that we’re watching this Election Day. If you still haven’t voted, look up your polling place here and get there before 8 p.m. this evening. Transit on the Ballot in Austin, Portland, and Suburban Atlanta StreetsblogUSA has a roundup of local transit funding […]

Unarmed "safety ambassadors" have patrolled the Bay Area Rapid Transit system since February. Courtesy of BART.

If the T Decriminalizes Fare Evasion, What’s Next for Its Transit Police?

By Christian MilNeil | Aug 10, 2020 | No Comments

While the Massachusetts State House ponders significant reforms to fare enforcement on the MBTA, and – in separate legislation – to policing in general, the MBTA’s in-house police force faces a reckoning. The Transit Police attracted intense criticism earlier this summer for their closures of downtown subway stations during Black Lives Matter protests and for […]

MBTA staff disinfect fare gates in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses in early March 2020. Courtesy of the MBTA.

Lawmakers Are Poised to Reform Fare Enforcement on the T

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 28, 2020 | No Comments

In addition authorizing debt spending for hundreds of infrastructure projects across the Commonwealth, the multi-billion dollar bond package that the Massachusetts Senate passed earlier this month would also make significant reforms to how the MBTA enforces fare payments on its trains, buses, and ferries. The Commonwealth’s current fare evasion law sets large penalties for people […]

Berkeley to Become the First U.S. City to Remove Police From Traffic Enforcement

By Kea Wilson | Jul 21, 2020 | No Comments

Advocates say it's important to remain vigilant about what replaces armed police in traffic stops.

Study: Police Are Weak Deterrent to Texting While Driving

By Kea Wilson | Jun 12, 2020 | No Comments

The threat of police enforcement isn’t deterring dangerous drivers from texting behind the wheel, a new study shows — the latest reminder that law enforcement is unreliable in making streets safer.