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BEHIND THE SHIELD

Amid a national reckoning over systemic abuses within law enforcement, the Globe dispatched a team to examine the criminal justice system in Massachusetts. Reporters exposed widespread officer misconduct, racism within the ranks, and coverups within some of the state's largest and most venerated police agencies. Read their work below.

Who are the top paid police officers in Boston, and how much do they make in overtime?
These graphics break down the Boston Police Department's salaries.

Large marches and demonstrations over the past year drew a significant police response.

More than 30 Boston officers made over $300,000 last year

Amid sustained calls for police reform, marches demanding an end to systemic racism, and an uptick in street violence, over 30 Boston police officers made more than $300,000 last year thanks in part to overtime earnings that yet again exceeded what the city had budgeted for the year. By contrast, the mayor makes $199,000.

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In a statement, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross, pictured during a press conference outside City Hall in November, said that “honesty and integrity are the core values of the Boston Police Department.”
When Boston police officers fail to tell the truth, the department rarely calls a lie a lie
Today, some officers continue to struggle with telling the truth, whether in court or everyday police matters, and the Boston Police Department has no mechanism to monitor officer testimony or truthfulness. Quite often, records show, internal affairs investigators are reluctant to call a lie a lie.

Boston Police Sergeant Clifton McHale testified in the double murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in Suffolk Superior Court in July 2017.
Boston police sergeant who bragged about hitting George Floyd protesters with car was previously accused of sexual assault
Clifton McHale, a 23-year BPD veteran with family ties to the department’s upper ranks, was accused in 2005 of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman while in uniform in a police vehicle and agreed to serve a one-year, unpaid suspension following an investigation.

At her Easton home, Anne-Marie Castor, 66, discussed a 2019 car crash in which she was struck by an off-duty Boston police officer.
An off-duty officer crashed into a disabled grandmother. A year later, she’s still fighting City Hall
“Whatever the police does to you, you cannot do anything,” said Anne-Marie Castor. “They treat me worse than a dog.”

Two former State Police supervisors indicted on federal fraud, theft charges in alleged yearslong payroll scheme
Federal agents arrested two retired Massachusetts State Police supervisors Friday morning on fraud and theft charges tied to an alleged, yearslong overtime payroll fraud scheme, according to court records.

Retired Boston police detective Robert Tully left the Harmon Golf Course clubhouse.
The story behind a Boston police detective who benefited from two police coverups
Long-buried documents unearthed by the Globe illustrate how quickly law enforcement can close ranks, and just how broad — and lasting — the blue wall of silence can be.

For Boston police officers accused of crime, a friendlier justice system awaits
Preferential treatment often protects Boston police officers from more serious consequences.

A database of 10 years of Boston Police disciplinary action
The City of Boston does not provide a comprehensive, transparent system that allows residents to keep tabs on its police. So the Globe decided to create its own searchable database.

The aftermath of a crash Dec 11, 2013, in Rockland that sent Danielle Coughlin to intensive care.
For Boston police officers accused of crimes, legal troubles tend to just melt away
Boston police officers accused of crimes over the last decade have encountered a kinder, gentler justice system than the one civilians must navigate — a system where justice takes a back seat to protecting officers.

Police data

A database of 10 years of Boston Police disciplinary action

The City of Boston does not provide a comprehensive, transparent system that allows residents to keep tabs on its police. So the Globe decided to create its own searchable database.
Large marches and demonstrations over the past year drew a significant police response.

More than 30 Boston officers made over $300,000 last year

Amid sustained calls for police reform, marches demanding an end to systemic racism, and an uptick in street violence, over 30 Boston police officers made more than $300,000 last year thanks in part to overtime earnings that yet again exceeded what the city had budgeted for the year. By contrast, the mayor makes $199,000.

Who are the top paid police officers in Boston, and how much do they make in overtime?

These graphics break down the Boston Police Department's salaries.

Boston Police

Graduates lined up to take their seats during the graduation ceremony for Boston police officers in 2012.
Behind the shield: Inside the Boston Police Department

Within Boston police, more often white officers win the awards and Black officers get punished

Black officers in the Boston Police Department are less likely to be honored for exemplary work and more likely to be disciplined than their white colleagues, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis of a decade of police commendations and misconduct.

A task force is looking at ways to improve diversification and accountability within the Boston Police Department.
Boston is set to consider wide scale police reforms. But many of them have been pitched before
As Mayor Marty Walsh awaits final proposals from the Boston Police Reform Task Force — which he commissioned in June following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police — the city's legacy of task force inaction demonstrates how often good intentions have been left by the wayside.

Boston Police Commissioner William Gross and Mayor Marty Walsh at a coronavirus briefing outside City Hall in July.

Mayor’s task force issues sweeping Boston police reform recommendations

A task force appointed by Mayor Martin J. Walsh is recommending the city create an independent office to investigate police misconduct, as part of a series of broader reforms to the city’s police department, according to the group’s draft report.
Protesters marched past Boston Police Department District 4 during a May protest against police violence.coronavirus (COVID-19) topic: reporter:

Within the Boston Police Department, complaints against officers are rarely confirmed or result in punishment

Police data provide a sweeping look at the hundreds of allegations lodged each year against officers — and show how rarely the more than 2,000 members of the department are disciplined.

A 2015 audit of the BPD turned up various issues with the department’s overtime system. Were any of them corrected?

Boston police once resembled the community. But force has grown whiter as city becomes more diverse

When it comes to Boston Police reforms, unions are often the sticking point

‘The avatar of cop violence in Boston’: Police captain routinely crosses line, activists say

Boston’s highest-paid worker: a cop accused of payroll abuse in 2007

Prosecutors

Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins

‘In the dark.’ Suffolk DA Rollins wants more information on troubled Boston officers

The Boston Police Department has been slow to hand over information about which officers its own internal affairs department has found to have lied or broken the law.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins addressed the media on June 1 following a night of local demonstrations in the memory of George Floyd.

Suffolk DA Rollins releases watch list of 136 area officers accused of misconduct

The database contains 70 State Police troopers, 54 Boston police officers, and a handful of officers from Revere, Chelsea, and Transit Police.
Six Boston police officers fired shots on Feb. 7, but only one was wearing a working body camera.

The 7 minutes of chaos and confusion that led to the police shooting of Juston Root

A vast trove of documents recently released to the Globe provide the fullest picture yet of the frantic events leading up to Juston Root’s death, and make it clear how murky the circumstances remain.

Help us hold law enforcement accountable

Share your experience and story. Have you filed a complaint against an officer? Tell us how it went. Do you know more about any of these cases we highlighted? Are there other incidents we should look at? Let us know.

Database: 10 years of Boston Police disciplinary action

Boston police awards and discipline

Misconduct allegations filed against BPD officers

Highest paid Boston police officers

Examine Boston police overtime spending

Explore race/ethnicity/gender breakdown of BPD officers

State Police

Massachusetts State Police

Dozens of State Police troopers remain on the force despite past illegal conduct

A Globe review of the department’s internal affairs files shows the agency rarely fires troopers almost no matter what they have done. The Globe found only a handful of examples of firings in the last decade.

State Police uncovered more trooper payroll issues last year. This time, they kept it in-house

Sergeant Mark Lynch’s case raises questions about how seriously the department handles pay abuse and how many other troopers may have escaped sanctions.

State Police lieutenant, a top earner, retires amid internal probe into paid detail violation

Mark Lombardi, a 27-year veteran, said that because he is a high-earner, he has faced constant internal scrutiny. He denied his retirement was related to the internal State Police review.

State Police lost thousands of e-mails related to trooper overtime fraud case

An attorney for a former Massachusetts State Police lieutenant charged with overtime pay fraud says the law enforcement agency has lost tens of thousands of e-mails related to the high-profile criminal case.

Other Law Enforcement

Only one of the Boston officers who shot Juston Root had a body camera turned on at the time. Two officers allegedly turned the cameras on minutes later, and two weren’t wearing them at all.

Body camera program brings unease for Mass. police, and, perhaps, a new age of accountability

Amid a national reckoning over systemic police abuses and growing demands for reform, the calls for cameras, which provide an unvarnished account of police actions, have only intensified. Recent deaths illustrate promise, shortcomings of use so far.
The Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.

Prisons chief said order halting guards’ discipline was news to her. E-mails say otherwise

E-mails show Commissioner Carol Mici was in the loop as the policy was hatched and received multiple messages about suspending employee discipline during the pandemic.
Environmental police officers during an investigation in 2018.

Lax management, pay irregularities rampant at state’s Environmental Police force, report says

“This is not the first time that the agency has been called out for its lax practices,” Auditor Suzanne M. Bump said.

OPinion

Police pepper spray protesters July 25 near Seattle Central College in Seattle during a Black Lives Matter protest. A House-passed policing reform bill would federally ban choke holds and no-knock warrants, and place police officers who engage in misconduct in a national database to prevent them from being hired in other jurisdictions.
Kimberly Atkins

Bipartisanship at the cost of true policing reform is no real victory

Legislation could preserve the very thing that has shielded officers from accountability: qualified immunity.

Ma’Khia Bryant deserved better in life — and death

Like too many Black girls and women killed by police, the teenager was not afforded lasting attention or outrage.

Police transparency in Janey’s hands

It’s time to release the report on Boston’s police commissioner and decide his fate.

Rose files reveal union’s warped priorities

But the small slice of the internal affairs reports released by the city raises more questions than it answers.

Policing the police makes a comeback

A first step, but justice means far more