Councilor Arroyo calls for public hearing to discuss police response to hate groups
BOSTON - Boston Councilor Ricardo Arroyo is calling for a public hearing to discuss the Boston Police Department's response to hate groups in the city.
Arroyo, who is also running for district attorney of Suffolk County, filed a council order on Tuesday, asking representatives from the Boston Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Attorney General's Office, U.S. Attorney's Office and other interested parties be invited to speak before the Council.
"BRIC was established in 2005 explicitly to target acts of terrorism, and Boston residents deserve answers about their response to recent incidents in Boston and what is being done to address the lack of actionable intelligence prior to the Patriot Front's march in Boston and the inadequate response that followed, leading to the assault of Charles Murrell III," Arroyo said.
According to the Boston Police Department's website, "The Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) works at the forefront of intelligence collection and analysis. The use of intelligence is fundamental to the Boston Police Department's goal to prevent and reduce violence in the City of Boston."
A top concern was the recent march of the Patriot Front through Boston. U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins confirmed that law enforcement did not know that the Patriot Front would be marching over the weekend.
However, Arroyo referenced other incidents in Boston this year, including a banner displayed along the route of Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade by members of the Nationalist Socialist Club, which read "Keep Boston Irish." He also noted a protest in front of Brigham and Women's Hospital against efforts to establish equity in healthcare.
In the council order, Arroyo says: "The Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) under the authority of the Boston Police Department (BPD) was established in 2005 with the purported purpose to reduce crime and prevent acts of terrorism throughout the Metropolitan Boston Homeland Security Region (MBHSR)…to date, BPD and BRIC have had insufficient intelligence and inadequate responses to recent actions and demonstrations led by white supremacist hate groups, those actions are escalating, raising concerns about their ability to effectively monitor and track these domestic terrorist organizations as they are required."