After flat-footed response to a white supremacist march, questions about Boston police intelligence [View all]

After flat-footed response to a white supremacist march, questions about Boston police intelligence gathering

When about 100 white supremacists marched through downtown Boston wielding riot shields on July 2, Mayor Michelle Wu admitted that police were caught by surprise.

Now, records suggest Boston police officials weren’t all that curious to learn more, even while the racist march, which included an altercation with a Black man, unfolded.

On that day, Boston police apparently did not conduct a single field interrogation of white supremacists. It did, however, report questioning or observing nearly 50 other people around the city — primarily Black men — according to reports of field interrogation and observations, or FIOs, from that day that were obtained by The Boston Globe through a public records request.

The lack of awareness, both before and during the march by members of Patriot Front, raises questions about police intelligence strategies and whether they’re sufficiently focused on the growing threat of white supremacist violence, according to authorities on policing.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/20/metro/after-flat-footed-response-white-supremacist-march-questions-about-boston-police-intelligence-gathering/