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Acting Mayor Kim Janey signed into law Thursday an ordinance that restricts when Boston police can use crowd control agents such as tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets a measure vetoed by her predecessor earlier this year.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Janey said she signed the bill, which she described as placing “reasonable restrictions on the use of tear gas and rubber bullets by police.”
“When I was sworn in as Mayor, I promised more accountability in policing,” said Janey, who is running to seek a full term this fall. “That includes making proactive strides toward police reform.”
Janey signs ban on police chemical, projectile weapons
By Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff,Updated May 13, 2021, 6:19 p.m.
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Acting Mayor Kim Janey.Nicolaus Czarnecki/Pool
Acting Mayor Kim Janey on Thursday signed an ordinance restricting police use of chemical agents and projectiles as crowd control measures, officially enacting a law that she supported last year as a city councilor but that has encountered strong resistance from police.
The council had passed the ordinance last year, with Janey serving as its president, but former mayor Martin J. Walsh vetoed it amid opposition from former police commissioner William Gross, who called it âhighly inflexible.â With Walsh now the nationâs labor secretary, and Janey serving as acting mayor in his stead, the measure narrowly passed again on a 7-5 vote in April.
To the Editor:
Local elections impact our day-to-day lives in the most direct way, but ironically, they typically experience the lowest voter turnout rates. In the 2020 general election, where voters cast their ballots for president, 68 percent of Bostonians turned out. But in the 2017 municipal election, when voters last chose their mayor and city councillors, only 28 percent of Boston voters cast a ballot.
This gap is enormous and startling, especially considering the immense role local officials play in our daily lives. The mayor, for example, controls how city funds are spent. She or he decides how much funding goes to our 2,000-member-plus police force, 125 schools, and dozens of additional city departments. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the mayor has proven instrumental in deciding which businesses can reopen, as well as when and how they can reopen.
Elected officials rebuke Boston police union tweet targeting City Councilor Andrea Campbell
By Travis Andersen Globe Staff,Updated May 3, 2021, 11:39 a.m.
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City Councilor Andrea Campbell spoke during a press conference outside Boston City Hall.Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe
The Boston Police Departmentâs largest union and City Councilor Andrea Campbell traded barbs on Twitter last week, with the labor group accusing the mayoral candidate of âenabling criminals,â prompting elected officials to come to her defense and rebuke the officers for what they said was racist and bullying rhetoric.
The spat began Wednesday, when the Boston Police Patrolmenâs Association tweeted out a link to a Boston Herald story indicating that Campbell was holding up $1.2 million in BPD grants aimed at combating gun violence and gang activity. The union wrote that Rev. Eugene Rivers, a longtime anti-violence advocate in the city, was âjustifiably astonished