Explore the presence of government-owned drones in Massachusetts, including those owned by law enforcement. The interactive map and table provide information on drone model types, physical locations, and agency ownership. These data were obtained through a May 2021 public records request to the Federal Aviation Administration and include all active FAA licenses for government-owned drones in the state as of that date.  

Review, visualize, and analyze after-action incident reports from the Boston Police Department’s SWAT team. This tool includes data from the 262 raids reported between 2012 and May 2020; these records were made publicly available through a 17F order on BPD militarized tactics in the summer of 2020. 

The Boston operating budget covers the city’s day-to-day expenses, funding departments like the public library and fire department. Design your own City of Boston operating budget with this budget calculator, which uses the Mayor’s recommended operating budget for fiscal year 2024 as a starting point.

Explore the complete record of drug-related criminal charges filed between 2003 and 2014 and prosecuted under MGL Chapter 94C, as documented in data obtained from the Massachusetts Trial Court. These data are made available as a result of a 2017 lawsuit, brought in response to the misconduct of state drug-lab chemist Sonja Farak and subsequent mishandling by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office: Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) v. Attorney General.

Track testing, positive cases, and releases in prisons and jail during the COVID-19 pandemic, as documented in reports made by Massachusetts prisons and jails to the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC). The data are supplied by county sheriffs and the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) pursuant to the Court’s decision in Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) v. Chief Justice of the Trial Court, SJC-12926.

Massachusetts is not immune to police violence and misconduct – and we must demand change. Our map documents incidents of alleged police violence and alleged misconduct that occurred in Massachusetts since 2000, as one portion of our extension Week of Action in support of strong police reform in the Commonwealth.

Track the activity of the Boston Police Department over time, including the frequency and location of specific incident types. Police incident reports are publicly available data hosted on Analyze Boston. The reports posted there go back to June 2015, and are (usually) updated daily by the Boston Police.

Police reform and budgeting has become a high priority in Boston, across the Commonwealth, and nationally. However, engagement by police staff and their unions in state and local politics often acts as an obstacle to meaningful reform. Trace police-related donations to Mayor Walsh and to the Boston City Council from 2010 to 2020 (up to and including the most recent quarter filing), using data from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

Using data from the Census’ American Community Survey, we map internet and computer access across the Commonwealth. The data show that many urban and rural areas in Massachusetts are “internet deserts”, where access is severely limited.