Tools

The ACLU of Massachusetts develops interactive tools for users to learn more about and explore government data – including readily available data, data received via public records requests, and data resulting from litigation.

Search Government Drones in Massachusetts (updated)

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.  

VIEW SEARCH TOOLREAD BLOG

Reviewing Boston Police SWAT Raids 2012-2020

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. 

VIEW TOOL

(Co)Design the Boston Operating Budget

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.

VIEW CALCULATOR

Documenting Drug Prosecution across Massachusetts

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.

VIEW DASHBOARD

Tracking COVID-19 in Massachusetts Prisons & Jails

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.

VIEW TRACKERREAD BLOG

Mapping Alleged Police Violence & Misconduct

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.

VIEW MAP

Tracking Boston Police Incidents

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.

VIEW TRACKER

Police in Politics

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.

VIEW TRACKERREAD BLOG

Mapping Internet Access in Massachusetts

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.

VIEW MAPPERREAD BLOG


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surveillance-camera

Reports

The ACLU of Massachusetts regularly publishes reports based on data and documents obtained through the public records law, to inform the public and lawmakers and to advance our civil rights and civil liberties agenda.

NameDate PublishedAuthorCategory
Boston Police Department Court Overtime2020ACLUM, Progressive Mass, Councilor Ricardo Arroyo & BU Spark! LabPolice practices, fiscal responsibility
Unpacking the Boston Police Department FY21 Budget2020ACLUMPolice practices, fiscal responsibility
Facts Over Fear: The benefits of declining to prosecute misdemeanors and low-level felony offenses2019ACLUMProsecutorial practices, racial justice
Social Media Monitoring in Boston: Free Speech in the Crosshairs ↗2018ACLUMSurveillance
Beyond Sanctuary: Local Strategies for Defending Civil Liberties ↗2018ACLUM & The Century FoundationImmigration, police practices, surveillance
Inside Orders: Secrecy and Warrantless Surveillance in Massachusetts ↗2017ACLUMSurveillance
The War on Marijuana in Black and White2016ACLUMPolice practices, racial justice
Cops in the Commonwealth ↗2016ACLUMPolice practices, police militarization, surveillance
Back to the Drawing Board: Student Privacy in K-12 Massachusetts Schools ↗2015ACLUMSurveillance
Black, Brown, and Targeted ↗2015ACLUMPolice practices, racial justice
Policing Dissent: Police Surveillance of Lawful Political Activity in Boston2012ACLUM &
National Lawyers Guild (MA Chapter)
Police practices, surveillance


Public Records

The ACLU of Massachusetts has filed hundreds of public records requests with various city, state, and federal agencies. On this page, you’ll find requests and responsive documents. These are public records, so please use them however you see fit.

Special Collections

Massachusetts Facial Recognition Records - 2021

Search RMV Facial Recognition Emails

All Requests

Click on a title to learn more about a particular request. Use the arrows and the search bar to help narrow your search

TitleSubmitted ToCategoryNumber of DocumentsYear FiledDate Published
Lantel at the Boston Office of Emergency ManagementBoston Office of Emergency ManagementSurveillance26620192/26/21
Lantel at the Executive Office of Health and Human ServicesExecutive Office of Health and Human ServicesSurveillance120192/26/21
Lantel at the Executive Office of Public Safety and SecurityExecutive Office of Public Safety and SecuritySurveillance220192/26/21
Lantel at the Executive Office for Administration and FinanceExecutive Office for Administration and FinanceSurveillance020192/26/21
Lantel at the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA)Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA)Surveillance220192/26/21
Lantel at the Massachusetts State PoliceMassachusetts State PoliceSurveillance1420192/26/21
DataWorks at the Executive Office of Public Safety and SecurityExecutive Office of Public Safety and SecuritySurveillance720192/26/21
Morpho at the Executive Office of Health and Human ServicesExecutive Office of Health and Human ServicesSurveillance220192/26/21
IBM at the Springfield Police DepartmentSpringfield Police DepartmentSurveillance220202/26/21
Briefcam at the City of Boston (2019)City of BostonSurveillance720192/26/21
MA Police Departments Receiving Solicitations from Clearview AIVarious Police DepartmentsSurveillance10220202/26/21
MA Police Departments with No Records from Clearview AIVarious Police DepartmentsSurveillance44520202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Agawam PDAgawam PDSurveillance320202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Andover PDAndover PDSurveillance420202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Boston PDBoston PDSurveillance020202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Beverly PDBeverly PDSurveillance120202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Marlborough PDMarlborough PDSurveillance120202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Salem PDSalem PDSurveillance320202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Somerset PDSomerset PDSurveillance220202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Wellesley PDWellesley PDSurveillance320202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Yarmouth PDYarmouth PDSurveillance120202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Bourne PDBourne PDSurveillance120202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Dalton PDDalton PDSurveillance020202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Falmouth PDFalmouth PDSurveillance420202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Great Barrington PDGreat Barrington PDSurveillance020202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Harvard PDHarvard PDSurveillance120202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Norfolk Sheriff's OfficeNorfolk Sheriff's OfficeSurveillance020202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Oxford PDOxford PDSurveillance320202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Sudbury PDSudbury PDSurveillance220202/26/21
Clearview AI at the West Bridgewater PDWest Bridgewater PDSurveillance1120202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Foxbourugh PDFoxbourugh PDSurveillance120202/26/21
Clearview AI at the Massachusetts State Police (MSP)Massachusetts State Police (MSP)Surveillance520202/26/21
Briefcam at the City of Boston (2020)City of BostonSurveillance320202/26/21
COPLINK Facematch at the Massachusetts State PoliceMassachusetts State Police (MSP)Surveillance12019-20202/26/21
EOPSS Grants for Surveillance Tech in MA SchoolsExecutive Office of Public Safety and SecuritySurveillance220192/26/21
Face Recognition in MA SchoolsVarious School DistrictsSurveillance120192/26/21
Face Recognition in Revere Public SchoolsRevere Public SchoolsSurveillance2320192/26/21
Face Recognition at the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS)Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS)Surveillance420192/26/21
Face Recognition at the Executive Office of Public Safety and SecurityExecutive Office of Public Safety and SecuritySurveillance120192/26/21
Face Recognition at the Massachusetts State Police (MSP)Massachusetts State Police (MSP)Surveillance720182/26/21
Known Use of Face Recognition at the Massachusetts State Police (MSP)Massachusetts State Police (MSP)Surveillance720192/26/21
Massachusetts State Police (MSP) Use of Face Recognition at the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV)Massachusetts State Police (MSP)Surveillance120192/26/21
Face Recognition at the MA Sheriff's Association [2019]MA Sheriff's AssociationSurveillance120192/26/21
Face Recognition at the MA Sheriff's Association [2018]MA Sheriff's AssociationSurveillance020182/26/21
Face Recognition at the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA)Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA)Surveillance02018-20192/26/21
Face Recognition at the Department of Transportation (DOT)Department of Transportation (DOT)Surveillance38020192/26/21
Face Recognition at the Executive Office of Health and Human ServicesExecutive Office of Health and Human ServicesSurveillance020192/26/21
Face Recognition at the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS)Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS)Surveillance020192/26/21
Massachusetts State Police Access to Fusion Center Booking DatabaseMassachusetts State Police (MSP)Surveillance420172/26/21
MA Police Departments with No Records on Face Recognition (2018-2019)Various Police DepartmentsSurveillance262018-20192/26/21
Facial Recognition at the Cambridge PDCambridge PDSurveillance120182/26/21
Facial Recognition at the Medford PDMedford PDSurveillance220192/26/21
Facial Recognition at the New Bedford PDNew Bedford PDSurveillance120182/26/21
Facial Recognition & COPLINK at the Northampton PDNorthampton PDSurveillance820192/26/21
Suspect Technologies and the Plymouth PDPlymouth PDSurveillance120182/26/21
Facial Recognition at the Plymouth PDPlymouth PDSurveillance020192/26/21
Facial Recognition at the Revere PDRevere PDSurveillance520182/26/21
Facial Recognition at the Salem PDSalem PDSurveillance220192/26/21
Facial Recognition at the Springfield PDSpringfield PDSurveillance1420192/26/21
Facial Recognition at the Peabody PDPeabody PDSurveillance120192/26/21
Location of Surveillance Cameras Across BostonCity of BostonSurveillance020192/26/21
Video Surveillance Data Sharing in BostonCity of BostonSurveillance120192/26/21
Boston Security Camera Strategy MeetingsCity of BostonSurveillance120192/26/21
Federal Funds for the BRIC and OEMCity of BostonLaw Enforcement3220207/22/20
DEA and FBI Face Surveillance RecordsFederal & State Law EnforcementSurveillanceOngoing production20196/17/20
MA Dept. of Public Health COVID-19 Response
Massachusetts Department of HealthPublic Health520205/7/20
Face Recognition in Revere Public SchoolsRevere Public SchoolsSurveillance2220192/19/20
State Audit of Bristol SheriffBristol County Sheriff’s OfficeLaw Enforcement1069201912/5/19
Use of Robotics in Law EnforcementMassachusetts State PoliceLaw Enforcement7201911/25/19
Boston Police Department Collaboration with ICEBoston Police DepartmentImmigration10201910/26/19
Towing Profits by Massachusetts Dept. of Public UtilitiesMassachusetts Department of Public UtilitiesLaw Enforcement1020199/27/19
Surveillance Cameras and Associated Technologies in the Metro Boston AreaBoston Office of Emergency ManagementSurveillance220199/4/19
Records Regarding Face Surveillance TechnologyNorthampton Police DepartmentSurveillance1520196/27/19
Minutes from Boston Area Homeland Security MeetingsBoston Metro Homeland Security RegionLaw Enforcement2520186/25/19
Plymouth Police Face Surveillance EmailsPlymouth Police DepartmentSurveillance320185/6/19
SWAT Team Deployments ↗Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement CouncilLaw Enforcement11920123/18/19
Boston Police Filming Protesters at BPDA meetingBoston Police DepartmentSurveillance220177/19/18
Massachusetts Use of Facial Recognition TechnologyMassachusetts State PoliceSurveillance620177/19/18
New Bedford Field Interrogation and Observation ReportsNew Bedford Police DepartmentLaw Enforcement1720157/19/18
Social Media Monitoring by Boston PoliceBoston Police DepartmentSurveillance320167/10/18
Administrative Subpoena Use by District AttorneysVarious Commonwealth District Attorney'sSurveillance3120177/9/18
Drone Use by Boston Police DepartmentBoston Police DepartmentSurveillance420177/9/18
Info about First Responder Network AuthorityMassachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety & SecuritySurveillance1520156/19/18
Short-Term Detention and Cooperation with CBP and DHSWilmington Police DepartmentLaw Enforcement720156/19/18
Info about Metropolitan Law Enforcement CouncilMetropolitan Law Enforcement CouncilLaw Enforcement920156/19/18
Regional Interagency Mutual Aid Organizations Between Law EnforcementVarious Commonwealth Police DepartmentsLaw Enforcement1220146/19/18
Mass DOT's Use of Facial Recognition TechnologyMassachusetts Executive Office of TransportationSurveillance620146/19/18
Administrative Subpoena Use Across the CommonwealthAttorney General & District Attorney OfficesSurveillance4420136/19/18
National Guard Resources and RecordsMassachusetts National GuardLaw Enforcement520136/19/18
Relationship Between Police and Drug Enforcement AdministrationVarious Commonwealth Police DepartmentsLaw Enforcement1520136/19/18
Procurement for Urban Areas Security InitiativeBoston Office of Emergency ManagementSurveillance2920136/19/18
Information about Joint Terrorism Task Force and Todashev CaseFBILaw Enforcement3420136/19/18
Information about Joint Terrorism Task Force & Todashev CaseUS Attorney for MassachusettsLaw Enforcement2920136/19/18
SWAT & Special Ops Deployment HistoryVarious Commonwealth Police DepartmentsLaw Enforcement3820136/12/18
Surveillance Technology in SchoolsVarious Commonwealth Public SchoolsSurveillance2820106/12/18
Asset Forfeiture by Suffolk County District AttorneySuffolk District AttorneyLaw Enforcement920156/11/18
Passenger Tracking InformationMBTA & Transit PoliceSurveillance1320126/11/18
Information About DoD 1033 ProgramMassachusetts State PoliceLaw Enforcement720126/11/18
Use of Administrative SubpoenasVarious Commonwealth District Attorney'sLaw Enforcement5720116/11/18
Use of Automatic License Plate ReadersMassachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety & SecurityLaw Enforcement6620116/11/18
Surveillance of Protected ActivityBoston Police DepartmentLaw Enforcement820116/11/18
Obtaining Historical Cell Phone Location DataVarious Commonwealth Police DepartmentsSurveillance1720116/11/18
Use of Facial Recognition TechnologiesVarious Commonwealth Police DepartmentsLaw Enforcement3820106/11/18
TSA Use of Screening TechnologiesTransportation Security AdministrationSurveillance5220106/11/18
Purchase Info from Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)Office of Emergency PreparednessLaw Enforcement4620106/11/18
Information About the Joint Terrorism Task ForceUS Attorney for MassachusettsLaw Enforcement8920096/11/18
EOPSS Fusion Center Intelligence Sharing InformationMassachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety & SecurityLaw Enforcement920106/11/18
EOPSS Fusion Center InformationMassachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety & SecurityLaw Enforcement4920056/11/18
Officer Barry Flanders & Cooperation with the JTTFFederal & State Law EnforcementLaw Enforcement020026/11/18
CBP Title 42 ExpulsionsU.S. Customs and Border ProtectionImmigration5202110/1/21
Plymouth County Sheriffs Department RecordsPlymouth County Sheriffs DepartmentLaw Enforcement3320211/10/22
Department of Unemployment Assistance: Use of Facial Recognition and ID.meDepartment of Unemployment AssistanceSurveillance2420211/26/22
Drone use by Massachusetts State PoliceMassachusetts State PoliceSurveillance132202112/19/22


Back of computer systems with cords

Data

In the table below, find data sets related to criminal justice, public spending, and more. Click the name to learn more about each dataset, visit the corresponding public records request (if applicable), and download the data files for your own analysis.

In addition to data obtained by the ACLU, we’ve included links to relevant external sources of information.

NameData OriginYear PublishedCategoryData Host
National Police Scorecard ↗Various (FBI, Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Census Bureau...)2021Law EnforcementPolice Scorecard
Massachusetts Crime Statistics ↗Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security2020Law EnforcementMA EOPSS
Woke Windows: A Comprehensive Database on the Boston Police ↗Various2020Law EnforcementWoke Windows Project
Massachusetts Traffic Citations 2014-2019 (Temporarily Removed)Massachusetts Department of Transportation2020Law EnforcementData for Justice
2013-14 Suffolk County Prosecution DataSuffolk County District Attorney's Office2019Law EnforcementData for Justice
Massachusetts State Spending ↗Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts2019Fiscal managementMA Comptroller
City of Boston Spending ↗City of Boston2019Fiscal managementAnalyze Boston
Stanford Open Policing Project ↗Stanford Computational Policy Lab2019Law EnforcementStanford Open Policing Project
Boston Police Crime Incident Reports ↗Boston Police Department2018Law EnforcementAnalyze Boston
Data from Social Media Monitoring by Boston PoliceBoston Police Department2018SurveillanceData for Justice
Department of Defense 1033 ProgramDefense Logistics Agency2018Law EnforcementData for Justice
Police Arrest Data for Commonwealth of MassachusettsMassachusetts Police Departments2018Law EnforcementData for Justice
Field, Interrogation, Observation Reports ↗Boston Police Department2017Law EnforcementAnalyze Boston
MA Precinct-Level Election Returns Massachusetts Secretary of State, Elections Division2022ElectionsData for Justice


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    Privacy Policy

    Effective as of: March 12, 2013

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts Foundation (collectively, “ACLU of Massachusetts”) have a long history of being at the forefront of protecting individual privacy, and we are particularly committed to protecting the personal information that you provide and entrust to us when using the ACLU of Massachusetts’s websites. This online privacy statement (the “Privacy Statement”) describes how we treat all user data collected by the ACLU of Massachusetts during your visit to the ACLU of Massachusetts Site, both technical data that is automatically collected and voluntarily submitted data. (The ACLU of Massachusetts comprises the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Massachusetts. To learn more about the differences between the two organizations, click this link.

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    Third Party Sharing

    Generally, we do not share Automatically Submitted Data, Voluntarily Submitted Data or Other Collected Data with third parties. However, we do share such data with those third-party service providers who fulfill your orders or transactions, contact you on our behalf, or facilitate some other aspect of ACLU of Massachusetts activities, services or products, including those third-party service providers who collect, process, store and transmit information we collect on this website on our behalf and those third-party service providers we use to assist us in our fundraising and communications efforts. These service providers have access to your Voluntarily Submitted Data solely for the purpose of providing these services to us on our behalf, and they are contractually prohibited from sharing your Automatically Submitted Data and Voluntarily Submitted Data with third parties other than subcontractors assisting them in their providing these services to us who also are contractually prohibited from sharing your Automatically Submitted Data and Voluntarily Submitted Data with any other third parties. Please note that we do not share data from non-U.S. residents with any other third parties (except where required by law, see below), even if a non-U.S. resident has subsequently authorized such use, for example, by checking an opt-in request.

    We may also share the Voluntarily Submitted Data of members and donors who are U.S. residents with other non-profit organizations and publications (“Sharing Organizations”), but never to any partisan political groups or to groups whose programs are incompatible with ACLU of Massachusetts policies. We never give your Voluntarily Submitted Data directly to the Sharing Organizations; instead we send the list to a third-party service provider that prepares the communication for the Sharing Organization (and that is contractually bound to use your Voluntarily Submitted Data only for this purpose and not to share it with any third parties other than subcontractors assisting them in their providing these services to us who also are contractually prohibited from sharing our Voluntarily Submitted Data with any other third parties). The Sharing Organizations never see our list and never know what names and related contact information are on it other than the names and contact information of those individuals who respond to the Sharing Organizations’ communication. Exchanging lists can enable the ACLU of Massachusetts to expand our membership base. However, you can choose to opt out of having your data shared. To learn more, read the section on “Your Ability to Choose” below.

    Finally, we may disclose and use Voluntarily Submitted Data regardless of where you reside in special circumstances when it is necessary to enforce our User Agreement or this Privacy Statement, or when we, under what we hope to be extraordinary and infrequent circumstances, in good faith, truly believe that the law requires us to disclose your Voluntarily Submitted Data to third parties.

    Except as described in this Privacy Statement, we will not share your Voluntarily Submitted Data with any third party unless we first notify you and offer you an appropriate choice to consent to such further use, for example, through an opt-out or opt-in request.

    Third-Party Functionality

    As discussed in the preceding section, to support certain functions carried out on the ACLU of Massachusetts Site, the ACLU of Massachusetts uses third-party service providers. In limited instances with respect to specific optional functions on the ACLU of Massachusetts Site, these third parties may have data collection, use or security procedures that differ from the practices outlined in this Privacy Statement and that may impact users of those optional functions. For example, a third-party service provider may. allow us to stream videos through the ACLU of Massachusetts Site on an embedded video player (e.g., the YouTube embedded player) and, by viewing that video on the ACLU of Massachusetts Site, you are actually accessing that service provider’s website and subject to its data collection, use or security procedures. This third party may, for example, transfer a Long-term Cookie to your computer when you use this functionality. Please make sure that you review that third party’s procedures prior to using that optional functionality. In cases where it is not clear that you are using a third party’s functionality (i.e., it is not branded as the functionality of a third-party), we will notify you that your use of the functionality is subject to a third party’s data collection, use and security procedures and identify that third party.

    Internet Transmission

    It is important to note that standard email sent across the internet is unencrypted. While emails ACLU of Massachusetts personnel send to one another within the ACLU of Massachusetts system is encrypted, emails that leave the ACLU of Massachusetts system or are sent to the ACLU of Massachusetts from outside the ACLU of Massachusetts system—including the information in those emails and the email addresses—are not necessarily secure. ACLU of Massachusetts does not, and requires that its third-party service providers that have access to Voluntarily Submitted Data do not, transmit emails outside the ACLU of Massachusetts system that contain Voluntarily Submitted Data unless that information is sent in a secure (e.g., password protected) manner or the ACLU of Massachusetts has your consent.

    With your consent, such as when you send emails to or receive emails from ACLU of Massachusetts personnel or you decide to use any ACLU of Massachusetts website email functionality, including Email a Friend, contacting legislators or engaging in other advocacy communications via email, the information transmitted in those communications, including your email address, will be transmitted across the internet in an unencrypted manner.

    Coalitions

    In furtherance of its mission, the ACLU of Massachusetts forms, works with and joins Coalitions of organizations and individuals collectively working on issues related to the ACLU of Massachusetts’s mission of defending and preserving individual rights guaranteed by the constitutions and laws of this country (“Coalitions”). The ACLU of Massachusetts does not share Voluntarily Submitted Data you submit to the ACLU of Massachusetts Site with those Coalitions unless you have opted in to doing so, including by submitting Voluntarily Submitted Data to the Coalition through the ACLU of Massachusetts Site or by taking an action on the ACLU of Massachusetts Site that is specifically designated as an action of the Coalition (unless it states on the website page where you take such action that Voluntarily Submitted Data will not be shared with the Coalition). Once you have opted in to doing so (or have voluntarily submitted information to a Coalition in any manner other than through the ACLU of Massachusetts Site), that information is information you are submitting to the Coalition itself. Unless specifically stated otherwise on the ACLU of Massachusetts Site with respect to a Coalition action or a collection mechanism for a Coalition, this Privacy Statement does not address the treatment of personal information, including Voluntarily Submitted Data,that is submitted to a Coalition. Please contact the Coalition or review the privacy statement on the Coalition’s website, if it has one, to learn about the treatment of the information you provide to a Coalition.

    Your Ability to Choose

    When you provide us with your Voluntarily Submitted Data on the ACLU of Massachusetts Site, you can let us know that you do not wish to receive our email communications by unsubscribing to email communications, by un-checking or not checking the subscription request box on the form you are completing, by un-subscribing, un-checking or not checking the subscription request box on our User Preference Page, by unsubscribing from further email communications of a specific type following receipt of an email of that type, or by contacting us via postal mail sent to American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, 211 Congress Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02110.

    You can opt out of having your Voluntarily Submitted Data shared with Sharing Organizations on the online form you are filling out or thereafter by emailing us at action@aclum.org or by contacting us via postal mail sent to American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, 211 Congress Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02110.

    Again, please remember that if you are a non-U.S. resident, we will not use your Voluntarily Submitted Data for any purpose other than the one for which it was originally collected regardless of whether you check or un-check a box.

    Children

    We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.

    Security

    The Voluntarily Submitted Data we collect about you is stored on a secure, password protected server and only authorized personnel have access to your information. We use industry-standard encryption technologies with respect to the receipt and transfer of Voluntarily Submitted Data you submit to us on the ACLU of Massachusetts Site and only authorized personnel have access to your information. Nevertheless, despite our best efforts, no transmission over the Internet and no data storage method can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

    Updating Your Data

    To update your Voluntarily Submitted Data or to make corrections, you can do so by using our User Preference Page, or by sending us the update via postal mail sent to American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, 211 Congress Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02110.

    Comments and Questions

    If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Statement or our data collection practices or to request that we delete your Voluntarily Submitted Data, you can email us at info@aclum.org, or send us your questions or comments via postal mail sent to American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, 211 Congress Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02110.


    The Data for Justice Project

    About the Data for Justice Project

    The Data for Justice Project is an initiative by the ACLU of Massachusetts that aims to make data actionable, empowering lawyers, advocates, community organizers, journalists, activists, and the general public by:

    • liberating government data sets and making them available in digestible formats;
    • publishing documents obtained through ACLU of Massachusetts public records and Freedom of Information Act requests;
    • advocating for open government at the municipal, county, and state levels;
    • developing tools and dashboards to make complex data sets accessible to ordinary people; and
    • using data to tell stories to advance the ACLU of Massachusetts’ legislative advocacy.

    Making real the promise of open government in the digital age

    Government transparency is a hallmark of a free, open, and democratic society.  In a democracy, the people rule. But it’s hard to advocate for reforms or policy changes when we don’t know what our government is doing. We can’t manage what we don’t measure.

    We hope the Data for Justice Project will arm activists, advocates, journalists, policy makers, and elected officials with relevant, timely information about how government functions—so we can fix it when it doesn’t.

    Why data matters

    A few years ago, the Massachusetts state legislature embarked on an ambitious project to reform the criminal legal system. Legislators were moved by personal stories of injustice, and also by data that revealed the systemic nature of these injustices.

    Although Massachusetts incarcerates fewer people per capita than most other states, we have a higher incarceration rate than most countries in the world, and among the worst racial disparities anywhere on earth. These depressing data points helped to move the legislature to take bold action to pass omnibus criminal justice reform that, among other things, eliminated mandatory minimum sentencing for certain drug offenses.

    Also tucked in to the omnibus criminal justice reform law was an open data measure backed by the ACLU, mandating that the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security collect arrest data from every police department statewide, and publish it on a regular basis on the state’s website.

    That reform is critical, because despite progress, we still don’t know nearly enough about what our government is doing, especially regarding criminal legal system information about arrests, prosecutions, incarceration, and probation and parole.

    Even when we can get our hands on data from the criminal legal system, the information is often messy and difficult to work with — sometimes even locked inside PDF files that need to be OCRed or transcribed by hand into a usable format.

    Contributions

    The Data for Justice Project is a community resource and public education platform. We encourage data scientists, activists, and others to submit analyses of data sourced from this website, and recommend data sets we should include here. Submission does not guarantee publication. But if your work is compelling, we will work with you to give it a home. For more information, or to get involved, please contact the ACLU of Massachusetts Data for Justice Project at data [at] aclum [dot] org.

    Special thanks to Paola Villarreal, who as a Technology Fellow worked with the ACLU of Massachusetts to develop the concept of the Data for Justice Project. 

    Special Thanks


    The Data for Justice Project

    Home Page

    Data for Justice is a project of the ACLU of Massachusetts. We hope the project will arm activists, advocates, journalists, policy makers, and elected officials with relevant, timely information about how government functions—so we can fix it when it doesn’t.

    Government transparency is a hallmark of a free, open, and democratic society.  In a democracy, the people rule. But it’s hard to advocate for reforms or policy changes when we don’t know what our government is doing.

    Learn more about Data for Justice.

    We can’t manage
    what we don’t measure.

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