“A WBUR investigation with ProPublica found elected officials and the public were largely kept in the dark when Boston police spent $627,000 on this equipment by dipping into money seized in connection with alleged crimes.”
Boston police bought a stingray that tricks every phone nearby into connecting to it. They paid $627,000 out of civil forfeiture money, cash taken from people who often are never charged. That fund skips the city council’s budget review. Seize the money without a conviction, then spend it on surveillance nobody voted for.