Boston Mayor Janey Announces BPD Reform Package Amid Commissioner Investigation

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — A community access TV clip filed as a committee meeting for July 22, 2026, contains no board or committee business. The recording is a mayoral press conference in which Boston Mayor Kim Janey announced the findings of an investigation into Boston Police Commissioner Dennis White, describing "a culture of fear and silence" within the department and saying one retired officer received five phone calls directing him not to cooperate with investigators. Janey said she had scheduled a disciplinary hearing for White but that his attorney had filed to block it in court; she said the department could not name a new commissioner until the matter was resolved. She announced new mandatory background checks for all BPD leadership candidates, a planned overhaul of a 15-year-old domestic violence policy, a first-ever sexual assault policy for the force, and a community engagement committee to be co-led by Chief of Emergency Management Shumin Benford and Reverend Rassan Hall. No committee convened, no agenda was followed, and no votes were taken.