Cambridge and Somerville have made sanctuary-city commitments to not voluntarily help the federal attacks on immigrants at the heart of Donald Trump’s second presidency. At the same time, the cities feed police reports to CrimeTracer, a database shared by law enforcement across Massachusetts.
Until two years ago, CrimeTracer was accessible to federal agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which used database information in enforcement actions.
Neither state or local police or CrimeTracer’s parent company will say why the policy changed – or if the policy is Massachusetts-only – which leaves it unclear whether the policy will change again and welcome back federal users.
CrimeTracer aims to facilitate information-sharing among police for fast and efficient law enforcement, according to its website. The database is offered through SoundThinking, the company behind the gunshot-detection technology ShotSpotter, which has raised surveillance concerns in Cambridge and Somerville and nationwide.
Federal access
That Ice and other federal agencies had CrimeTracer access until some point in 2023 is known in part because former Cambridge police commissioner Branville Bard Jr. wrote in a Jan. 5, 2021, annual surveillance technology report to city councillors that it was open to Ice’s Homeland Security Investigations branch, FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Ice’s Enforcement Removal Operations section could not and has never had access to CrimeTracer, said sergeant Bob Reardon Jr., the Cambridge Police Department’s interim public information officer.
That would be reassuring if the HSI didn’t share information with its enforcers – but it does, and Ice agents from the investigations branch used local police reports obtained through CrimeTracer to gather information for raids, according to reporting in 2018 by The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization with a focus on criminal justice reform.
While federal and private sector databases do not always contain individuals’ phone numbers, addresses, vehicles and associates, this information is found in the records of day-to-day police encounters that local law enforcement agencies upload to CrimeTracer. This “virtually unfettered” information could be “indispensable” for Ice HSI agents, The Appeal said, and has informed immigration enforcement actions in workplaces in Massachusetts and around the country – “serious crimes” such as money laundering and spreading child sex abuse material, law enforcement officials and former Ice agents said.
Cambridge and Somerville were sharing data with CrimeTracer – and already held sanctuary city status – in 2018 when The Appeal report came out.
Local police information goes into the Commonwealth Fusion Center run by state police, which also gets intelligence from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. In 2018, center managers said that 414 Massachusetts agencies and 26 out-of-state agencies had access to CrimeTracer. A Massachusetts State Police spokesperson did not respond to questions about which out-of-state agencies were included in that number, but said state agencies with access have since shrunk to 361.
Appeal reporters could not determine when Ice first gained access to Massachusetts police data through CrimeTracer, but “a training roster obtained from the Massachusetts State Police listed numerous ICE agents and analysts” for 2015 and 2016 CrimeTracer training sessions.
Contract into 2026
SoundThinking acquired CrimeTracer, known then as Coplink, from the company Forensic Logic on Jan. 1, 2022. Forensic Logic had acquired CrimeTracer from IBM in 2017.
The commonwealth of Massachusetts and Forensic Logic hold a contract for a 44-month subscription to CrimeTracer. The current deal, announced on Dec. 6, 2022, is worth more than $4 million over the length of the agreement, according to the press release announcing the contract. The contract is set to expire June 30, 2026.
A Massachusetts State Police spokesperson said they were unable to comment on whether the department plans to renew this subscription.
How CrimeTracer works
CrimeTracer compiles member agencies’ data into a search engine that allows for instant access to a billion documents from law enforcement agencies across the country, according to a video featured on the database’s LinkedIn page. These documents include “court data, evidence and lab data, [National Integrated Ballistic Information Network] shell casing reports, mugshots, probation and parole information, stop data, tip lines, warrants, daily bulletins, CrimeDex alerts, Bolos and vehicular data,” according to SoundThinking’s page on frequently asked questions about CrimeTracer, using term for alerts that police should “be on the lookout.” The database also includes information that ShotSpotter devices have gathered, as well as information from the Sex Offender Registry Board and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. CrimeTracer documents are stored across multiple data formats, including text, images, video, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word.
CrimeTracer users search the database with a crime’s keywords or general attributes; examples given on SoundThinking’s website include suspects’ race, sex, height, weight, vehicle and identifying traits such as tattoos. The company recently added an artificial-intelligence chatbot that allows users to “just type in plain language, and let smart search do the rest,” according to the website.
The database visualizes links from National Integrated Ballistic Information Network leads – defined by a government fact sheet as “an unconfirmed, potential association between two or more pieces of firearm ballistic evidence” – to suspects and reports.
The platform’s “advanced link analysis” is meant to let law enforcement get “immediate tactical leads” from a wide pool of data, according to the website.
CrimeTracer is part of SoundThinking’s “Safety Smart” platform, which it views as “the kind of cohesive platform needed to address all the challenges in policing today.” The group’s other components are ShotSpotter, the gunshot-detection technology; CaseBuilder Crime Gun, a case management system for gun crime; and ResourceRouter, a patrol and analyst tool.
Data-sharing across Massachusetts
The database is accessible to “all members of local, county and state-level law enforcement throughout Massachusetts” with no opt-in requirement, SoundThinking said.
In Cambridge, police use CrimeTracer for “a wide range of matters that our department handles with some level of frequency,” Reardon said. The department used the database this year to find a witness to identify a voyeurism suspect; in 2024, it used the platform to “resolve an identity fraud case that would have resulted in the victim wrongfully having a crash surcharge on their driving record,” Reardon said.
Cambridge police have used CrimeTracer to make arrests, according to annual surveillance reports dating back to 2020.
There are 49 active CPD users who can access CrimeTracer on approved networks, Reardon said.
Somerville police use CrimeTracer primarily for investigations, such as solving crimes and finding missing people, city spokesperson Denise Taylor said. The database is also part of the vetting process for potential police candidates, so hirers do not need to reach out to other Massachusetts police agencies individually.
Cambridge police shares information with CrimeTracer daily “for effective statewide law enforcement,” but withholds confidential reports about subjects such as sexual assault and domestic violence, as well as cases involving juveniles, according to Bard’s 2021 memo and to Reardon.
Somerville’s policy is similar, with the city withholding information related to immigration status or on “particularly sensitive active investigations,” Taylor said. The information that Somerville does share is “also shared in our public crime logs and available upon public information request.”
Sanctuary cities
Advocates have raised concerns about how CrimeTracer can coexist with a commitment to not help immigration enforcement.
“I will go out there and say that it’s a violation of the sanctuary city,” said Ed Vogel, a member of Lucy Parsons Labs, a Chicago organization that aims to expose what it calls surveillance overreach. “A structure like a database may meet the letter of the law, but not the spirit of law.” Police departments’ use of CrimeTracer allows for surveillance and for the targeting of vulnerable populations, Vogel said, even if this was not their intention in uploading the data.
“We have seen repeated examples, especially in Boston, of databases being used as justification for criminalizing folks,” Vogel said. “At this moment in time, that means that, if there’s ‘evidence’ that someone is a ‘gang member’ or a ‘criminal,’ then that gives the federal government the ability to deport that person under its current goals of mass deportation.”
Cambridge’s police force “seeks to balance upholding our sanctuary city status with the need for effective and legitimate law enforcement,” superintendent Frederick Cabral said, pointing to the department’s decision to withhold certain reports – sharing only those “that would be obtainable by other law enforcement agencies for the actual performance of their criminal justice duties.”
To access the database, CrimeTracer users must have a “proper law enforcement purpose,” and their activity is logged and auditable, Cabral said.
Somerville spokesperson Denise Taylor was quoted as saying in 2018 that Somerville prioritizes residents’ safety regardless of status and would determine the best policy after speaking with local law enforcement and other sanctuary cities. City councilor J.T. Scott, also quoted by The Appeal, made a motion for the administration and chief of police to report to the City Council on SPD use of CrimeTracer “with regard to the city’s status as a sanctuary city.”
“Across administrations, the city of Somerville has continually monitored lawful best practices for sanctuary policies and law enforcement via internal discussions and review as well as via regional and state conversations and discussions with other U.S. municipalities,” Taylor said to Cambridge Day last month. “There has been movement in this area in the commonwealth, most notably with standards for CrimeTracer that preclude federal access.”
Data-sharing agreement
Cambridge’s data-sharing agreement regarding CrimeTracer cautions that the system “is subject to monitoring which may result in the acquisition, recording and analysis of all data communicated, transmitted, processed or stored by a user” – and that, in all capital letters, “by using this system, you expressly consent to such monitoring.”
Language included in the agreement does not specify who can monitor CrimeTracer, and CPD representatives did not respond to specific inquiries about this topic.
Data-sharing agencies can decide for themselves which records they share with the CrimeTracer system, according to an agreement that Cambridge police commissioner Christine Elow and Massachusetts State Police representative lieutenant colonel Daniel Tucker signed in early 2024. Their procedures must comply with laws and regulations relevant to the data being shared and received, as well as with “current security for law enforcement sensitive material,” according to the agreement.
CrimeTracer users are strongly encouraged to be trained on the use of the database, and they must be told that it includes information whose treatment must follow applicable laws, according to Cambridge’s agreement.
Cambridge Day asked for documents surrounding Somerville’s relationship with CrimeTracer. No data-sharing agreement was shared.
Surveillance ordinances
Surveillance ordinances in Cambridge and Somerville require that the cities’ use of new surveillance technology be approved by elected officials.
CrimeTracer appears in Cambridge surveillance reports dating back to the first such report, in 2019. Since 2020, these reports have stated that CrimeTracer has been effective in realizing its stated purpose, as it “allows the department to obtain statewide crime data (and crime mapping) about local offenders/offenses on a daily basis to help effectively solve crime, make arrests and licensing decisions.” Cambridge does not pay for CrimeTracer, the reports continue; rather, the platform is funded by the federal government, and its actual cost is unknown.
CPD has no complaints about CrimeTracer, and the database did not violate Cambridge’s Surveillance Use Policy, according to each surveillance report since 2020.
CrimeTracer is not included in Somerville’s annual surveillance report, a spokesperson for Somerville said.
Criminal intelligence policies
In Cambridge, CrimeTracer and other criminal investigative software categorized as surveillance technology is governed by a criminal intelligence policy for balancing law enforcement’s intelligence-gathering needs with individuals’ privacy and constitutional rights. Under the policy, intelligence-gathering activities must follow relevant laws, consider the importance of public trust and be specific and focused on addressing “actual or articulable potential criminal concerns.” Only information related to criminal conduct or potential public safety threats to Cambridge can be collected; data about individuals’ and groups’ political and religious activity cannot be collected or spread unless it is related directly to criminal activity or reasonable suspicion thereof.
Somerville’s Policy 427 addresses the city’s Crime Analysis Unit’s use of CrimeTracer, the Somerville spokesperson said. The webpage normally containing this policy has been out of order for several weeks, and spokespeople for Somerville did not respond to a request for a link to the policy.
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Kathleen Hornby holds an “Immigrants Make Somerville Great”. LEGAL Immigrants Make Somerville Great! IILEGAL Immigrants broke into USA and Should be DEPORTED! so called “Sanctuary local laws? violate the Supremacy Clause, found in Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, establishes that the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, and treaties are the supreme law of the land. This means that when state laws conflict with federal laws or the Constitution, the federal law or constitutional provision prevails. It’s a foundational principle of American federalism, ensuring national unity and uniformity in certain areas. President Donald Trump will deliver “justice” to the
“nullifiers”! Individuals or groups perceived by the administration as hindering or opposing its policies, particularly in areas like law enforcement accountability, immigration, and civil service independence.