Boston Police Department

Gained access to LifeRaft in June 2026, according to the city's surveillance technology report. About ten trained members of the Bureau of Intelligence and Analysis use it several times a week to search public posts by keyword, place, name, phone number or handle, with AI sentiment analysis. City councillors said they had not been told, citing the surveillance ordinance.

Update, November 2026. The Boston Globe's report of 17 September 2026 says the city's 2025 Surveillance Technology Report, released in September 2026, dates access to June 2026 and that the police spokesperson put use at ten specially trained members several times a week; it also reports that the department spent roughly $130,000 on social media monitoring tools in 2025. A separate filing dated 23 September 2026 on the city's website is a proposed ordinance, offered by Councillors Benjamin Weber, Gabriela Coletta Zapata, Henry Santana and others, amending the Surveillance Oversight and Information Sharing ordinance; it does not mention LifeRaft but refers to the Police Commissioner telling the council about social media analysis tools used without its permission under "exigent circumstances" around the 2024 presidential election. The Globe names those earlier tools as SITE Intelligence's SourceFeed and Chorus, which the council voted against in August 2025 although the department is reported to continue using them; they are not covered by this record.