Stow Select Board Unanimously Approves Police AI Policy in Four Votes

STOW — April 28, 2026 — Stow Select Board approves new police AI policy and hears warning about clinician funding cuts. Police Chief Barry Evers told the board Tuesday that the Massachusetts House budget cut the statewide Jail Diversion Clinician Program from roughly $18 million to approximately $4 million, putting Stow's shared licensed social worker — funded at $125,000 annually — at risk of elimination, and urged residents to contact Senator James Eldridge to push for Senate restoration of the funds. The board voted unanimously to adopt five updated or new police policies, including a new responsible use of artificial intelligence policy that prohibits officers from using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in report writing, with Evers noting that AI-generated police reports raise public-records and chain-of-custody concerns that the department is not prepared to navigate. The board also unanimously approved a one-day liquor license for a Randall Library Friends donor reception on May 7, accepted a previously unsigned $1,000 road easement from Coop Realty, LLC for the Hudson Road traffic-light project, and received notice that a 40B affordable housing application for Bruin Road has triggered a 30-day state comment period with a May 26 deadline.