Brookline's Police Commissioners Advisory Committee meets Thursday, Oct. 15, to advance its investigation into the town's ties to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center. The BRIC is a federally funded intelligence hub housed at Boston Police headquarters.

The hybrid meeting begins at 7 p.m. at 333 Washington St., according to the committee's agenda.

High on the agenda is a debrief of a BRIC site visit committee members made Oct. 8. Four subcommittees will also report on their progress examining the center's operations, database practices, civil-liberties compliance and civilian oversight.

Town Meeting set the clock

The investigation traces to Article 25, a resolution Brookline Town Meeting approved May 26. That measure directed the Select Board to task the PCAC with determining whether the town can rely on the BRIC to operate transparently, comply with Brookline's expectations on non-discrimination and due process, maintain accurate databases and submit to effective civilian oversight.

The resolution also ordered the committee to obtain a list of every BRIC database, demographic breakdowns of the people in them, the criteria used to add individuals and copies of the center's policies on constitutional protections. The deadline is the next annual Town Meeting.

Who is doing the work

Co-chairs Ron Wilkinson and Paul Yee divided the investigation among four subcommittees. C. Scott Ananian leads the review of BRIC operations. Kimberley Richardson and Wilkinson are examining compliance. Ananian and John Hilliard are scrutinizing the center's databases. Yee and Nick Fetzer are evaluating civilian oversight.

The committee's membership also includes Joseph Figler and Kristine L. Knauf.

Why it matters

The BRIC is a fusion center where local police from nine municipalities work alongside federal agents, sharing data on arrests, protests and public safety threats, the Bay State Banner reported in May. Under a memorandum of understanding signed Sept. 28, 2011, Brookline police gained access to several BRIC databases, including the Gang Database, a suspicious-activity reporting system and an incident-tracking system.

Backers of the resolution, including Town Meeting members Alec Libovitz and Chi Chi Wu, say the information flow between local police and federal immigration authorities conflicts with Brookline's stance as a sanctuary community. Brookline resident Sarah Sherman Stokes told the Banner in May that the center's reach extends beyond crime-fighting. "It also comes at the expense of our privacy and free speech," Sherman Stokes said.

At an April 7 Select Board hearing on Article 25, Police Superintendent Jennifer Paster argued the opposite, saying that leaving the BRIC would cut the department off from criminal-intelligence and threat-assessment information and weaken its ability to protect schools, houses of worship and large public events.

Through its BRIC participation, Brookline's police and fire departments receive a share of $22.2 million in Urban Area Security Initiative funding that supports the fusion center, the Banner reported. Wu said much of the opposition to withdrawal may come down to that funding.

The committee's agenda includes time for public comment, with a three-minute limit per speaker. Residents can join by Zoom using meeting ID 165 623 4888.