Nation IN BRIEF : MASSACHUSETTS : Boston Police Panel Calls for New Chief

Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn’s special police panel recommended a change of police leadership, amid mounting criticism of a troubled department. The seven-member commission, reporting on an eight-month investigation, said the Police Department “needs a new leader to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for policing Boston and to make the necessary changes in the way the department operates.” The panel urged that Commissioner Francis M. Roache be replaced when his term expires in April. In the last few years, the department has been criticized for shoddy police work and inflaming racial tensions--especially in the October, 1989, murder of Carol Stuart. Minority leaders claimed police were too quick to accept a phony story from Stuart’s husband, Charles Stuart, that a black mugger attacked the white couple.