Boston Police Union, city councilors call for more officers on streets after violent weekend
The President of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association is calling on the city to hire more police officers after a violent weekend, which included five different shootings and an incident where fireworks were launched at officers.
Larry Calderone told WBZ-TV that officers feel unsupported by city leaders and that hiring cannot keep up with attrition within the department.
"This is the worst morale that I have seen in my thirty years on the job," Calderone said.
A 1976 Boston City Ordinance requires the city to maintain a minimum of 2,500 patrolmen. According to data presented to members of the Boston City Council in May, Boston has roughly 2,102 sworn officers, not counting the newest recruit class.
Calderone argues that the number of officers responding to calls is far lower.
"We have approximately 1640 police officers answering 911 calls," he said.
Asked about the Union's concerns, Mayor Michelle Wu touted the city's ability to recruit large classes of new officers.
"Our classes were well in the range of 100 plus," Wu told reporters.
She also pointed to declining crime statistics.
Calderone says that it is not enough to stem the bleeding in the department.
"The problem is that we're retiring police officers at an 80 percent capacity of what she's hiring and the 20 percent that's left over, the police commissioner is promoting or appointing to command staff," he said.
Calderone told WBZ that the city needs to hire 250 to 300 new officers per year. He said he would be open to eliminating the Boston residency requirement for new officers. He also supports hiring bonuses and other incentives.
With no arrests made after the weekend of violence, which left 13 shot in Roxbury and Dorchester, including two deaths, community leaders also expressed their anger over the violence but called for more funding in youth violence prevention instead of police.
"We have to work to prevent the crime. We have got to stop the next shooting. Trying to arrest someone that already shot someone, that's fine, justice has to be served. However, the damage has already been done," said Reverend Randy Muhammad, the Executive Director of Torch Light Recovery.
