BOSTON – This Thursday, Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy will have a Hearing to discuss Boston Police Department (BPD) staffing levels. The Hearing will be held jointly with a Ways & Means Hearing to discuss causes of increases in Boston Police overtime spending. The Joint Hearings will be chaired by Councilor Brian Worrell and Councilor-at-Large Henry Santana. Members of the public are welcome to attend in-person and provide testimony if they so choose, and the Joint Hearings will also be live streamed at boston.gov/city-council-tv and televised on Xfinity 8/RCN 82/Fios 964.  Those who wish to provide written commentary can send their testimony to Boston City Council Central Staff Liaison Karishma Chouhan at [email protected], and those who wish to provide virtual testimony can email Ms. Chouhan for a link and instructions to do so as well.

Councilor Flynn has consistently advocated for hiring hundreds of additional police officers every year for the next decade to address long standing issues of understaffing. overstretched resources, and forced overtime for Boston Police officers, as well as looming retirements. This not only impacts the public safety of our city, but also the physical and emotional well-being of our officers and their families.

Police understaffing is also exacerbated by voluntary retirement and resignations, as resignations rose from one in 2018 to thirty-six in 2022, and voluntary retirement rose from seventeen in 2018 to 127 in 2022. This means that current officers are mandated to fill in the gaps with forced overtime, which leads to burnout in officers, and potentially negatively impacts their ability to serve.

Moreover, the Boston Municipal Code mandates that after July 1st, 1980, the number of Police Officers on the force shall, at no time, be less than 2,500. It is therefore imperative that the Boston Police Department consistently recruits and retains police officers to stay comfortably above that number, as well as fostering an environment that allows officers to feel valued while building strong relationships with residents through community policing.

“Having sufficient police staffing levels is critical to help make the streets of Boston safer for all neighbors, and to improve the health and quality of life of our dedicated police officers. The issues of understaffing, mandated overtime and overstretched resources will not be resolved without a commitment to hire hundreds of officers every year for an extended period of time,” said Councilor Flynn. “In my opinion, it is not okay for officers to be mandated to work excessive hours. This is a public health and public safety issue that we need to address for our residents, our police officers, and their families.”

“An unacceptable risk to individual and public health arises in all of Boston’s neighborhoods when the people who are entrusted with keeping the City safe are overworked and stretched too far,” said Councilor Erin Murphy.  “The hiring, retention, and full staffing of our Police Department provide the people of Boston with the highest quality public health and public safety services possible, and those services are essential to ensuring Boston is the world-class city it can be and the world-class city the people of Boston deserve.”

For more information, please contact Councilor Flynn’s office at 617-635-3203 and [email protected], and Councilor Murphy’s office at 617-635-3115 and [email protected].