PAX Centurion - Fall 2016

Page 6 • PAX CENTURION • Fall 2016 617-989-BPPA (2772) The 10,000 lb. elephant/part-of-the-letter the press ignored: A retirement flood cometh By James W. Carnell, Pax Centurion Editor S hhhh….Ignore the 10,000 lb. elephant in the room. The Mayor and the Commissioner don’t want us talking about it…Pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s just those greedy, stupid unions causing problems because they want a contract. Downplay it. Ignore it. Except for this, bought-and-paid-for reporters in the local media : It’s a fact, it’s true, and it’s occurring right now: A literal flood of BPD officers are either past – currently at – or about to be – eligible for retirement. Much was made of the recent letter signed by the leaders of our BPD police unions demanding that the BPD and the City wake up and pay attention to current events, locally and nationally. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) the local press, under the direction of their editorial boards, focused virtually all of the letter’s attention on our demands for greater protective gear, rifles and ammunition capable of confronting the threat that currently exists. That, of course, made for great political fodder as the story became cooked and presented solely as: “the militaristic, right-wing police want big, bad, scary-looking guns and helmets and vests to terrorize the community!” And of course the local reverends, cognizant of the source of funds, grants and political favors directed quid pro quo to their respective tithers and congregants, rendered unto Caesar (upon urgent City Hall demand) in the form of outraged letters excoriating the evil police unions. (Historians may recall that Caiaphas and Pilate had a similar, mutually-beneficial relationship, but I digress…). The Holy men even went so far as to raise the ugly flag of racism directed against the police unions. That is sad and pathetic, but not surprising, as the red-herring cry of “racism” is often used today as a political cudgel to force enemies of the state and other non-believers into meek submission and silence, much as the false accusation of “witch” was employed in Salem, MA in 1692. But a huge part of the letter was thoroughly, completely ignored by the press. The BPPA, BPSOF, and BPDBS leaders also wrote at length about the fact that hundreds of BPD officers, detectives and superior officers are either past, currently at or approaching eligible- retirement age. (Whether they choose to retire at the 55/32 yrs. maximum-retirement eligibility or stay till the mandatory retirement age of 65 is each individual’s choice, but certainly, soon over 400 BPD officers can – if they so desire – wake up tomorrow and decide to toss the badge-and-gun on the desk and dance out the door singing “take this job and… ) (From the President’s letter:)… “We have asked for an increase in the number of sworn police officers within this city…There are fewer police officers answering 911 calls now than there have been in the last 50 years…We have identified this shortfall for many years, which is always met with the standard answer “the courts have ruled the unions have no standing insofar as minimum staffing levels”, or the sympathetic talk of “we know, but we don’t [want to] know,” because we never experienced the level of work being placed on so few before. We have identified literally hundreds and hundreds of police officers who will be retiring over the next year…still, the city has hired only 53 new officers over the last fiscal year and only proposes a starting class in December of 60 new officers for this fiscal year (…this won’t even be a proverbial “finger in the dike”…) …there are over 400 officers, detectives and supervisors that are already at retirement age or will be within the next 12 months. How long do we think people will stay on this job with the current climate?! Our officers are spent, they are exhausted…forcing officers to work additional duties of so many hours they can’t keep their eyes open. A police officer has to literally call in sick to get a single day-off with their family in the Summer or to avoid being ordered to duty once again for another 18- hour day…morale is currently at an all-time low because of fatigue… we are woefully understaffed to answer 911 calls.”… This huge part of the police-union Presidents’ three-page letter was thoroughly, completely ignored by the politicians and their consorts in the local media. The BPD’s hiring practices are predictable and knowable, due to a historical quirk known as “the Boston Police Strike of 1919.” (The 97 th anniversary of which just occurred on September 9 th , 2016 at the annual retirement banquet, as fate would have it!) Because of the fact that 1,117 police officers were fired en masse that year, a huge number of officers were needed for immediate replacement, and would predictably retire in roughly 30-40 year blocks in regular cycles. That large block of officers hired after the 1919 strike retired (generally speaking) in the mid-50’s/early 60’s; the large block of officers hired in the mid 50’s/early 60’s as replacements retired (again, generally) in the mid-80’s/early 90’s; and (no rocket-science involved here…) the large group of officers hired in the mid-80’s/early 90’s (yours truly among them) are now past, at, or rapidly approaching eligible retirement age. In the mid-80’s, police recruit classes consisted of upwards of 80 and 120 recruits at a time, with sometimes two classes a year graduating from the police academy. Less than half that amount are being hired today, with the needs, demands and expectations of the public greater than ever: every social problem on God’s earth – from the mentally-ill, to the homeless, to drug-addicts, to eight-year old kids acting-up in school or at home (not even considering any law-enforcement duties), is now “dumped” on the police…. But the BPD and the City are either intentionally indifferent or prefer to wallow in blissful ignorance of the immediate need for fresh, young recruit police officers.You cannot continue to force 40, 50 and 60-year old officers to work 18-hour days, engaging with sometimes violent and intoxicated young people at all hours of the day and night, and not expect an increasing amount of disabling injuries and accidents-it is simply a function of an aging patrol force. The local media, the BPD and the City does the general public a huge disservice by ignoring this pressing issue and pretending that what is – isn’t. But they do so at their own peril, and that of the citizens of Boston. Hundreds of officers are arriving at retirement’s doorstep, and some need only a final insult from the department, a solitary day sitting lakeside in New Hampshire or a word from the spouse to decide… “That’s it, the hell with it, I’m off to Florida”… (or whatever one chooses to do….) Most of us can hear the ever-increasing sounds of guns and badges being thrown on the supervisor’s desks, barring any compelling reasons to stay longer. Does the city and the BPD hear those same sounds, too?…..