If Boston and its future mayor are serious about reinventing and rethinking policing in this city, there is a golden opportunity just waiting — involving not just the Boston Police Department but also the more than 700 special police officers newly “civilianized” under the state’s police reform law. This cadre of people with some public safety training could help keep the peace without the downside of increasing police presence in parks, schools, and other venues.
As of July 1, those 700 officers on the city payroll — plus another 500 or so special police previously certified by the Boston Police Department but working for private corporations — found themselves tossed into limbo: suspended as special officers but not yet given a clear path to their futures.
Among the premises advanced by the police reform law was that those who operate with a badge and a gun need to be properly trained and ultimately answerable to civilian authorities for their conduct. But the abrupt change in status of special police officers in Boston is a chance to ask just how many people need a badge and arrest powers. It’s also an opportunity to take a new approach to public safety in many places in the city.
The Boston School Department has already made its choice: Boston School Police who became School Resource Officers are now unarmed School Safety Officers.
“The superintendent wanted to rebrand them even before the police reform bill passed,” said spokesman Jonathan Palumbo in an interview with the editorial board. “Her vision was to take them out of the uniforms and out of cruisers and have the system more focused on restorative justice.”
Some 55 officers will be walking the halls when schools open next week, in blue polos and khakis. And if things get tough in those halls, they will rely on the special BPD school unit to pitch in.
But also impacted by the police reform law in Boston are the city’s Park Rangers, Code Enforcement Police, Housing Police, Inspectional Services, Public Health Commission, Transportation Police, an arson unit, and the Municipal Protective Services, which patrols city-owned buildings.
All of the so-called Rule 400 and 400A officers were informed on June 23 by the BPD that their special officer licenses were suspended effective July 1 “for failing to meet the training standards for law enforcement officers” under the police reform act.
A labor lawyer for the city told union officials in a letter posted on their Facebook page, “However, please be assured that the City is not contemplating any reduction in staffing for SPOs at this time in response to the new law.”
Frank Mejia, president of the Boston Special Police Officers Association, called the statement “hogwash” and “an empty promise” in an interview Thursday. “The reality is that individuals working in the field are already stressed. Now we have another tool taken away from us. Some are walking around with just a radio and a flashlight.”
Many, of course, have already made other career choices, Mejia said. Others are eager for the enhanced training that would bring them up to speed and allow them to be recertified by the state Municipal Police Training Committee, which now has charge of all police certification in the Commonwealth.
The MPTC is in the midst of deciding what the new requirements will be at the “Bridge Academy” to bring all officers whose training didn’t meet new state-wide standards up to speed. That academy is expected to include at least 200 hours of additional training.
State Representative Michael S. Day, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, has already expressed some skepticism in a letter to the secretary of Public Safety obtained by the Globe. Day asks how a 200-hour Bridge Academy can “offer the same level and depth of training that graduates of full-time police academies receive.” According to the MPTC website, a full-time police academy lasts about 800 hours.
Individuals could previously earn a Boston Special Police badge with a mere 160 hours of training — 100 hours of classroom instruction on the law and 60 hours of practical training in using batons, handcuffs, and other equipment. The training became a path for some to other smaller police departments.
But now Boston has some serious choices to make about special police in departments other than the schools and whether they too need to be not just rebranded but reimagined.
Back in June, Acting Mayor Kim Janey issued a statement saying, “Boston’s special police add value to our communities by increasing accessibility, supporting our constituents and engaging in critical de-escalation tactics to enhance public safety and community wellness. The City of Boston is incredibly grateful for the service of our special police and we know that they will continue to add value to our community today and in the future.”
And that tells the public precisely nothing about what that future will look like.
This is an opportunity for city officials to do some strategic thinking. Do Park Rangers need to be special police or are they already worth their weight in good public relations without a badge and arrest powers? Does the Boston Public Health Commission need special police, or more EMTs trained to deal with the opioid crisis?
And if the answer for some departments is “yes” to special police, then it’s time they be properly trained for 21st-century policing — just as the police reform law envisioned.
The same-old, same-old simply isn’t good enough. A visionary mayor and City Council will know that and seize the chance to do something about it.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.