Officials must remember vital role police play

One of 2020’s most shouted mantras is “defund the police.” But as city officials and police departments start to hammer out the nuts and bolts of upgrading law enforcement policies in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, the impulse to defund policing itself must be restrained.

City Council critics of the Boston Police Department pushed to cut 10% of the BPD’s $414 million total budget. Mayor Martin Walsh’s revised budget cut $12 million of the BPD’s $60 million overtime budget, a compromise several city councilors called insufficient and voted against.

Walsh’s budget passed, and councilors are seeking controls to make sure the BPD actually stays within a $48 million budget. On the hot seat: overtime.

While there are officers who rack up $100,000+ in annual pay, and such high salaries need to be looked at — as they do at any taxpayer-funded institution — the point of what police overtime is for can’t be lost in the debate.

For example, coverage for marches, demonstrations and strikes can spike OT. In 2018, city spending surged as officers worked details during the National Grid lockout and the Marriott strike in Boston. Other factors, according to BPD officials: short staffing and officer absences.

BPD Superintendent Jim Hasson told the city council during a Tuesday hearing that about 33% of officers are off work on average this year, leading to 94 officer shifts that have to be replaced in order to maintain minimum staffing levels each day.

As anyone who’s ever done shift work knows, if someone is out or off, the shift still needs to be covered.

Hasson said 68% of OT costs are either for “replacement costs” — pulling in an officer to cover one of those missing shifts — or “extended tours,” which is when officers simply have to work longer, usually to finish up something that started during their shift.

One solution: beefing up the force. Hasson said the BPD has around 1,800 officers, and likely would need at least 2,200 or 2,300.

Another way he said the department is looking at saving money is by staffing up to 100 administrative roles with civilian rather than sworn officers.

Administrative roles — a far cry from a proposal by members of the Cambridge City Council to look at covering traffic stops with unarmed civilians, as opposed to police officers.

“My God, I wouldn’t want a family member having that duty as an unarmed civilian stopping a car,” said Chelsea Police Chief Brian Keyes, president of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs of Police.

According to the FBI, six police officers were killed while performing traffic stops last year.

“Routine traffic stops disproportionately impact Black and Brown drivers, who are pulled over and searched more often than white drivers, leading to potentially stressful interactions with the police,” the Cambridge City Council policy states.

In a perfect world, every car would be driven by a law-abiding citizen whose only flaw is not coming to a full stop or running a red light or driving with a broken blinker. But this is not a perfect world, and sending unarmed civilians into potentially dangerous situations will not make it so.

As Cambridge Police spokesman Jeremy Warnick noted, “Traffic enforcement is never routine.”

Neither is policing the community. And as we move forward with changes to police training, policies and altering budgets, it’s key to remember the vital role officers play in moving toward compromise that satisfies all sides.