Janey takes on blue wall
May not have much luck against powerful Boston Police union
Acting Mayor Kim Janey’s rocky relationship with the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association could define her stay in the mayoral perch but she may find that standing up to the powerful union won’t be easy.
Janey — who has promised a “new chapter” of police accountability — is up against a wall of generous contracts, overtime, policefriendly arbitrators, political contributions, Civil Service rulings and virtual nontransparency that the unions have built up over decades of flexing their political muscle.
Recent history suggests that the wall is impenetrable. Certainly her predecessor, Mayor Martin Walsh, a former union official, never considered challenging the unions, giving them an aura of even more power.
Even more importantly, when the streets erupt in gun violence, as happens all too much in the city, it’s the same much-maligned police officers that we need to serve on the front lines.
So Janey has to walk a difficult line, showing the unions who is boss while ensuring that she gives proper respect to rank and file police officers charged with protecting us.
Janey has already taken the first major step in putting her foot down, ordering the release of a decades-old internal affairs investigation on former BPPA president Patrick Rose, charged with molesting several children dating back to the mid1990s. The results of that investigation, which the police department ultimately dropped, are expected to be publicly released this week.
Janey — a supporter of the “defund the police” movement — is also attempting to make major budget cuts in police overtime, long a simmering issue in City Hall.
The last mayor to have a difficult relationship with the unions, the late Thomas Menino, was continually frustrated by arbitrator decisions, which usually sided with police and their fat contracts.
In September 2013, just before he left office, an arbitration panel handed Boston patrolmen a 25% raise over six years, more than double what other unions received, according to reports at the time.
“The award is too expensive,” Menino warned at the time, saying the contract would set a ridiculously generous precedent that would hamstring other mayors.
Menino was in his last term at the time and wasn’t running for re-election, making it easier for him to challenge the union and not face political consequences.
But Janey is just beginning her stint in the fifth floor mayor’s office, and is only acting mayor, giving her even less power than mayors who are elected.
She is running to keep her office this year, but faces challenges from several city councilors and others.
Facing down the powerful patrolmen’s union could give her more credibility with her “defund the police” constituents but also could alienate her from other voters, typically in whiter neighborhoods, who are more likely to side with the cops.
There’s less risk in going after Rose, who has become the poster child for police abuse and nontransparency.
The Boston Police did file a criminal complaint against Rose for sexual assault, and an internal investigation reportedly concluded the union official committed a crime. But the complaint was ultimately dropped, and internal reports could shed light on why that decision was made.
Despite the complaint, Rose kept his position on the police force for years until he was charged last year with molesting a preteen girl and five others.