Janey focuses on cop med leave
Aims to curb OT; union sees plan ‘adding insult to injury’
A key to acting Mayor Kim Janey’s plan to cut down on police overtime spending is to beef up the “medical triage unit” that helps the 200-plus cops on medical leave get back on the street.
“We are investing in the team that will help officers who are able to return to work, and those who may not be able to return to work, to retire with dignity,” Janey told reporters after presenting her budget proposal to city councilors.
Janey said there are now about 250 officers out on medical leave — about 10% of the force’s 2,200plus cops. The police brass brought up similar numbers in hearings during the fall in an attempt to explain why the overtime budget was again overshooting its mark.
“We have to address why that number has grown dramatically in the last five years,” Janey said.
The medical triage unit is housed within the police department, and the budget would put half a million in new funding toward it to hire medical and support staff to work with officers, the city said.
The police department didn’t comment. The city council will take up the entire budget for hearings in the coming weeks with an aim of passing a final version ahead of the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association President Larry Calderone took issue with Janey’s general focus, calling it a “diversionary tactic.”
“Addressing the question of getting officers back to work or retired can’t be answered without acknowledging the fact that these officers are out injured in the first place because of serious injuries sustained while being forced to work way too many hours in one the of the most dangerous professions in America,” Calderone said.
“Officers do not want to be on medical leave; officers are out injured because they are risking their health and safety every day by being out on the street, protecting the citizens of Boston, all while exposing and contracting COVID19, which accounts for some of the officers being out on medical leave,” he added.
Calderone said Janey’s “focus should be” hiring more officers, “instead, she is adding insult to their injuries by blaming them for the department’s own mismanagement.”
Janey’s budget would expand the force by 30 officer positions.
The budget would cut the amount of budgeted overtime spending from $48 million in this current year’s budget to $44 million for the coming year. Police overtime is allowed to overshoot its budgeted mark with no repercussions, and it always does so by millions.