| Boston Police Department | |
| Abbreviation | BPD |
| Patch of the Boston Police Department. | |
| Badge of the Boston Police Department. | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1635 (predecessor) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | City of Boston in the state of Massachusetts, USA |
| Legal jurisdiction | As per operations jurisdiction. |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Police Officers | 2,056 |
| Civilians | 569 |
| Commissioner responsible | Edward Davis |
| Agency executive | Daniel P. Linskey, Chief of Police |
| Facilities | |
| Patrol Vehicles | Ford Expedition Ford F250 |
| Patrol cars | Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor |
| Website | |
| Boston Police Website | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Boston Police Department (BPD), established in 1838, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest police department in the United States. The BPD is also the 20th largest law enforcement agency in the country and the 3rd largest in New England behind the Massachusetts State Police (2,100 officers) and the Massachusetts Department of Correction (4,000 officers).[1]
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The first night watch in Boston was established in 1635.[1] In 1703, pay in the sum of 35 shillings a month was set. In 1796, the Watch was reorganized and the watchmen carried a badge of office, a rattle, and a six-foot pole, which was painted blue and white with a hook on one end and a bill on the other. The hook was used to grab fleeing criminals, and the rounded “bill” was used as a weapon. The rattle was a noise-making device used for calling for assistance.[2][3]
In 1838, the Day Police was organized, having no connection with the Night Watch.[1] The Day Police operated under the city marshal and had six appointed officers.
The Boston Police Department was formally founded in May 1854, at which point the Boston Watch and Day Police were disbanded, and the Boston Police department came into being. A fourteen-inch club replaced the old hook and bill, which had been in use for one hundred and fifty-four years. At the time of its founding, the Boston Police constituted one of the first paid, professional police services in the United States, however the BPD's roots can be further traced back to the 18th century and Boston's appointment of an "Inspector of Police". In 1854, the department was closely organized and modeled after Sir Robert Peel's (London) Metropolitan Police Service.[3]
In 1871, the Boston Police Relief Association was founded.[3]
On September 9, 1919, when Police Commissioner Edwin Upton Curtis refused to allow the creation of a police union, 1,117 BPD officers went on strike. This signaled a dramatic shift in traditional labor relations and views on the part of the police, who were unhappy with stagnant wages and poor working conditions. The city soon fell into riots and public chaos as over three-fourths of the department was no longer enforcing public peace. Governor Calvin Coolidge intervened to quash further chaos. Coolidge announced that the police did not have the right to strike against the public safety and brought in the state national guard to restore order to Boston. The strike was broken, permanently, when Coolidge hired replacement police officers, many of whom were returning servicemen from World War I, and the former officers were refused re-entry into the department. Ironically, the new officers hired in the wake of the strike received higher salaries, more vacation days and city-provided uniforms, the very demands the original strikers were requesting. The BPD strike set a precedent for further movements to stymie police unionization around the country.[3]
Coolidge's intervention in the strike brought him national fame, which, in turn, led to his nomination as Harding's running mate for Vice-President in the 1920 presidential election.
On October 18, 1857, at about 5:15 a.m., Boston Police Officer Ezekiel W. Hodsdon was doing his duty for the Boston Police Department walking his beat on the Corner of Havre and Maverick Street in East Boston. Officer Hodsdon was attempting to arrest two suspects for a burglary. A struggle ensued and one of the suspects was able to get behind Hodsdon and shoot the Officer in the head. Officer Hodsdon died about 10:00 A.M., becoming the first Boston police officer killed in the line of duty at 25 years of age. The murderers fled.
Men, women and children, came to view the body of the deceased officer. Thousands of people visited the station house during the forenoon, and were admitted, twenty or thirty at a time. Officer Hodsdon left behind his wife Lydia and infant son Ezekiel who was born just 13 days prior to his death. Officer Hodsdon was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, according to Boston Globe Newspaper Reports on Oct 19, 1857.[4] A memorial was dedicated to Officer Hodsdon on October 18, 2007 on the Corner of Havre and Maverick Streets in East Boston.[3]
On November 3, 1851, the first Irish born Boston Police officer was appointed, Bernard "Barney" McGinniskin. His presence generated considerable controversy. The Boston Pilot wrote, "He is the first Irishman that ever carried the stick of a policeman anywhere in this country, and meetings, even Faneuil Hall meetings, have been held to protect against the appointment." At the time, the police salary of $2.00 a day for the morning and afternoon beat and $1.20 for the night watch was nearly twice as high as the wages of laborers. City Marshal Francis Tukey resisted mayor John Prescott Bigelow's appointment of McGinniskin, arguing it was done at "the expense of an American," in accordance with anti-Irish sentiments in the city. On January 5, 1852, shortly before the newly elected mayor Benjamin Seaver (who had been supported by Tukey) took office, Tukey fired McGinniskin without giving a reason. After criticism in the press, Seaver reinstated McGinniskin, who remained in the police until the 1854 anti-Irish groundswell of the Know Nothing/American Party movement, when in the words of the Boston Pilot, "Mr. McGinniskin was discharged from the Boston Police for no other reason than he was a Catholic and born in Ireland." McGinniskin became a United States inspector at the customhouse and died of rheumatism on March 2, 1868.[5] McGinniskin is buried in the St. Augustine Cemetery in South Boston.[3]
The Boston Police Department appointed Horatio J. Homer, its first African American officer, on December 24, 1878. He was promoted to sergeant in 1895. Sgt. Homer retired on Jan 29, 1919 after 40 years of service. He and his wife, Lydia Spriggs Homer, are buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Brighton, MA. With Full Police Honors, the Boston Police Department dedicated a Gravestone in honor of Sgt. Homer’s Service on Saturday, June 26, 2010, at 10 a.m. [6][3]
Irene McAuliffe was the daughter of the late Weston police chief and horse breeder Patrick McAuliffe and an accomplished horsewoman in her own right. She was sworn in as a mounted officer of the Weston Police Department in 1913 during the town's bicentennial celebration. She joined the District of Columbia Police Department in 1920, and in 1921 she was among the first six women to become members of the Boston Police Department's Vice Squad.[7][3]
In 1974 and 1975, the BPD was involved in maintaining order during the public disturbance over court-ordered busing, which was intended to racially integrate Boston's public school system.[1][8] The protest of white citizens escalated into street battles in 1974, and in 1975 uniformed BPD officers were stationed inside South Boston High School, Charlestown High and other Boston public schools.[8]
On August 23, 1995, the BPD became the first police agency to send fingerprint images to the FBI electronically using the newly created EFIPS (now IAFIS) system. The first set of fingerprints were for a suspect arrested for armed robbery. Within hours of the receipt of the fingerprints, the FBI determined that the suspect had a number of prior arrests, including one for assault with intent to kill.[9]
On December 31, 2006, 31 Boston Municipal Police Officers were merged with the Boston Police. On January 1, 2007, the rest of the Munis were either laid off or transferred to the city's Municipal Protective Services, which provides security to the city's Property Management Department.
The merger was planned in mid-2006 by Mayor Thomas M. Menino. The merger was met with heavy protest from the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association. The BPPA's argument was that the Municipal officers were not qualified to be Boston police officers due to lack of training, political patronage, nepotism and the fact that the Munis were not civil service tested.[10]
On January 31, 2007, 911 callers mistakenly identified small electronic promotions found throughout Boston and the surrounding cities of Cambridge and Somerville as possible explosives. Upon investigation by Boston Police and other agencies [11] the suspicious devices turned out to be battery-powered LED placards with an image of a cartoon character called a "mooninite" used in a guerrilla marketing campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, a film based on the animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force (ATHF) on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim late-night programming block.[11]
The BPD's handling of this incident has been criticized by some Boston residents and justified by others: "We all thought it was pretty funny," said one student. "The majority of us recognize the difference between a bomb and a Lite-Brite," said another.[12] One resident said that the police response was "silly and insane," and that "We’re the laughing stock."[13] Another resident said that the device "looked like a bomb. I picked it up, pulled the tape off it, and there were batteries, two on the top and three on the bottom."[11] The same devices had been distributed in nine other cities across the USA without provoking a similar reaction.[13] The United States Department of Homeland Security praised Boston authorities "for sharing their knowledge quickly with Washington officials and the public."[14]
Beginning in September–October 2011, protesters assembled in Dewey Square as a show of solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York. The Boston Police Department handled the presence of these protesters for ten days without a single arrest, and were hailed by members of the movement for their commendable execution of their duty. In the early hours of October 11, 2011, Boston Police and Transit Police moved into the protesters' secondary camp, arresting approximately 100 protesters.[15] Protesters claimed there were incidents of excessive force by police, however, Mayor Menino denied the claim, explaining that the occupation's move into another section of the Greenway endangered public safety [16]
The Boston Police Department has approximately 2,015 officers and 808 civilian personnel, with patrol services covering an area of 89.6 mi² (232.1 km²) and a population of 589,141. The BPD requires all employed officers hired since 1995 to live within Boston city-limits, and this has led to calls for pay raises to help officers meet the city's high cost of living. The BPD is divided into three zones and 11 neighborhood districts spread across the city, with each zone supervised by a Deputy Superintendent and every district headed by a Captain.[3]
The Boston Police Department is organized into bureaus under the Office of the Police Commissioner. The Chief of Staff, media liaisons and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) also operate out of the Commissioner's office.[17]
The Bureau of Field Services (BFS) consists of the zone commands and police districts, the Special Operations Unit and Youth Violence Strike Force (gang unit). It is the largest bureau and its main responsibility is tactical patrol and crime prevention. Superintendent William Evans is the commander of BFS.
The Bureau of Investigative Services (BIS) consists of the Homicide Unit, Drug Control Unit, Family Justice Center and Forensic Science Division. Superintendent Bruce Holloway is the head of the BIS.
Other bureaus include the Bureau of Administrative Services, led by a civilian, Christopher Fox, and the Bureau of Professional Standards and Development, which encompasses the Training and Education Division, Internal Affairs and Anti-Corruption, headed by Superintendent Kenneth Fong.
The Boston Police rank structure is as follows:
Deputy Superintendents and above serve at the pleasure of the Police Commissioner and in the case of the Commissioner, the Mayor.
The Superintendent In Chief is Daniel Linskey, a career BPD officer.
Boston's former Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole was the first woman to serve in that position, until she resigned from her commissionership on June 30, 2006, to take a new position as Chief Inspector of the Inspectorate of the Irish national police force, An Garda Siochána. Upon her departure, Albert Goslin was appointed acting commissioner.
The Boston Police Commissioner is Edward F. Davis III, who was Chief of Police for the Lowell Police Department in Lowell, Massachusetts. Prior to this appointment, Davis was known in Lowell for his effective community policing efforts. His appointment to the Boston Police Department brought in a renewed era of policing in the city of Boston.[3]
The following is a list of districts that the BPD serves:[18]
District A-1
District A-7
District A-15
District B-2
District B-3
District C-6
District C-11
District D-4
District D-14
District E-5
District E-13
District E-18
The following is a list of the divisions of the BPD:[19]
Boston police officers may carry "only weapons, magazines and ammunition authorized and issued by the Department", which "include, but are not limited to":[21]
In the 1990s the police department resurrected an old idea, the Walk & Talk strategy. Police officers assigned to patrol cars are required to walk a particular area for up to 45 minutes or longer per their tour of duty. The establishment of other initiatives like "Same Cop Same Neighborhood" and "Safe Street Beat Teams" have contributed widely to the continued success of community policing. These types of direct patrol are used even more widely today under the leadership of Police Commissioner Davis. Under his command Patrol Supervisors and police officers who are normally assigned to administrative duties are encouraged to perform a foot patrol. This type of patrol assignment is referred to as a Code 19.
The Boston Police Department has been portrayed in several prominent motion pictures including Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River, Edge of Darkness, Blown Away, The Brinks Job, I Hate You, Dad and The Town. BPD is also featured in the television series Rizzoli & Isles, Leverage, Crossing Jordan, Fringe and the failed Katee Sackhoff/Goran Visnjic cop show pilot Boston's Finest.
Due to filming on location in the Boston area, fake BPD cruisers have been marked with fictional districts to avoid confusion with real BPD cruisers. They include:
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