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Council sends a fourth police age waiver to Beacon Hill, 13-0; a residency resolution goes to committee

One-person age waivers keep passing without opposition. Flynn's resolution on residency rules for civilian police employees who become officers was referred instead of adopted.

By Boston Politics staffUpdated

The City Council voted 13-0 on Wednesday to ask the Legislature to let one more applicant join the Boston Police Department past the maximum age for new officers (docket 2042). A second police hiring item, a resolution on residency rules for civilian employees who become officers, went to committee instead (docket 2052).

Both bear on the same question the council keeps returning to: how Boston fills its police ranks. A class of 118 officers graduated this month, the Dorchester Reporter reported, and we covered the department's staffing numbers and both of these items in our preview.

The age waiver

City Councilor Miniard Culpepper moved to suspend the rules and pass the home rule petition, and all 13 councilors are listed as sponsors. The petition asks for a special law directing the department to waive the maximum age requirement for the applicant's original appointment, notwithstanding a 2007 state law, and says he would be eligible to be certified for appointment if he meets every other requirement.

It is the fourth police age-waiver petition this year in our records, and none has drawn a no vote. (The council has passed two similar petitions for firefighters, in February and on Oct. 21: docket 0390 and docket 1961.)

Each petition still needs the Legislature to pass it and the governor to sign it before it takes effect. In September, City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata said she had filed a broader home rule petition to waive the age limit more generally (watch at 3:00:22).

The residency resolution

City Councilor Ed Flynn's resolution, co-sponsored by City Councilor Erin Murphy, says that a Boston Police civilian employee who has already met the 10-year residency requirement must start the clock over after entering the academy, and that prior city service should count (resolution). It was referred to the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee rather than adopted the day it was filed. The record does not say why, and video of the meeting has not been posted yet.

What our records show

The council has split before on a related residency question. On Aug. 5, Flynn's resolution supporting a residency waiver for officers transferring from other municipalities (docket 1549) failed 3-9:

  • Yes (3): John FitzGerald, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy.
  • No (9): Liz Breadon, Miniard Culpepper, Sharon Durkan, Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana, Benjamin Jacob Weber and Brian Worrell.
  • Absent (1): Gabriela Coletta Zapata.

A companion hearing order on that transfer idea (docket 1547), sponsored by Flynn, Murphy and FitzGerald, has been in the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee since Aug. 5 with no hearing. The new resolution joins it there.

At a May 19 Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee hearing, a department official said Boston had 2,234 officers including recruits, and that the department loses about 107 officers a year on average (watch at 33:14).

What's next

The age waiver goes to the State House. The residency resolution stays in committee unless the chair, Santana, schedules a hearing or working session and reports it back. A resolution would put the council on record but would not change the city's residency ordinance or police union contracts.