Homicide fight centers on drug trade
Boston police are putting men with gun records and histories of violence in their sights, hoping it will tamp down the spree of shootings and stabbings that last year led to 72 homicides, a nearly 50 percent increase from 2009.
Inquiry into theft of drugs from police facility hits dead end
Three years after Boston police revealed that at least one officer had stolen hundreds of bags of drugs from an evidence warehouse — a brazen crime that shook a department reeling from scandal — the case has quietly gone cold.
Investigators have been unable to find any physical evidence tying a specific person to the theft, and no one has come forward with information that could incriminate a suspect, according to police. No one has been arrested or disciplined in connection with the case.
The probe, which at one point included 25 to 30 investigators, including FBI agents, now has none. The inability to crack the case suggests that officers can be as reluctant as witnesses on city streets to help police solve crimes.
Why wouldn't the public want to help the police, huh?
Related: After 4 decades, a break in ghastly murder caseBoston police are putting men with gun records and histories of violence in their sights, hoping it will tamp down the spree of shootings and stabbings that last year led to 72 homicides, a nearly 50 percent increase from 2009.
Inquiry into theft of drugs from police facility hits dead end
Three years after Boston police revealed that at least one officer had stolen hundreds of bags of drugs from an evidence warehouse — a brazen crime that shook a department reeling from scandal — the case has quietly gone cold.
Investigators have been unable to find any physical evidence tying a specific person to the theft, and no one has come forward with information that could incriminate a suspect, according to police. No one has been arrested or disciplined in connection with the case.
The probe, which at one point included 25 to 30 investigators, including FBI agents, now has none. The inability to crack the case suggests that officers can be as reluctant as witnesses on city streets to help police solve crimes.
Why wouldn't the public want to help the police, huh?
Boston officer is arrested on assault charges
Hub police operations unit plagued by problems
Yeah, I can see that.
Also see: Former ‘top cop’ guilty of fraud
Related: Massachusett's Top Cop
Not paid enough?
"Top earners in Boston police are examined; Superintendent reviews their overtime pay to try to reduce spending" by Maria Cramer, Globe Staff / March 13, 2011
The Boston Police Department’s second-in-command is scrutinizing the overtime pay of the officers who made the most money in 2010, a review that is causing tension within the rank and file....
If I were a citizen of Boston I would prefer a happy, well-taken-care-of policeman.
Grumpy cops do bad things.
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Related: Overtime pay for police appearance in court under scrutiny
Hey, I'm not for anyone ripping off taxpayers; however, let's start with the banks and Wall Street houses first.
"Back pay lifted city’s payroll 3 percent in ’10; Individual payments averaged about $28,000" by Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff / February 17, 2011
Boston’s annual payroll jumped more than 3 percent in 2010, driven up, city officials said yesterday, by hefty retroactive checks for police and fire personnel, as a result of contract settlements and court awards that spanned several years.
Firefighters alone took home $48.2 million in back pay. A union official said they were owed the money because of a contentious contract dispute that remained unresolved until last summer.
Individual payouts averaged roughly $28,000, with the largest retroactive check adding up to $60,485 for Deputy Chief Robert J. Calobrisi, whose earnings totaled $229,087 in 2010.
Police also won 16 years of back pay totaling $18.7 million, following a court decision and a separate legal settlement. It was difficult to pinpoint the high mark for police retroactive pay because it stemmed from two different cases. But some checks totaled more than $48,000....
Despite layoffs and attrition that reduced the workforce by the equivalent of 94 full-time employees in 2010, Boston’s payroll, released in response to a public records request by the Globe, grew by 3.3 percent last year to $1.33 billion.
That uptick can be blamed, Meredith Weenick, the city’s acting director of administration and finance reiterated, on the nearly $67 million the city paid in police and fire settlements. Without the back pay, the payroll would have dropped from 2009, she said.
The city’s top earner in 2010 was once again Carol R. Johnson, superintendent of schools, who was paid $323,222, including a $56,472 pensionlike payment, officials said.
This as she takes a hatchet to Boston's school system.
The records also show that 169 people, identified as teachers in the School Department, took home more than $100,000.
After Johnson, the next top earners were Deputy Fire Chief Peter A. Laizza, who garnered a total of $271,783 including back pay, and police Captain Patrick J. Crossen, whose $261,784 in earnings included $75,128 in overtime.
Significantly further down the list, Mayor Thomas M. Menino was paid $172,255. Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis and Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser Jr. each made $171,467. And Amy E. Ryan, president of the Boston Public Library, took home $213,562. That included a $40,000 bonus, covering two years and negotiated as part of her contract....
Yeah, but contracts mean nothing when it comes to the rank-and-file.
Related: Boston Libraries Go Quiet
What, no outrage?
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Also see: Reeling from video, Boston police offer insight on use of force
What I dislike about the divisive Globe coverage is they are more than happy to help cover up the cops beating the hell out of guys like Woodman or Howe, while then turning about and bashing them as unions and implying they are the source of all our budget woes.
It's a nice racket; however, like so much of the newspaper's agenda it is no longer working.
Also see: Officer in fatal shooting will not be charged
Hey, look, the liberal fascist state is just like any other.
