# Boston Housing Police Scaled Back To A 12 Hour Operation 7-23-18



## Local155NEPBA

On Monday July 23, 2018, the administration at the Boston Housing Authority scaled back the hours of operation of the Boston Housing Police from a 24/7/365 operation to two shifts (8am - 4pm and 12 noon - 8pm) consisting of a 12 hour day.
Since it's creation by a court order in 1978, the Boston Housing Police has provided Police services to the most needy and disenfranchised residents of the City Of Boston, those within public housing. But no more.
Thus began the immediate beginning of the end for a once proud 45 member Police Force that has been reduced to just a paltry 15 uniformed members.
From their own website - "Boston Housing Authority (BHA) provides affordable housing to more than 58,000 residents in and around the City of Boston. Residents are assisted through a combination of public housing and federal and state voucher subsidy programs that provide a wide variety of housing opportunities. As the largest public housing authority in New England, the BHA houses close to 9 percent of the city's residents.
Our mission is to provide stable, quality affordable housing for low and moderate income persons; to deliver these services with integrity and mutual accountability; and to create living environments which serve as catalysts for the transformation from dependency to economic self-sufficiency."
Well, I guess you can pretty much sums it up right there. A full 9% of the city's population will not be afforded the extra added public safety function that they deserve and need for a full 12 hour period starting at 8pm each night and then going to 8am each morning. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights in the sweltering summers will not be covered by the Boston Housing Police due to the ineptitude of the leadership of the Boston Housing Authority making a foolish decision to scale back operations and hours.
Take a look at the website and the 70+ properties / 58,000+ residents that the Boston Housing Police cover within the City Of Boston....
Boston Housing Authority - Boston Housing Authority Housing Developments
Family developments, elderly developments, scattered sites, with 58,000 documented residents + others who happen to be VOTERS within the City Of Boston now have had their own Police force essentially cut in half by the "leadership" of the BHA with ZERO input from the community leaders or anyone at City Hall. While chatting with residents at an elderly development recently, nobody had a clue what the "leadership" of the BHA had done.
The membership of Local 155 NEPBA urges you to tag in every social group, community group, and community / association group, Police group on FaceBook within the city that has direct workings with any development or is adjacent to any BHA development to let the BHA know what a foolish and life changing decision they have made regarding their Police force.
The membership of Local 155 NEPBA also urges you to contact your representatives within Boston City Hall, the Massachusetts Legislature and even the BHA to voice your opinion on weather you think the "leadership" of the BHA has made a wise decision or not.
Below is a list of some people you may be familiar with and can actually do something if enough people take a stand and demand more cops in their streets and developments.
More to come in following posts, so stay tuned.
MAYOR MARTIN J. WALSH,
AN ACCOMPLISHED ADVOCATE FOR WORKING PEOPLE AND A PROUD PRODUCT OF THE CITY OF BOSTON.
617-635-4500 OR EMAIL - [email protected]
TO CONTACT BOSTON CITY HALL, CALL 311 or 617-635-4000.
LYDIA EDWARDS DISTRICT: 1 617-635-3200 [email protected]
Ed Flynn District: 2 617-635-3203 [email protected]
Frank Baker District: 3 617-635-3455 [email protected]
Andrea Campbell District: 4 617-635-3131 [email protected]
Timothy McCarthy District: 5 617-635-4210 [email protected]
Matt O'Malley District: 6 617-635-4220
[email protected]
Kim Janey District: 7 617-635-3510 [email protected]
Josh Zakim District: 8 617-635-4225 [email protected]
Mark Ciommo District: 9 617-635-3113 [email protected]
MICHAEL FLAHERTY At-Large 617-635-4205 [email protected]
ANNISSA ESSAIBI GEORGE AT-LARGE 617-635-4376 [email protected]
AYANNA PRESSLEY AT-LARGE 617-635-4217 [email protected]
MICHELLE WU AT-LARGE 617-635-3115 [email protected]
Boston Housing Authority Administrator William McGonagle
[email protected]
617-988-4406
Boston Housing Authority chief Of Police Stephen Melia
[email protected]
617-988-5315
Boston Housing Authority Human Resources Director
[email protected]
617-988-4112
For Media Inquiries, contact Lydia Agro, Chief of Staff and Public Affairs, at (617) 988-4109 or by email [email protected]
BHA's main telephone number is (617) 988-4000; TTY: (800) 545-1833 x420.
Boston Housing Authority
52 Chauncy Street
Boston, MA 02111
SHEILA A. DILLON
Chief of Housing and Director of Neighborhood Development 617-635-4353 [email protected]
Robert DeLeo 19th Suffolk
617-722-2500 [email protected]
Jeffrey Sánchez 15th Suffolk
617-722-2990 [email protected]
Angelo Scaccia 14th Suffolk
617-722-2230 [email protected]
Byron Rushing 9th Suffolk
617-722-2783 [email protected]
Evandro Carvalho 5th Suffolk
617-722-2017 [email protected]
Edward Coppinger 10th Suffolk
617-722-2080 [email protected]
Russell Holmes 6th Suffolk
617-722-2220 [email protected]
Kevin Honan 17th Suffolk
617-722-2470 [email protected]
Daniel Hunt 13th Suffolk
617-722-2450 [email protected]
Jay Livingstone 8th Suffolk
617-722-2013 [email protected]
Adrian Madaro 1st Suffolk
617-722-2263 [email protected]
Elizabeth Malia 11th Suffolk
617-722-2380 [email protected]
Aaron Michlewitz 3rd Suffolk
617-722-2220 [email protected]
Michael Moran 18th Suffolk
617-722-2014 [email protected]
Chynah Tyler 7th Suffolk
617-722-2130 [email protected]
RoseLee Vincent 16th Suffolk
617-722-2210 [email protected]
Department of Housing and Community Development
100 Cambridge St, Suite 300, Boston, MA 02114
Main Office (617) 573-1100 TTY (617) 573-1140
Housing and Community Development
MA Boston Regional Office
Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr.
Federal Building
10 Causeway Street
3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02222-1092 DAVID E. TILLE
Regional Administrator (617) 994-8200
Fax
(617) 565-6558
Email - [email protected]
Region I
Boston MA

Please share this to whatever social media site you deem appropriate. 
The membership of Local 155 NEPBA thanks you for your efforts and support. Together we can stand strong.


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## Local155NEPBA

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Just to make it easier to go to FB & share it with any groups you know. The membership appreciates it.


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## HousingCop

*Wow, I guess MC really is dead. Back in the day there would have been massive outrage on here and the post forwarded to Facebook and others who could help. HC*


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## mpd61

Sorry,
I have to say I am truly sorry. Obviously at only 33% of your original numbers for staffing, SOMEBODY should have seen this coming a long time ago. Is it too little too late? Only time will tell. Have you folks become a budgetary burden? Since you're so critically understaffed, has OT made your department a fiscal liability? Does your department work closely with others like BPD on joint things or sharing intel? Or they just waiting around hoping you'll die? Look at the Muni's.......
Look at Dean Junior College
SAD, Very sad


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## Bloodhound

HousingCop said:


> *Wow, I guess MC really is dead. Back in the day there would have been massive outrage on here and the post forwarded to Facebook and others who could help. HC*


Pretty much. Even you've only made two posts here in a year. Masscops is going to be a 12 hour operation next. But that is a messed up decision by the BHA.


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## 02136colonel

Should do what NYPD did and merge Housing into BPD. But do right by the BHA guys and give them ALL jobs, not like the muni guys who got boned. Would require special legislation, but could be done.


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## 9319

What's the budget for BHA and what % of that goes to the Housing Police? There is no reason the residents of the BHA don't deserve there own PD. 2.5% of the entire BHA budget should be _just _enough to maintain a respectable 40-50 man Department that can do the job right. They got the money to keep those ridiculous security guards at City Hall but can't properly protect the projects. What a city.


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## HousingCop

*Bloudhound, 
I check in at least once every day here. I only post when necessary and when it's deserving. I'm not a driving force on here & never was. I never went to FB when most everyone else did. That's how I roll. If I had gone to Facebook with everybody else, I probably could have gotten this message out a lot quicker and more easily.
Yes, they've told us that they want in their words "more bang for the buck" by shrinking our hours. It's inevitable that there will be a clusterfuck after 8 p.m. some night (like there was in June on Center St. in Bromley Heath with two murders) and we won't be around when needed the most.
As for any type of merge, I don't see it happening because the BHA wants us to go away by attrition, (their words) even though they are hiring Scool Police and Public Health Commission Police. 
Not that they shouldn't do that, but why would you hire cops that protect an indigent population of 2,500 people who are homeless and blow in from other sections of the country and leave 58,000 voters within the city of Boston without their Police force?
You have approximately 72 School cops and 42 PHC cops but only 15 Housing cops? Seems like some people's priorities aren't in the correct area. 
Don't get me wrong, there needs to be even more School cops and PHC cops but bha cops are woefully understaffed for the amount of people that we are charged with protecting. Cutting our hours in half gives the wrong message to the criminal element and allows them more freedom to run ranpant. 
*


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## CCCSD

So BPD is going to do Enforcement when you guys are closed at night, correct?

There’s your answer. The reality of it is that Dept is going away and monies moved elsewhere. I’m assuming, at my peril, that BPD already has jurisdiction? If so, again, there’s your answer: pay the city for two police positions to take up the slack based on stats, and done.


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## USAF3424

Sad day. My dad and uncle wore both the muni and bha patch. I spent many days as a kid at the old station on west broadway in Southie. Couldn’t agree with you more HC.


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## 02136colonel

CCCSD said:


> So BPD is going to do Enforcement when you guys are closed at night, correct?
> 
> There's your answer. The reality of it is that Dept is going away and monies moved elsewhere. I'm assuming, at my peril, that BPD already has jurisdiction? If so, again, there's your answer: pay the city for two police positions to take up the slack based on stats, and done.


BPD has jurisdiction, and already humps the majority of 911 calls in the bricks due to severe understaffing of BHAPD. The BHA guys are great, they do a lot of impact/proactive policing and community policing in the projects and they provide a constant presence, but there's just not enough of them, so a lot falls to BPD already.


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## MiamiVice

The original post is so long and wordy to be honest I lost interest. Perhaps a shorter sharper message to get out to the masses.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


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## Local155NEPBA

There was more outrage on here when Dean Junior College Police was disbanded when they tried to unionize.
Here, you have a full-fledged / accredited Police Department in decline and nobody seems to care.
Yes, BPD has concurrent jurisdiction in the development (s) with us but they are already overburdened with the work that they are given daily and nightly.
MV, sorry to overburden you with a brief synopsis, of the facts, and then the people to contact to right this wrong.


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## CCCSD

You do realize that this won’t turn around, right? If you are down 30+ cops, you are on the chopping block, unless there is an image/political need for that agency to exist. Your “warning” should have started years ago when you started losing bodies with no replacements. 

BPD will absorb the added area, hire a few more guys, and that’s it. Not all agencies survive through the years.

At least you are working good hours shifts and still have jobs.


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## Kilvinsky

It's horseshit, bullshit and outrageous, but it's also evident that this has been in the works for several years. Yes, I'm not happy, but the wheels are so far forward in motion, nothing can stop them beyond an act of Congress, and look how effective THEY'VE been.

Dean was a different story. No attrition, no slow roll to the end, just a sudden SLAM, like the drop of the blade of a guillotine. There is a difference in the method of how it was done, but not the end result.

BHA Police are some damn fine cops for which I have ENORMOUS respect. My friend in Philly (God Rest His Soul) was on the Housing Police there, RETIRED from that agency. It was being destroyed but suddenly made an amazing resurgence. I don't know why, BUT, it did. It's exact status now, I do not know, but to go from one foot in the grave to a vibrant PD is astonishing. THAT can happen.

Maybe BHA can do the same, but you guys have to push your righteous indignation at City Hall and the State House. Here and Facebook are not what is going to change things. Get your constituency out there pushing for you, THEY are the ones who will be listened to. The poor, the underprivileged, the downtrodden. A bunch of pro-cop folks on a pro-cop website will not gain you jack shit.

Democrats LISTEN to the underdog (even if they end up fucking them sideways in the long run) where as they disdain the rants of ANYONE on the right, especially cops!


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## CCCSD

If you want to save your Dept, you NEED all 58,000 residents to demand that BHA stay as their Police. Without those votes, nothing will happen. 58k is a lot of voices....even in MA.


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## USM C-2

Agreed - if your community is on your side, they will be willing to go to bat for you. If they aren't on your side, it is likely too late now.


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## Local155NEPBA

The union was fed a bunch of lies by certain people(s) who will remain nameless (for now) who appear in the first post. 
We've collectively reached out to local newspapers to tell the truth about the false commitments made, lies perpetrated and the general mismanagement bordering on criminality we've witnessed and been made aware of. 
As we've witnessed first hand, reporting is dead in America and everybody wants the whole package neatly tied up and placed with a bow upon their desk for any type of story to run. 
If Donald Trump was involved I'm sure A.G. Maura Healey would be all over it like stink on $hit, but this is an actual case which might involve her investigative prowess (if she has any), not an 8 second sound bite on TV.
Some of the residents have been made aware of this through interactions with the Police but this was done without benefit of any community involvement or public discourse. We're just trying to get the word out through this and other forums and any sharing on social media that can be done would be greatly appreciated. NEPBA155


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## CCCSD

Your UNION should have been on top of this years ago. No one will care who it is when they call 911. They just want a cop. Your UNION guys have allowed your agency to crumble. Your UNION should now be talking to BPD and trying to save jobs via an absorption. You are way too late out of the gate. 
That’s politics. 
If this “outreach” is all your UNION can think to do...you voted the wrong guys in.
That’s the REAL world.


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## Edmizer1

A guy I work with has a family member that worked in the medical services department in a jail in Massachusetts. The sheriff started not replacing medical staff as they left. The staffing became so low that the job became unmanageable and the remaining employees started leaving in droves. With only a handful of employees left, the sheriff declared an emergency and brought in a private company to manage the service. The remaining employees either left or took jobs with the private company. By the end, there were only a few union employees left and no power or resources to fight the change.


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## HousingCop

*CCCSD, 
When the union was told by very powerful people what would and should happen, they were told to keep quiet and stay the course. They played that game until recently when the rug was pulled out from under them. By then, it was really too late to do anything. Thank you for your support Union brother. I don't know where you work or what you do, but I see you joined in 2017. I've been here since basically the inception of MassCops and through MassCops 1.0, 2.0 and the most recent incarnation. 
I've got my time in and probably will be moving on to greener pastures. Some aren't as lucky as me and will have to work under Nero while Rome burns around them. I don't envy their positions.
The people that support us are slowly getting on board, as the word gets out on this clusterfuck City Hall & the BHA Administration have created.
Plenty of blame to go around and some people who have left who were higher up in the Administration should keep looking over their shoulders since the statue of limitations hasn't run out yet and won't for quite some time.
*


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## patsfan209

Always a great group in some almost unbelievable dangerous LE situations in the Mission Hill area.


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## CCCSD

All due respect, but when the union hides secrets from members, resulting in job loss, your union isn’t doing what it should, sounds more like Teamsters and Hoffa. 

I’m a 30+ year cop in CA. Out here, there would be changes brought against the union leaders...

Good luck.


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## HousingCop

*Union membership was not kept in the dark CCCSD. I, as well as others was fully aware of this. It's a 7 person shop and we can hold a union meeting in a phone booth.
That's not how it's done out in the land of Fruits & Nuts, and the same goes for here. I'm sure those shoes in your avatar fit you well.
I'll be sure to join CalCops and post my 31 year opinion there. Cops in Housing don't need luck, we've got skill.*


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## CCCSD

Right now, all you’ve got is 15 jobs.

Think I’m entitled to my opinion, just like you are. Someday, when you admit you screwed up, then you can apologize to all those “union brothers” you guys fucked over.
Sworn to secrecy. That’s the biggest cop-out and typical of those in positions of “power” who don’t know what the fuck they are doing. What were “they” going to do to you if you told? Send you to grave shift? Sue you? Scream and cry?

YOU made a back room deal that burned you and lost jobs, now you are whining about how unfair it is.

Don’t tell me how unions run out here. You don’t know anything, they can and have been taken to court. The MEMBERS are the ones that are getting shafted, all because you guys tried to pull a fast one. 

Epic Fail


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## 02136colonel

CCCSD said:


> Your UNION should have been on top of this years ago. No one will care who it is when they call 911. They just want a cop. Your UNION guys have allowed your agency to crumble. Your UNION should now be talking to BPD and trying to save jobs via an absorption. You are way too late out of the gate.
> That's politics.
> If this "outreach" is all your UNION can think to do...you voted the wrong guys in.
> That's the REAL world.


It's obvious that you don't really know how things work here. BPD can't save BHA jobs through absorption. BPD is a Civil Service entity, bound by CS rules for hiring. The only way for BHA guys to go to BPD, is through legislative means, which the BHAPD Union absolutely, 100% should be doing. But the BPPA, BPD admin and City Hall can't approve such an arrangement, only the MA legislature can, via a home rule petition. It would be a win-win situation, providing the BHA guys with the opportunity to work for BPD, and BPD with a few badly needed bodies, but the legislature needs to OK it.
I actually think you mean well, and I haven't wanted to get involved in this pissing match between you two, but if you're going to come here and throw barbs, at least know how we do things in the Bay State.


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## Local155NEPBA

02136colonel, you are exactly right and couldn't have said it better myself, thank you. 

CCCSD, the NEPBA local union officers do not dictate to the administration who they hire and how many they hire. We are a non-CS department with civil service tenure after 5 years of employment. We collectively bargain for union membership and what is in the best interest for the body at large. Was it a failure, to a large degree yes. When you're told by the tippity top guy to hold tight and stay the course, do you go around shouting about it and upsetting things and stick your thumb in his eye? Absolutely friggin' not. 
We've been told by the BHA administration that HUD has told them that we cannot be paid out of discretionary management improvement funds and our budget must come out of the reserve budget. Congress sets the HUD budget which frequently undercuts the amount the BHA requests every year to maintain services. 
Once the Winthrop Street Garage closed, which was the main revenue stream to fund the Housing Police, the beginning of the end started. Now in that Winthrop Street Garage spot, the Mayor will have his extra tall building that casts a shadow over the Boston Commons. He changed the state law to accommodate that deal and has the power to do that. But Mayor Walsh also has the power to do exactly what 02136colonel said, but he's left the people of the BHA without extra needed coverage for 12 hours a day / 365 days a year.
By all means, compare CA to MA all day long if you like, it's just bringing in more people to view the debate and the situation we find ourselves in. Several individuals have reached out after reading this, so thanks for your interest.


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## USAF3424

CCCSD wants charges brought againt union leadership lol. Don’t let him catch you running your own plate either!!!!!


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## CCCSD

I think that’s the difference between WC and EC. You guys don’t mind crooks in the hen house. We do. But hey, that’s on you. Enjoy them ripping you off for everything, But don't whine about it.


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## 02136colonel

CCCSD said:


> I think that's the difference between WC and EC. You guys don't mind crooks in the hen house. We do. But hey, that's on you. Enjoy them ripping you off for everything, But don't whine about it.


Uhm, yeah take a look at the BPPA/BPSOF contracts and tell me how bad the unions are in MA. Or the FF contract, which makes the Cops look poor by comparison. Remind me again what your Quinn percentages are out in Cali? But don't worry, at least you can always get a side job as a flagman. Yeah, the unions here are so incompetent.


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## HousingCop

11:30 PM
Man on bicycle shot in Jamaica Plain


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## felony

Sorry to hear about that. Walsh being a union guy might throw you a bone with a merger.


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## Kilvinsky

The whole situation sucks. Money v. Law Enforcement has been a major issue for years. Don't worry about what needs to be done, just save a buck or two. Just ask any Registry Cop, Capitol Cop or Metropolitan Cop...…...oh wait, they're retiring as Troopers.

Bullshit comes on many forms.


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## HousingCop

*Felony, 
Walsh isn't a union guy any more. He's part of the new wave of (D) that have taken over the party. He can do whatever he wants but that won't be one of his options that he explores. Take that to the bank. 
He's going to be Ocassio-Cortez'd and Pressley'd right out of office next term if he chooses to run.
Kilv,
They are definitely saving money, but at what cost? The cops and the public both are getting screwed here. *


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