The Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) - A union representing hundreds of high-ranking Boston police officers has filed a complaint against management, claiming the department set an unacceptable precedent during World Series games by bringing in outside police agencies to help control crowds.
After celebrations following the Red Sox victory over the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series Oct. 21 got out of hand, and a college student was killed by a pepperball gun fired by an officer, Commissioner Kathleen M. O’Toole decided to beef up security for World Series games.
She did so by bringing in hundreds of officers from suburban police departments, state police, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police, and the Department of Correction to assist in crowd control.
“It’s our work, it’s our streets,” Mark Parolin, vice president of the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, told the Boston Sunday Globe. “Before they go to outside departments, they should have every cop in the city of Boston working.”
The state police and the MBTA paid their officers for working during the World Series, police spokeswoman Beverly Ford said. O’Toole is hoping to use homeland security grants to pay for the suburban officers’ work, Ford said.