Mayor Walsh: Boston Will Fund 20 More Police Cadets In 2017
In an effort to diversify the Boston police force, Mayor Marty Walsh announced budget funds will be allocated for the return of the Boston Police Cadet Program, a training program for youth seeking a career in law enforcement. “We’re going to keep it in line and try to keep the cadet class going to help with the diversity,” Walsh said, “and help us with giving opportunities to young people that otherwise wouldn’t get {them}.”
Walsh said this revival will add 20 new cadets to the 42 already in the program from last year, 31 of which were minorities — 20 African-Americans, nine Hispanics, and two Asians. “We’re able to try and continue to build the diversity of our department,” Walsh said. “For the first time in our department, we have six women in the command staff. There’s nine white men, nine men of color, and six women in the command staff.”
In a city where more than half (53 percent) of the residents are people of color, the uniformed police force is more than two-thirds white. Critics have drawn a correlation with the state’s military preference, which has created a pipeline for veterans, (a majority white population) to receive positions as police officers.
A similar program for the Boston Fire Department faced resistance from a local veterans group in early March, when the group said the program would discriminate against members of the military. The Massachusetts Military Veterans Alliance wrote a letter to the Boston City Council, arguing that a similar cadet program for the Boston Fire Dept. “Discriminate{s} against veterans for employment” and described the program as a “bold attack on veterans within the city of Boston.”