As of 22:29 hours last night, Boston Police officers from District E-5 were ordered to a fixed protective post at the home of Michelle Wu on Augustus Ave in Roslindale. A political benefit to the City’s leaders that can be waived by the protectee, but seemingly has not been. This type of personal protection clearly shows that Wu acknowledges the importance of police officers despite her divisive campaign rhetoric.
It is unknown at this time if she will also accept a police detail to drive her, as previous mayors have, but it will be a test of how true she remains to her political statements. As a self proclaimed champion of climate change and the MBTA one could even see the use of a tax payer funded driver as hypocritical. Perhaps she will take the route of former governor Michael Dukakis, who famously declined to be chauffeured by police on the taxpayer’s dime, instead opting to use public transit.
Wu was one of several city council members that spoke out in favor of a 10% cut to the Boston Police budget last year. Her mayoral campaign has pushed further budget cuts and unsafe policy changes, including using civilians to respond to emergency calls for mentally disturbed people. During one of the debates Wu even went as far as to claim she was terrified by “armed law enforcement”.
Wu’s fears may be misplaced in Boston. In 2020, Boston Police responded to over 10,000 emergency 9-1-1 calls for people suffering from mental illness or in a mental health crisis. According to public records, it appears zero of those calls ended in officer involved shootings, they were instead transported to local hospitals for mental health treatment. Just a few short weeks ago, officers from multiple agencies spent hours at Rotch Field trying to disarm and deescalate a man suffering from a mental breakdown who was actually armed with a firearm. The man was also unharmed, and transported for treatment. Wu had no comment on that heroic act by the officers.
Here’s hoping that this taxpayer expenditure for personal police protection allows the incumbent mayor to see how incredibly skilled the invaluable men and women of the Boston Police are.