BOSTON — A Boston city councilor is raising concerns about city police staffing following a Monday night incident where a man is accused of assaulting two officers and trying to grab their firearm during an arrest.
Police said they responded to Mass. Ave. Monday night and found Felix Omar David Marrero, 34, with a group. They claimed he had two outstanding warrants and resisted arrest.
A struggle reportedly followed and led into the street, where Marrero attempted to grab an officer’s taser and firearm.
Police said they were able to pry his hands away and place them in handcuffs.
City councilor Ed Flynn, who has recently tagged along with police units across Boston, said this incident is sadly unsurprising.
“I’m outraged when we see a first responder, police officer, assaulted by anyone,” Flynn said.
He also described the public safety situation as a “crisis” partially stemming from police staffing concerns.
Flynn continued, “We have to hire more police officers. We have to respect police officers so that we’re able to retain police officers in their current position.”
The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association told Boston 25 Tuesday that the department is roughly 500 officers short of its full staffing of 2,500 officers.
BPPA president Larry Calderone said in a statement:
“The BPPA has been sounding the alarm for the past few years about being hundreds of officers short & the rise in violence across the city. People do not feel safe. And, although BPD is graduating 110 recruits next week, we retired over 50 more as of January. We need to hire hundreds more officers or the violence will only get worse.”
”If violent criminals will attack and physically fight and injure police officers like this past weekend, how can the general public possibly feel safe themselves. We can’t continue to do more with less. It’s unsafe for the officers themselves."
The city’s detectives union also told Boston 25 Tuesday they’re roughly 50 detectives short.
Flynn claimed this staffing is the worst the city’s ever seen.
He finished, “I think it’s important for residents to advocate for more police resources for this upcoming budget... It’s going to take everyone working together.”
Flynn claimed the short staffing is caused by city budgetary cuts.
Boston 25 reached out to Mayor Michelle Wu’s office for comment and is waiting to hear back.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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