Battenfeld: Mayor Kim Janey ducks gaping hole in Boston Police Department

Acting Mayor Kim Janey declared it’s a “new day” when she was sworn into office, but when it comes to the Boston Police Department, it’s been the same old, same old.

The department is rudderless and obstructionist and Janey is doing nothing about it.

Newly-named Police Commissioner Dennis White, placed on leave after allegations of domestic violence surfaced, is still away from his duties while an investigation into the allegations is completed.

Since White was placed on leave by then-Mayor Marty Walsh more than two months ago, the public has heard nothing about the outside investigation or when or if White might be back.

Janey, who became the city’s first Black chief executive when Walsh left to become labor secretary, has moved quickly to use her new powers to position her for this fall’s election, but has been strangely inactive on White, who would be the city’s second black police commissioner.

“Right now the situation is still under investigation and I will certainly look to that investigation to see what is next,” she said. “In the interim, I am meeting with different stakeholders in the community.”

Janey should be pressing the department to release every internal affairs document there is on White. That’s real police accountability — which is what Janey has promised.

But she’s off to a poor start when it comes to transparency. The Police Department has repeatedly stymied every effort to disclose details of the abuse allegations against White.

The department has not even responded to the requests, keeping the public — and presumably Janey — in the dark.

Janey could force the issue if she wants but she’s decided to play the waiting game.

But she can’t keep ducking from now until September’s preliminary mayoral election. The job of police commissioner is one of the most important — if not the most important — job outside of mayor.

So what happens next?

She could be in the awkward position of having to reinstate White if the investigation determines he did nothing wrong.

Some of the city’s top black ministers, as well as Suffolk Sheriff Steve Tompkins, have come forward to take a stand, saying it’s time to put White back on the job.

Or Janey could be put in the difficult position of having to fire White if the investigation doesn’t go in his favor. There is some question whether she even has the power to appoint a new commissioner because of the limited powers of an acting mayor.

Walsh before he left town himself expressed frustration about the White investigation taking too long.

“That’s unfortunate,” he said. “I was hoping to get that done before I left. We hired an outside firm to look at the whole picture of what happened there. They’re clearly doing a very thorough job.”

Walsh added that he spoke to Janey about the gaping hole at the top of the police department.

But Janey — who has not been shy about claiming credit for initiatives that Walsh started and was all too willing to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park — has not caught the ball on White. It’s past time she did.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3dFRvG6