Mayoral Candidate Connolly Speaks Out On Community Policing, Opponent Walsh

Standing in front of Charlestown's Schrafft’s Chocolate factory on Main Street, Boston Mayoral candidate John Connolly attacked the need for increased community police programs and then his opponent, state Rep. Marty Walsh, for not doing enough in that area.

Saying he would undermine the funding for community policing, Connolly blasted Walsh for his effort to push through arbitration legislation in which labor disputes between public safety personnel and the city would be binding after an award was approved by an arbitrator and it would no longer require the final agreement to be approved by the Boston City Council. 

Connolly said city officials warned that to pay an existing award to the police would see police salaries increase by 25 percent in the next five years and would result in cuts in the police budget including in community policing. He said he would oppose the award if it came before him in the City Council.

Speak at a violence-prevention forum taking place in Charlestown, Connolly said, “My opponent’s legislative record indicates the exact opposite” to his on funding community policing, according to Boston.com

Walsh's legislation would make the ruling of an arbitrator final and binding. Walsh has said that required binding arbitration would force compromise.