Two dozen Boston Police officers are shedding the blue for the red this year, switching over to Boston Fire in an unusually large swing among the city’s first responders.
Data provided by the city shows that 24 Boston police officers have transferred to the fire department in 2022, enrolling in the academy to become firefighters. That’s compared with four, zero, six and one over the previous four years.
On the flip side, only one Boston firefighter became a city police lofficer this year — and that was the first time since at least before 2018 that that had happened at all.
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association President Larry Calderone said the department is “losing officers to the fire department at an alarming rate because, at the end of the day, it’s a great job.” “Great wages. Great working conditions. No forced overtime. A great quality of life and, arguably, greater respect,” Calderone said in a statement to the Boston Herald.