Jul 13, 2009 9:55 pm US/Eastern
BPD Defends Tall Ships Cruise in Police Boat
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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A WBZ viewer took this photo of a police boat loaded with sightseers.
WBZ
Since concerns about security costs nearly cancelled the Tall Ships visit to Boston, a WBZ viewer wants to know why he spotted a Boston Police boat loaded with sightseers cruising Boston Harbor.
The viewer, who only wants to be identified as Dan, a taxpayer of the Commonwealth, snapped pictures of the boat while on a paid tour of the Tall Ships on Sunday.
"You heard from the Mayor consistently… security costs, security costs, security costs. In fact, threatening to cancel the event because of it and here we have a Boston Police Department boat being used to ferry around civilians," Dan said.
WBZ's Dawn Hasbrouck showed the pictures to Mayor Menino.
He says the cruise was not necessarily against the rules, "but it might be stretching the rules at times."
Menino also says the Police Commissioner is investigating.
"We're going to take a look at this and take it very seriously because we know it's public funds. We want to make sure the public funds are spent in a proper manner."
Boston Police issued this statement:
The Boston Police Harbor Patrol Unit has a primary function of ensuring safety on Boston Harbor and at times is utilized for community relations purposes. This was an authorized trip as it was determined that the vessel would still be able to respond to an incident if necessary. Like many other law enforcement agencies, it is not unusual for the vessel to be utilized for instances such as the Junior Police Academy, the Explorers Program or other citizens who are interested in learning how the Harbor Unit functions.
Dan insists he shouldn't have to pay for any BPD-sponsored free rides.
"BPD vehicles are not to be used as tour boats and somebody should be paying for it… not the taxpayers."
While the Boston Police Department admits the boat ride was taxpayer funded, this trip was a routine patrol and no extra costs were incurred.
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