
A union representative said an understaffed and overworked operations division is the cause of roughly 35,000 emergency calls going unanswered by Boston Police Department dispatchers in 2022.
According to Neal O’Brien, representative for SEIU Local 888, employees have worked double shifts, 3 to 5 times a week for the last 3 years, adding up to 90 hours per week.
WATCH ANYTIME FOR FREE
![]() |
Stream NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are. |
“Some operations workers have become so fatigued with this abusive work schedule, that in some instances have reached their breaking points and have risen from their chairs unannounced, rifled their headsets to the floor and stated they quit,” O’Brien wrote in a letter to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, the Boston Herald reports.
“The responsibility for this staffing problem is now squarely on your shoulders,” O’Brien continued to write in his letter to the commissioner. “Your human resource department has employed a hiring and retention model over the last three years that is a miserable and redundant failure.”
Get updates on what's happening in Boston to your inbox. Sign up for our News Headlines newsletter.
“There is poor accountability for taxpayer money squandered in this situation between the overtime paid to mandated workers and the overtime paid to the managing superior officers.” he added.
SEIU Local 888 represents over 75,000 people in Massachusetts.
He added,
Local
In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston and New England area.