Above: New Boston Police Officer Vanessa Gomes Barbosa took the oath on Friday at the IBEW Hall on Freeport Street, one of 50 new recruits sworn in and now on the job. The new officers follow a class of 100 recruits that hit the streets last fall. Seth Daniel photos
The Boston Police Department escorted 50 new officers into its ranks last Friday (Jan. 9) with a swearing-in ceremony held at Dorchester’s IBEW Freeport Hall. The freshly minted academy class will help fill vacancies that have emerged over the last few years due to retirements, promotions, and lower numbers of police recruits locally and nationwide.
“Enjoy today,” BPD Commissioner Michael Cox told the recruits and the full auditorium, “because tomorrow you go to work for real.”
The new officers, who started their journey at the BPD’s Academy in Hyde Park some eight months ago, will further fortify the department’s ranks, which inducted 100 new officers last fall. About 40 of them were deployed into Dorchester and Mattapan’s two major police districts, C-11 and B-3…