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Boston police now required to wear nametags under new contract extension
"Real public safety requires transparency, and knowing someone’s name makes a difference," Mayor Michelle Wu said.
All patrol officers working for the Boston Police Department will now be required to wear nametags, a move that city leaders hailed as a major step toward improving transparency and public trust in the department.
The requirement comes as part of a new contract extension between the city and the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association that was announced Monday. The BPPA represents the majority of BPD officers.
Superior officers like sergeants and lieutenants already had to wear nametags, and patrol officers already had to show their unique badge numbers.
Union members ratified the contract extension last week, which covers the period from July 1, 2025, through June 30 of next year at a total one-year estimated cost of $6.7 million. The agreement also secures wage increases and free gym access for officers, streamlines the detail system, and creates a more thorough evaluation system for assessing officer performance.
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Mayor Michelle Wu won the endorsement of the BPPA on her way to securing another four-year term. It was the union’s first of an incumbent in three decades, and Wu continues to project a strong relationship with both the BPPA and Police Commissioner Michael Cox.
The new nametag requirement will go a long way toward improving public safety, Wu said during a press conference this week.
“Real public safety requires transparency, and knowing someone’s name makes a difference,” she said. “It means that when you’re in crisis, you won’t be facing down a stranger behind a uniform. You’re speaking to a person, a neighbor, a fellow member of our community.”
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The Trump administration’s antagonism of Wu and its ongoing efforts to conduct mass deportations using masked agents hung over the announcement.
Wu drew a contrast between federal agents and Boston police, saying that BPD officers build trust with their communities through a willingness to be open and accessible. She accused federal agents of “staking out” schools and churches, separating parents from their children without due process, and refusing to show identification as they conduct immigration enforcement in and around Boston.
“The goal isn’t safety, it’s creating fear,” Wu said of their tactics.
Alarm is growing among many Massachusetts residents and officials over the use of masks by federal agents. There is pending legislation in the State House that seeks to prevent them from shielding their faces, and momentum appears to be building behind the measure.
But such a law could be “nearly impossible” to enforce, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said this week.
Building trust between local police and residents is a core part of Wu and Cox’s mission, and they attribute positive strides in public safety to that strategy. The nametag requirement is in line with the BPD’s focus on “community policing,” Cox said.
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“Right now throughout the country, there is a great deal of lack of trust with police just due to the fact that you can’t see what they look like and, more importantly, you have no idea who they are,” he added.
A nametag requirement has been a point of discussion between the BPPA and the city for many years, Wu said. Larry Calderone, the union’s president, praised the mayor for her willingness to actually work with the union to nail down new contracts. The Wu administration and the BPPA announced a five-year collective bargaining agreement in 2023. The union’s prior contract with the city had expired in 2020.
“I believe that one of the reasons why the mayor and I are so successful in coming to these negotiated contracts is because we share a similar vision,” Calderone said. “That vision is making the department more professional, continuing to have them more respected in their community, and building that relationship with the people that we serve.”
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