Commissioner seeks officers outside Hub

The Police Department has exhausted its list of candidates for officers and has asked officers from police departments around the state to consider transferring to Boston, according to a letter Commissioner Edward F. Davis sent police chiefs this week.

The plan was challenged yesterday by Councilor at Large Michael F. Flaherty, who said he wants to explore other means of hiring officers in Boston before looking outside city borders. For example, Flaherty suggested waiving a city requirement that prevents anyone age 32 or older from starting a job as a police officer.

"I want to know why it's been determined that we don't have qualified candidates right here in Boston," he said. "We have to look at other mechanisms before we consider lateral transfers."

Massachusetts police departments use the state's civil service exam to identify officers, but over the years, the number of test takers seeking a job on the city's force has dropped. In 1997, 5,430 took the test; in 2005, the last time the civil service exam was offered, the number dropped to 1,345.

Of those, many fail the test or do not meet the department's medical or ethical requirements.

"Many jurisdictions are experiencing difficulties in acquiring a qualified pool of candidates to the position of Police Officer from current civil service lists," Davis wrote, "and at this point we have exhausted that list."

Deputy Superintendent Daniel Linskey said the department is trying to hire a little more than 100 officers before the summer, when violence traditionally spikes. He said the department has received only 389 applications from eligible candidates for those positions. The department's human resources office estimates that after reviewing those candidates, the force would be able to hire at most 60 of them, he said.

"We want to do what other cities and towns have been doing to us," Linskey said. "We want trained officers on the street to help us accomplish our crime strategy."

He said the department has already received 11 letters from officers working outside Boston.

Thomas J. Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, said he is concerned about the plan. "It's legal, but it's never happened before," he said. "I don't know what the criteria is yet. I'm just really confused by this right now."

Linskey said any officers that transfer to the department from other communities would start as patrolmen, no matter their rank on another force. The officers would have to live in Boston.

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.