Flaherty criticizes Menino on his role in Boston police

Flaherty accused Menino of presiding over a “culture of dishonesty’’ following a Globe report about the demotion of a police commander who supervised the mayor’s son.

The mayor said he played no role in the decision or any other police personnel decisions.

But Flaherty, a city councilor at large, said it was disingenuous for Menino to assert, as he did in a second Globe report, that he knew nothing about a $120,000 settlement of a 2001 civil rights lawsuit filed against several police officers, including Detective Thomas M. Menino Jr.

“It’s inconceivable and outrageous that the mayor says he had no knowledge of the settlement, despite the fact that it’s one of the highest civil rights settlements in the last 10 years,’’ Flaherty said of the lawsuit.

The Globe reported that Deputy Superintendent Earl O. Perkins, head of the department’s highly praised intelligence-gathering unit, was demoted in May, following reported tension between him and Menino Jr. Perkins had reduced overtime in his unit, following a department-wide edict and enforced a stricter policy on use of take-home cars, changes that officials said directly affected Menino Jr.

Flaherty called Perkins a “talented and decorated’’ officer who “didn’t want to play in the club.’’

“The culture at the Police Department is not about how well you perform,’’ Flaherty said. “It’s who you know.’’

Menino’s spokeswoman, Dot Joyce, said Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis is solely responsible for personnel decisions in his department.

“The councilor can make all the political statements he wants,’’ said Joyce. “But the facts are the facts. The commissioner runs the Police Department.’’

Elaine Driscoll, the commissioner’s spokeswoman, reiterated that position. “Throughout his tenure, he has not been afraid to make hard decisions when it comes to the best management of the department, and he will continue to do so,’’ she said.

In yesterday’s report, Menino said internal criticism of the demotion of Perkins was pure politics, pointing out that the superior officers’ union has endorsed Flaherty. The story quoted unnamed law enforcement officials who questioned whether Perkins’s tense relationship with Menino Jr. sparked the demotion.

Joseph Gillespie, president of the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, denied his union played any part in raising questions about Perkins’s demotion.

“I find it offensive that the mayor saw fit to deflect the attention away from any issues he may have had and draw us into an issue that we never saw fit to comment on,’’ Gillespie said.

Gillespie said Menino is continuing a long tradition of influencing the command staff that began with Mayor Kevin White and that ultimately hurts department leadership.

“I think unfortunately it’s not always the most qualified people that make their way on to the command staff,’’ Gillespie said. “It’s sometimes the most connected people.’’

But Miller Thomas, president of the city’s detectives union, said he believes the mayor has a right to have a say in what goes on in the department.

“Of course there is an influence,’’ Thomas said. “Is it overbearing influence? No. Can people get their work done without too much influence from City Hall? Of course, they can and they do, every day.’’

Flaherty said he believes that qualified minority officers have less chance of being promoted to superintendent or deputy superintendent if they are not part of Menino’s inner circle.

Larry Ellison, president of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, agreed and said that this week, he and other officers, as well as several community leaders, will begin holding signs in Roxbury calling for a change in leadership at City Hall.

But Thomas, who is African-American, said he believes that Menino has a good record on diversity in the department, adding that under the mayor, the department promoted the first Hispanic and Asian superintendents.

“He’s been pretty inclusive,’’ Thomas said.

A second report yesterday described for the first time details of a 2001 lawsuit that the city settled with John Lonergan, a Quincy drug suspect, who said his skull was fractured in 1997 during an arrest in Quincy. Lonergan alleged that Menino Jr., without identifying himself as a police officer, threw him onto the ground, causing his head to strike the base of an outdoor public telephone. The settlement was the eighth largest in a police case claiming a civil rights violation or excessive force.