Group accuses Menino campaign of intimidation

It was this alleged threat, in part, that motivated more than 60 members of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers to cast a vote of no confidence against Menino Saturday, said Larry Ellison, president of the organization.

“It’s clear that this is how they do business, by threats and intimidation,’’ he said. “If you don’t play ball with us, there will be hell to pay later on.’’

Nick Martin, spokesman for the Menino campaign, denied the allegations. “I can’t speak to any rumors being spread through the grapevine,’’ he said. “As far as I know, there has not been any sort of intimidation.’’

Ellison, a detective in the department who recently took over as president of the officers’ organization, has become more vocal about diversity in the upper ranks as the race between Menino and City Councilor at Large Michael F. Flaherty Jr. has heated up. Last week, he and some of his members stood in Grove Hall during afternoon and morning rush hours, holding signs calling for change in City Hall. Yesterday, they were in Mattapan Square doing the same.

Ellison said the members who voted Saturday voted unanimously, but the final tally did not represent the total number of officers in the organization, which has 300 to 325 members.

The vote came several days after Ellison, Menino, and Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis met for dinner at a North End restaurant. Over plates of haddock, the three men discussed issues that Ellison said minority officers have complained about for years.

Davis said that after that meeting, a black sergeant was promoted to sergeant detective and a Hispanic lieutenant was promoted to lieutenant detective. Three black sergeant detectives were moved to the domestic violence unit and the districts covering Dorchester and the South End, three areas where Ellison’s organization believes there should be more minority supervisors.

“I thought that the moves we had made at their urging were a step in the right direction,’’ Davis said. He said he has spoken with other members of Ellison’s organization who are upset by the vote and disagree with it.

“I’m surprised really that they’ve taken the action that they’ve taken,’’ Davis said.

Ellison said that Davis and Menino, during their Tuesday dinner meeting, did not attempt to dissuade him from canceling his organization’s planned pickets against the mayor. But on Thursday, Ellison said, Menino campaign insiders approached leaders of his organization, telling them it would be difficult to negotiate higher positions for minority officers if the opposition continued.

“I haven’t heard anything like that,’’ Davis said, adding that under him and the Menino administration, officials have been working hard to diversify the department. “The numbers bear out the fact that we have been inclusive and that we work very closely with people of all races and ethnicities.’’

Of the department’s 2,177 officers, 34.6 percent are minorities compared with 35.9 percent in 2005, when Kathleen O’Toole was commissioner. In 1993, when Menino took office, about 26 percent of the officers were minorities. Minorities in Boston, by contrast, rose from about 38 percent in 1990 to about 50 percent last year.

Ellison said that his members are frustrated that more minorities are not in positions of power within the command staff. Thirty-eight percent of the department’s 21 deputy superintendents and superintendents are minorities. Ellison said his organization wants more minority commanders in positions where they can influence policy and personnel decisions.

The number of minority supervisors is also too low, he said. Of the 371 captains, lieutenants, and sergeants in the department, 18 percent of them are black, Hispanic, or Asian, according to police figures. That number is up from 1993, when 14.6 percent of the 314 sergeants, captains, and lieutenants were minorities.

Davis has said that it is difficult to increase the number of minority supervisors because unlike superintendents and deputy superintendents, who are appointed, the ranks of lieutenant, sergeant, and captain are based on scores on the state’s civil service exam.

But, he said, the department has aggressively recruited more minorities to enter the Boston Police Academy. Last year, twice as many minorities took the entrance exam than the year before, Davis said.

Other acts by the administration, however, send a less encouraging message, said Ellison. Recently, two black sergeants filed complaints with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, saying they were bypassed for lieutenant by two white officers even though they received similar scores on the promotional exam.

“If [minority officers] don’t see any evidence of that inclusion, their confidence goes down,’’ said Charles P. Wilson, chairman of the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, Inc.

Davis declined to comment because it was a personnel matter.

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.