Council committee considers home-rule petition to credit out-of-state police service for Boston detective Michael Sullivan

The Boston City Council Committee on Government Operations on Tuesday took testimony on a home-rule petition that would ask the Legislature to allow the Boston Retirement Board to treat five years of Michael Sullivan’s prior service with the Warwick, Rhode Island Police Department (Dec. 2000–Oct. 2005) as credible service when calculating his Massachusetts pension.

Why it matters: Allowing out-of-state public-safety service to count toward a Boston pension would affect recruitment and retention by easing lateral transfers for experienced officers; it also raises statutory and fiscal questions that the committee asked staff to study before forwarding a petition to Beacon Hill.

Michael Sullivan, a sergeant detective in the Boston Police Department’s crimes-against-children unit, told the committee his five years in Warwick involved high-trauma calls, including the 2003 Station Nightclub fire, and argued those years reflect equivalent duties and training. “The five years I served in Warwick were marked by the same risks, responsibilities, and public trust as the 20 years I’ve spent serving Boston,” he said. Sullivan asked the city to allow a case-by-case acknowledgement of credible out-of-state service so his prior time can be credited.

Sponsor Councilor Ed Flynn said the petition would create a narrowly tailored pathway for first responders who served outside Massachusetts to receive credit for prior service when they join Boston. Flynn and committee members noted that current Chapter 32 credible-service rules generally exclude out-of-state service except where statute or special act permits it; they pointed to an existing mechanism for teachers but said police and firefighters lack a similar, routine pathway.

Council discussion focused on legal authority and fiscal mechanics. Committee Chair Colette Zapata said staff should consult corporation counsel and the Boston Retirement Board’s general counsel to verify the city’s authority to seek special legislation and to identify whether the individual could instead “buy back” service by paying into the Boston system. A witness who had previously completed a buyback described the process as potentially costly to the employee but noted it is common practice and could reduce the city’s fiscal liability if the employee pays to transfer service credits.

The committee did not take a vote. Chair Zapata said she will convene meetings with the sponsor, retirement-board counsel and corporation counsel to draft an approach that could both help recruitment and be legally and fiscally defensible. Councilor Flynn said he would work with the chair and the retirement board on next steps.

Background and next steps: The hearing cited Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 32, § 4 (credible service). Committee staff will seek legal advice from corporation counsel and the retirement board and explore precedent in other states and municipalities before returning with recommended language or an amended petition for committee action.