Police radio breakdown did not compromise response to overnight violence, Boston police official says

Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald on Aug 19, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BOSTON — A top Boston Police Department official disputed claims from two city councilors that BPD radio communications were offline for nearly 30 minutes at the height of overnight violence that broke out in the aftermath of this past weekend’s Dominican Festival.

BPD Superintendent-in-Chief Phillip Owens confirmed Tuesday that the main police radio channel for the large-scale Dorchester festival went dark Sunday night, but said the department was able to quickly switch over to another broadcast.

“Per our protocol, if the channel goes down — it was just one channel that went down — they immediately switch over, which they did,” Owens told reporters at an unrelated City Hall Plaza event. “We worked with Motorola to determine exactly what transpired, but that lapse you’re referring to was very short.

“They immediately switched over to another channel, and then it was quickly resolved,” he added.

Owens said it wasn’t clear how long the radio channel for the festival area was down for, but said that the communication breakdown didn’t compromise the police department’s ability to respond to any of the four shootings or a stabbing that occurred overnight, from Sunday to Monday.

“Absolutely not,” Owens said. “We immediately went to another channel.”

Mayor Michelle Wu, who was asked about the breakdown by reporters at the same event, said she was briefed on the matter by Boston Police.

“In the very rare situations that something like that happens, there are multiple channels available, and they instantaneously switch to another channel to resume communication,” Wu said.

When asked whether the department was investigating the radio blackout, as requested by Boston City Councilors Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn, Owens said, “We’re looking into what caused the problem.”

Murphy and Flynn wrote a letter to Police Commissioner Michael Cox on Monday, saying that they were “deeply concerned that public safety systems failed at such a critical moment,” when violence was breaking out after the weekend festival.

The councilors claimed that the radio channel failure forced officers “to respond to an active shooting without reliable communication tools.”

Their letter followed a social media post from the city’s largest police union, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, that flagged the “inexplicable” 30-minute radio breakdown. The union said it occurred when police resources were already stretched for the event — a scenario that “more often than not” leads to violence at large-scale festivals.

“Yesterday’s Dominican Festival is the latest example,” the BPPA posted on X Monday. “Last night, four people were shot in less than two hours. Begging the question, when do we stop the insanity?”

________