MassCops site syndication http://masscops.com 2008-05-12T03:58:09+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png text/html 2008-05-11T08:26:19+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/104/2/ WEYMOUTH — Around 1:20 a.m. on a Sunday last August, Weymouth officer Edward Hancock spotted a speeding white Ford Explorer. After a chase into Quincy, a crash, and a struggle on foot, Hancock arrested the driver, Ryan Bois. In the SUV’s back seat, Hancock found 6-year-old Joanna Mullins, dead.The following day, Bois was charged with murder in the killing of Mullins, his young cousin.On Monday, Hancock will be recognized for his efforts that summer night. He will be the only law enforcement officer in Massachusetts honored by the National Association of Police Organizations, the group that issues the annual “Top Cop” award.Last Aug. 5, Bois hit speeds of up to 100 mph before slamming into a cab. After the crash, he attempted to flee, pulling a knife before being arrested by Hancock, with the help of his police dog, Hax.Hancock, a 10-year veteran of the force, said the experience touched on the range of emotions a police officer feels on the job.“I’m getting an adrenaline rush getting into a car chase and a full pursuit,” Hancock said. “Then you’re excited that you did your job and you caught somebody fleeing from you.“Then it went to the lowest point of seeing a young, lifeless child in the backseat of a car It was almost shock and awe.”Hancock will travel to Washington,... text/html 2008-05-05T07:56:57+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/103/2/ The Daniel Talbot Memorial Fund The 1st Annual Heels and Wheels 2008 Sunday, June 1st 2008 - Revere Beach, MA9:00AM - 5K Road Race 10:30AM - Classic Car Show12:00PM - Motorcycle RunLive music will fill the air while you enjoy the classic car show and motorcycle run - or perhaps you will want to participate in the 5K road race!Hungry or thirsty? Don't worry our fabulous food and drink vendors will be available all day, along with memorable souvenirs which all go to benefit the Daniel Talbot Memorial Fund.The goal of the 1st Annual Heels and Wheels (Road Race/Classic Car Show/Motorcycle Run) is to raise as much money as we can for the Officer Daniel Talbot Memorial Foundation created to support the needs of his fiancé Miss Constance Bethell and other charitable matters put forth by the Board of Directors of the Foundation.The 1st Annual Heels and Wheels will also make every effort to promote a positive image of the life and memory of Officer Daniel Talbot while promoting awareness of the sacrifice of all law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.The 1st Annual Heels and Wheels will make every effort to ensure that this event is enjoyed by all and will pay special attention to the safety of all who participate and attend. Your contribution can help!The... text/html 2008-04-25T12:09:02+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/102/2/ SPRINGFIELD - West Springfield Police Capt. Ronald Campurciani told the 34 graduates of the Western Massachusetts Police Academy yesterday they face a new set of challenges in today's world. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and their aftermath mean police officers today are part of the nation's protective shield against potential future acts of terrorism, Campurciani, an instructor at the academy, told the new officers and a packed house at Scibelli Hall at Springfield Technical Community College. At a time when most people would walk out, they are squaring their shoulders and walking in, he said of the graduates. Referring to the stage full of law enforcement officials and the 30 new brothers and four new sisters about to join them on various police departments, Campurciani said, Something symbolic has happened today, the merging of the old and the new. Wherever they go, they will not be alone, because they are police officers, he said of the new officers. We are part of the biggest family on the planet. Yesterday's 43rd Metropolitan Police Officer Class included new officers for 25 municipal police departments and the campus police department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Forty-two officer candidates began the rigorous 21-week training program Dec. 3, but... text/html 2008-04-20T13:30:31+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/101/2/ Beverly, Mass. - Beacon Hill leaders support ways to replace some police details with civilian flaggers at road construction sites, saving the state millions and Beverly perhaps $100K annually.However local officers say details put more officers — who are better trained than civilians and have arrest powers — on the street.The state House of Representatives last week approved, on a 115-41 vote, the Senate’s version of a $3.5 billion transportation package that includes a provision that will have state transportation and safety agencies write regulations governing the use of police officers and civilian flaggers to manage traffic around construction sites on smaller, lesser used roads. Police would stay on busy roads and major highways.State Rep. Mary Grant, D-Beverly, voted in favor of the bill.Grant said the bill asks the two state agencies to come up with several tiers of projects, considering traffic volume and patterns, crime activity in the area and other factors to determine whether a police details would be needed.By year-end, state transportation officials will also have to submit a report to legislators detailing the amount of money spent on police details for publicly funded projects in the past five years.The bill issues “more of a directive than a law,” said Grant, asking state transportation and public safety officials to look at areas where flagmen would be able... text/html 2008-04-20T13:28:16+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/100/2/ BOSTON - Leaders on Beacon Hill are laying the groundwork for civilians to replace police officers on some roadside construction details, but critics are raising doubts about whether the move will lead to any substantial savings. Gov. Deval L. Patrick and top legislators have agreed that the administration will write regulations for using civilians with flags to direct traffic at some less-traveled construction areas. The administration would have 90 days to write the regulations, according to a bill on Patrick's desk. The intent is to consider using civilian flag people on secondary roads or dead-end streets, not major highways. Police have long used the details to hike their salaries, sometimes into six figures. Police have defeated several attempts in the past to limit their detail work or supplant them with civilians. David G. Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston, said legislators and the governor may be too beholden to police unions to break the police grip on details at road construction or utility sites. Under the provision, the regulations would not affect police details if they are guaranteed in municipal contracts or local ordinances or bylaws. That takes all the teeth out of it, said Tuerck, whose institute estimated that cities and towns would save between $37 million and $67 million... text/html 2008-04-20T13:24:32+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/99/2/ Boston police Officer Joaquim Antunes arrived around 9:45 a.m. yesterday on a Dorchester street closed for a potential gas leak when he heard a man's loud, angry voice and the fearful cries of a woman.Then the 10-year police veteran, about to start his paid detail, heard something else. You could actually hear the smacking noise, Antunes said, slapping one hand against the other. It sounded as if someone was being beaten. Antunes got on his radio to call for backup, then ran into the three-story Quincy Street apartment building, ringing all three buzzers at the front door. Antunes was soon joined by Officer Richard J. Driscoll, who had sprinted over from a detail post a block away in response to his call for help.Peter Scrima, a truck driver and laborer for Riley Bros. construction, was working nearby and said the police presence was fortunate. She got lucky, he said of the woman. How often do you have two cops standing outside your door. It doesn't happen too often, I don't think. After some moments of ringing bells, the front door opened and Nkrumah Hartfield, 40, told officers he had been arguing with his girlfriend, they said. Other officers, who had responded to the call for help, held Hartfield while Antunes and Driscoll went to the third-floor... text/html 2008-04-01T13:37:59+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/98/2/ BROCKTON — If Gov. Deval Patrick can succeed where every governor before him has failed — in breaking the police union hold on expensive work details — he will deserve a laurel and hearty handshake from the people of Massachusetts who have been victimized by this pricey police perk.There’s a reason 49 other states don’t require police to be used at every construction or repair site on public streets — they’re too expensive and they’re not necessary. In most states, civilian flagmen direct traffic and make sure the workers are protected from motor vehicles. The cost is generally in the $12 to $15 per hour range. But in Massachusetts, it takes a police officer in uniform to direct traffic — at up to $40 per hour (with a four-hour minimum). The companies, usually utilities, forced to hire these cops do what every other business does — they pass the costs onto consumers.Now Gov. Patrick has taken aim at the work details, which some consider the third rail of politics. Two decades ago, Gov. William Weld made a similar proposal and the police unions sneered at him and told him to forget about it. Weld forgot about it — and no governor since has had the guts to take on the powerful unions.But Patrick has strong allies this time, including House... text/html 2008-03-31T17:40:20+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/97/2/ METHUEN — Police officers are fighting the city to get paid for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, arguing that they should earn holiday pay for those days because the mayor gave City Hall workers those days off.Mayor William Manzi refused the request of the patrolmen's union, saying the city can't afford it and it is not in the police contract. The union appealed the decision, and now the grievance will be heard at an arbitration hearing.The 65-member patrolmen's union argued that officers should be paid for eight hours of contractual time off for Christmas Eve and 31/2 hours for New Year's Eve, according to a memo from the union to the city.The Methuen Police Patrolmen's Association president, Officer Joseph Aiello, referred questions to the union's representatives at the Massachusetts COPS Coalition because they are handling the arbitration filing. The MPPA deems this time off to be an unfair labor practice for failing to negotiate in good faith additional benefits to certain employees and unions and omitting the same benefit to members of the MPPA, the union writes in its appeal.The union also argues that it is past practice for 14 years for union members to receive contractual pay for these two days. A lawyer for the Mass COPS Coalition did not return a call Friday. Certain... text/html 2008-03-31T17:37:09+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/96/2/ BOSTON — Drivers could see lower-paid civilian flagmen replacing expensive police details on secondary streets throughout the state within months if new reforms introduced on Beacon Hill yesterday pass muster.The change is part of a multi-faceted transportation overhaul meant to save the state millions to address crumbling roads and bridges. The changes will be tacked on to the $4.8 billion transportation bond bill.Replacing police with civilians on these jobs could save the state $100 million. We have to change the way we do business and change the way we use taxpayer dollars, said Senate President Therese Murray, who announced the changes with Gov. Deval L. Patrick and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi.DiMasi and Patrick took pains to highlight their close work together on the project during the press conference, their first since DiMasi torpedoed Patrick's bill to legalize three resort casinos last week. I want to embrace the plan the Senate president and the governor have brought forward, said DiMasi. We are all working together to move Massachusetts forward. The transportation reforms would also take a closer look at performance and spending on state transportation projects while cutting much of the red tape during the bidding process. The sheer number of structurally deficient bridges in Massachusetts alone should serve as a vivid symbol of the work we... text/html 2008-03-28T14:48:23+01:00 http://masscops.com http://masscops.com/content/view/95/2/ A sweeping transportation reform plan unveiled yesterday would curb the use of police details on road projects, slash employee benefits at the MBTA and Mass Pike and force all transportation agencies to publicly report cash flow on major construction projects.Senate President Therese Murray announced the measures in a press conference with Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Sal DiMasi as the three top Democrats proclaimed an urgent need to implement reforms to dig the state out of a $19 billion transportation funding deficit.“Our transportation system has got to be addressed,” Murray said. “Everything has to be on the table. We’re under no illusions this set of proposals is perfect, but we know it is of the utmost importance to our economy to start this conversation now.”The proposals constitute the first phase of a transportation overhaul that could lead to a dramatic reshaping of the Bay State’s labyrinthine network of agencies that maintain highways, rail services and Logan International Airport.“The state’s transportation infrastructure remains in desperate need of significant additional revenues,” said Joe Dorant, president of the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists, a union that represents highway engineers.Before considering tax hikes, Patrick said he and top aides are crafting a plan to consolidate transportation agencies into a larger centralized authority. An early version of his plan called for the...