# Stop eyeing cops for budget cuts



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Stop eyeing cops for budget cuts*









 *By Michele McPhee * / The Beat
Monday, November 5, 2007

So Gov. *Deval Patrick* wants to trim the fat from the state's transportation spending and the first place he looks is the detail pay for hard-working cops?
What about the bloated payroll of the so-called executives of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority? The Herald's "find a hack" Web site of 2006 state payroll records shows that 34 employees at the top of the agency pulled in six-figure salaries, with one director, Michael Lewis, making more than $185,000 a year while a lawyer, Marie Breen, makes $150,000 plus.
What about the other 19 people making about $90,000 and up every year, including the employee handling this bizarre MTA position: acting director of civil rights. That job is currently handled by Virginia Turner, who pulled in nearly $89,000 last year. Do taxpayers really need to pay someone that kind of cash to remind them not to discriminate based on ethnicity, race or gender?
Now let's move over to the completely separate taxpayer-funded payroll of the Massachusetts Highway Department. Alexander Bardow is the director of bridges and structures, including the problem-plagued Tobin, which transportation officials want to string with Christmas lights even as chunks of it are falling into the Chelsea yacht club beneath it. Bardow earned more than $108,000 last year. The director of traffic operations, Charles McCarthy, made $103,860.
No one is begrudging anyone for making a living, but every time there is a discussion about saving money it always come back to the same pool of people - police officers. The roughly dozen cops who made a colossal salary by working around the clock are listed in the paper in endless exposes with the suggestion that they are the thieves dragging Massachusetts deeper into the red.
But I would argue that the Patrick administration also needs to look at people entrenched in high-powered 9-to-5 positions in the transportation system. There is certainly plenty of fat in those spots that could be cut from the state's budget.
No one wants to see six cops standing around a hole on a state highway, or numerous state police cruisers with lights blazing, engines running, decorating a barelytraveled thoroughfare at 4 a.m.
That being said, it seems to me that every time the state wants to look at waste, it always starts at the bottom rung, never at the top.
"It is a reflection of our willingness to think in fresh ways. We owe it to the public to squeeze out all the inefficiencies, and that means everything has got to be on the table," Patrick said last week on his monthly show, "Ask the Governor," on 96.9 *WTKK*.
To really think in fresh ways, though, means to eliminate unnecessary executive spots. Does the Massachusetts Highway Department really need a director of research and materials; a director of environmental issues; and a director of right of way? Do we need a commissioner and a deputy commissioner and their staffs of minions for every state agency?
Any police officer who is caught abusing the detail system should be banned fromgetting one again. Still, cops should not always be the first ones the state looks to when it wants to "squeeze out all the inefficiencies."

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1042640


----------



## CampusOfficer (Dec 29, 2002)

Good article.


----------



## futureMSP (Jul 1, 2002)

That was a good article.


----------



## DANIPD (Jun 30, 2003)

Very good article.


----------



## GodblessThearmy (Aug 15, 2006)

Brings tears of joy to my eyes.


----------



## TheKid (Aug 29, 2005)

*Boston Herald Comment Posts On Cops And Details*

Hey all,
After reading the herald I saw there is a comment section online to weigh in on the whole Deval trying to take our details. Some posts from these cop hating people need responses

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1042640&format=comments&cnum=1


----------



## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

Make no mistake, everyone...the police are cast as the badguy because they fit the bill: who, amongst the lemmings, hasn't received an undeserved citation?...why, I believe the count-on-deck is 100%! Never mind that these cops are present for every hour assigned...unlike the thumb-suckers and hand-wringers making a buck-fifty or better on no-show salaried jobs.

But then, they are democrat appointees and therefore untouchable.

Hey, I'd even go so far as to venture that the majority are not Coupe Deval's political hangers-on....they are left-overs from previous General Courts/Execs...

But you dirty, filthy, syphilitic cops are to blame! Off with their heads!


----------



## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

I would say any and all tickets I have ever received by the police were well deserved. I wouldn't say that in court....but I'd say it here.
My brand new MassCops Bumper Sticker™ has made that all a thing of the past, but the ones I did get were well deserved.


----------



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

SOT said:


> I would say any and all tickets I have ever received by the police were well deserved. I wouldn't say that in court....but I'd say it here.
> My brand new MassCops Bumper Sticker™ has made that all a thing of the past, but the ones I did get were well deserved.


Dam now we are going to hear about the MassCops bumper stickers in the paper,
that we are a favored group that does not get tickets.


----------



## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

Well if it's true, it must be reported. My MassCops Bumper Sticker™ has been a godsend! Heck I might even not waste money on renewing my DL or getting my cars inspected anymore. I think I've gotten out of about seven tickets this year alone with that thing. At first I thought the $24.95 price tag was a little high, but after getting out of the first potential ticket of 58 in a 35....heck it paid for itself and then some!
It's better than all the SPAM, Blue Line, Orange Line, MSP, Guy Glod for Sheriff, FOP, and ASPCA stickers and plates rolled up into one!
Heck I used to roll with all the above, TBL front, back, and on the sides...now it's just one sticker and I am home FREE!
Granted if this is a fight club moment, edit it.


----------



## Kem25 (Aug 7, 2007)

Reading the comments just gets me annoyed. She makes a good point though about people always complaining the cops make to much.


----------



## Chief Wiggins (Oct 16, 2006)

Check out the submittal by the Editorial Staff for the Herald on 11.05.07. Seems as though the disagree with previous editor.... This is why I read their paper on the crapper. 
Reality is if the police lose details, they will make up for it elsewhere....perhaps issuing more tickets to get court time?? 
Also, they are once again mis-informed, when locals work details it is not reflected on their pension. Unsure if it is the same with the Troopers. 
Seems as though they are trying to sway the public with bad info.


----------



## jettsixx (Dec 10, 2005)

I agree very good article. She'll probably be looking for a job in the near future. Everyone knows that reporters can not show cops as hardworking people ever. I like the comment about the fake blue lights flashin Wow thats a good idea and if you dont have cops out there why would any care about flashing lights? As soon as someone gets hurt the first thing they will cry about is the fact that it took so long for the ambulance to get there. I did however agree with the comment that said something to the effect of get rid of details and up the pay for us not that that will happen.


----------



## Guest (Nov 6, 2007)

Chief Wiggins said:


> Check out the submittal by the Editorial Staff for the Herald on 11.05.07. Seems as though the disagree with previous editor.... This is why I read their paper on the crapper.
> Reality is if the police lose details, they will make up for it elsewhere....perhaps issuing more tickets to get court time??
> Also, they are once again mis-informed, when locals work details it is not reflected on their pension. Unsure if it is the same with the Troopers.
> Seems as though they are trying to sway the public with bad info.


Details and shift OT do not figure into public safety pensions. The only thing used to calculate a pension is regular compensation which must be regular, sustaining, and non-expiring. That's what killed the old Brockton Plan with PERAC, because it expired after 3 years.


----------



## OutOfManyOne (Mar 2, 2006)

Wow what a bunch of assholes comments on that article. I think I'll go and write a few dozen tickets this AM. Oh yeah, and Thanksgiving is coming, watch out speeders.

Here is an excerpt from another article on details from the Herald.


> "There is the potential for huge savings in some areas where you just don't need details," said *James Jajuga, a former state senator and state trooper* who proposed curtailing the use of details in 1995.


Jajuga always has been a *****.


----------



## topcop14 (Jul 13, 2004)

If details go away, thats fine, I will write everyone, court officers will appeal all NRs at clerks hearings. I will be in court five days a week. Lets see there is heat in the winter, AC in the summer and I get payed milage to and from court. I guess thats not so bad. 
I guess I will start sitting across from bars as well. Do a few OUIs a week. Thats a win win for every one. Or at least for the cops and the lawyers. Lets see, One OUI can translated into overtime for at least the arresting officer but I know ways to get that to at least two officers if not three. First after stopping the drunk call a second officer have him or her do the FSTs. Now thats two officers getting OT. The third comes as the officer in charge of the BATS Machine gets summonsed.


----------



## Chief Wiggins (Oct 16, 2006)

Thinking like true Police topcop14. I am sure if this happens, the cities/towns will start crying poverty because the PD OT buget gets blown up by November. I am glad my town has a by-law in place where the Chief decides if a detail should be needed. Hopefully that will override any decision by the people up in Beacon Hill. 

A couple of the older guys stated by when Weld was trying to get rid of details everyone was initially on the same bus. However, after some time the staties bowed out, when they made a deal stating a detail was needed in 50 Mph and greater speed zone....Any truth to this???


----------



## j809 (Jul 5, 2002)

No, the rumor is that Weld got his merger through without any further opposition and details were left alone.


----------



## Guest (Nov 6, 2007)

OutOfManyOne said:


> Jajuga always has been a *****.


He's also one of the former lawmakers who formed a company to supply flagmen if the law ever changed. You'll never see that in the newspapers, though.


----------



## OutOfManyOne (Mar 2, 2006)

Delta784 said:


> He's also one of the former lawmakers who formed a company to supply flagmen if the law ever changed. You'll never see that in the newspapers, though.


Isn't that funny, how he is waiting to grasp his greasy hands to make some money while he is screwing the public.One nice thing about details is that there are no companies making money off these. All money go directly to the police and towns for their 10% collections. Another thing is, all these towns that get 10% admin fees, big cities already bring in lots of $$, that goes away, that money will still be sought somewhere and the taxpayers in those towns and cities will incur the costs.

I think all this business about details is jealousy. One of the jealousy issues is economics. When the economy is good and everyone is making money nobody cares. But when the economy sucks,people are losing their homes, they get jealous. All these whiners also bitch because they either could not and did not become a cop. When the salaries were crappy years ago, many said forget police work, i'll do something else. Now they all want to be cops, the number of people taking police exams shows it. Only a handful ever make it on.

The media has nothing better to do, so they go with it as it attracts numbers and gets listeners calling in with their two cents and litle brains. I was listening to douchebag Egan today and all the callers calling in about details and what crock of shit as neither she or Jim or the callers know what the f*ckk they are listening to. I say details aren't going anywhere. There is a small minority that calls these stations and bitch about details but in the end, all it is,just bitching, They got no juice and no power. There are approximnately 30000 cops in Massachusetts. Add the families,friends,spouses and others and you got over 500,000 voters or more that can sway votes very easily. Secondly, we have the most powerful police unions in New England if not the whole east coast and we contribute alot of $$ and make sure that we protect our interests. To all the whinning ******* out there, take the test, become a cop and STFU.


----------



## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

Good post, OOMO! 

Hey, lemmings: don't forget your hair net..."Want fries wid dat?" 

+1


----------



## Chief Wiggins (Oct 16, 2006)

Also, do you honestly believe your local utility rates will go down by having flagmen?? Just more money in their pockets.


----------



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*The Herald Strikes Again*

Records: Cops cash in on traffic details 








*By Casey Ross *
Monday, November 19, 2007









Photo by Lisa Hornak 
On the clock: A state police trooper works a traffic detail on Storrow Drive recently.

Dozens of state police officers assigned to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority are using taxpayer-funded traffic details to rake in fistfuls of extra cash, in some cases earning more than $44,000 a year to hike their salaries well into six figures, a Herald review found.
Payroll records show that many officers are using details to increase their base pay between 50 percent and 87 percent, with 30 officers earning more than $20,000 during Fiscal Year 2006 on details alone. To earn that amount, officers are working 8- and 12-hour detail shifts day after day, sometimes testing departmental work rules.
Demands for reform of the detail system have intensified in recent weeks as transportation agencies grapple with a $1 billion a year funding deficit. Gov. *Deval Patrick* said he will consider curtailing details on road construction projects statewide by using less expensive flagmen in some cases.
Massachusetts is the only state in the nation that mandates the use of police officers - instead of civilian flaggers or electronic signs - at nearly all road and utility construction sites.
Twenty-three cops at the Pike made more than $200,000 in Fiscal Year 2006, with one lieutenant taking home a high of $281,000, records show.
State police rules prohibit officers from laboring more than 16 hours in a 24-hour period, or 42 hours in a 72-hour period. Work records reviewed by the Herald show officers are sometimes working 12-hour detail shifts back-to-back. Those shifts, which pay up to $560 a day, are in addition to their regular 40-hour weeks.
"We're reaching the tipping point of citizen outrage (over details), and I think the time has come to address this," said Barbara Anderson of Citizens for Limited Taxation. "This is not an appropriate use of resources."
The detail records obtained by the Herald do not indicate when officers worked their regular duty shifts, so it could not be determined whether they exceeded allowable hours. A state police spokesman said officers' hours are closely monitored.
"If they do go over, it would be with the approval of the paid detail officer or a shift commander," Lt. Barry O'Brien said, adding that those decisions are often made based on the demands of construction schedules.
Police union officials say the outrage over details is misplaced. They say many officers are struggling to make ends meet with annual salaries of $60,000 to $80,000, and that details are not only an embedded part of their compensation, but a necessary traffic-safety measure.
"In most cases, you need to have police officers on details, especially with regard to construction jobs," said John Coflesky, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts. "Everyone is in a hurry to get where they're going and no one wants to stop so a truck can be moved onto the road. A police officer is a deterrent."
Police officials also argue that switching to civilian flaggers would save little because of prevailing wage laws, and that civilians have neither the training nor the communications capabilities to quickly respond to accidents.
However, state lawmakers and others say the hours and wildly fluctuating salary levels are symptomatic of a broken system. Seven officers assigned to the Pike made more than $230,000 in Fiscal Year 2006, exceeding the salaries of the governor ($140,000) and the house speaker ($90,000). Two officers used details to increase their pay by $44,100 and $58,900, records show.
Many agree police base salaries are not high enough, but they say using an unending flow of detail money to balance the scale is not financially sound.
"Taxpayers have to ask whether we're being penny wise and pound foolish by not compensating police fairly," said state Rep. Jay Kaufman (D-Lexington). "Details are a symptom of the problem, but you can't just get rid of them and think you've solved it."

*The A-Holes E-Mail Addy:*
[email protected]

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1045675

*Another in todays Herald:*

Some officers $ee double

*By Casey Ross *
Monday, November 19, 2007

In addition to lucrative detail shifts, state police officers assigned to the Mass Pike are banking massive amounts of overtime, some even doubling their base pay by working 60-to 80-hour weeks, records show.
Overtime for state cops cost the Turnpike Authority more than $8.3 million last year, accounting for 32 percent of the $26 million in total compensation paid to the authority's officers. Five of the top 10 salaries, all above $230,000, went to lieutenants who earned more than $75,000 in overtime alone.
"Numbers like these cry out for review and action," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "There are always legitimate purposes for overtime, but it's drastically excessive when someone doubles his or her salary through overtime."
Turnpike Authority officials said the inflated OT costs - including extended $60 per hour detail shifts - were largely due to the fatal Interstate 90 tunnel collapse and months of follow-up repairs and inspection.
Those officials said they expect the numbers to go down this year after completion of the *Big Dig*, but budget watchdogs and lawmakers say the entire system of compensation is in dire need of reform.
A state police union official who represents troopers and sergeants said the overtime costs are due to decisions by management to operate with razor-thin ranks of officers. The Turnpike employs a contingent of 176 full-time officers.
"If you put another 50 or 60 officers out there, you wouldn't have any $200,000-a-year troopers," said John Coflesky, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts. "Every trooper on the Mass Pike will be scheduled to work overtime this Thanksgiving because management needs them to work more than eight hours."
Payroll records indicate 43 state police officers assigned to the Pike last year made more in overtime than the $66,000 annual base pay of a trooper. Three officers made more than $100,000 in OT, with one lieutenant earning a high of $122,000.

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1045676


----------



## mpdcam (May 5, 2002)

I think they just reprint the old articles from time to time. This guy writes like he is the first person to ever do an article about details. All of the articles say the same crap over an over. Cops making too much money, taxpayers paying, blah, blah, blah. Four years of journalism school for this crap...


----------



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

mpdcam said:


> I think they just reprint the old articles from time to time. This guy writes like he is the first person to ever do an article about details. All of the articles say the same crap over an over. Cops making too much money, taxpayers paying, blah, blah, blah. Four years of journalism school for this crap...


E-Mail that to him


----------

