# Agreement Puts GPS in Leominster Cruisers



## fscpd907 (Jun 5, 2003)

New agreement puts GPS systems in police cruisers
By J.J. Huggins 
Article Launched: 12/28/2006 10:56:17 AM EST

LEOMINSTER -- Police supervisors and dispatchers will be allowed to track the whereabouts of cruisers as part of the new three-year contract agreement between the patrolmen's union and the mayor.

Devices installed in the cruisers would allow the officer in charge, or dispatchers, to look on a screen and quickly see where the officers are, according to Police Chief Peter F. Roddy.

That would tell them which officers can respond to an emergency the fastest, Roddy said.

"You'd be able to see where the vehicles are, and you could coordinate activity better," Roddy said during an interview Wednesday.

The agreement, which also includes pay increases, will be effective from July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2009.

Police will use the new technology along with data about where and when crimes usually occur in order to "strategically align ourselves," according to Mazzarella.

"It's not about putting 10 people on the street, or 15, or 20. It's about knowing what the data shows," said Mazzarella, who is a former police officer himself.

Mazzarella said officials' desire to get the tracking devices was not the result of any wrongdoing by officers.

"It came up in the last contract negotiation, but the technology wasn't available," he said.

The agreement says the information gathered by the devices "may be used to inform or counsel an employee, but there shall be no disciplinary record kept of that informing or counseling."

Officials are still looking into the different GPS devices that could be put in cruisers, and it is too soon to tell how much they will cost, according to the mayor.

"It's nothing we're going to implement in the next six weeks," he said.

Roddy noted Westminster and Shrewsbury police currently use GPS.

"More and more departments are going to it," he said.

The agreement includes a 12 percent pay increase for the officers and the chief over the next three years.

It includes a 3 percent increase to their base salaries effective July 1, 2006, a 5 percent increase effective July 1, 2007, and a 4 percent increase effective July 1, 2008. The starting pay for a patrol officer will be increased from the current rate of $39,544.19 to $40,730.52 for fiscal year 2007.

Roddy's salary, by state statute, is twice the amount of the highest paid patrol officer's. He will receive a $2,836.69 boost for fiscal year 2007, putting his base salary at $97,392.97, according to the agreement.

The city will reduce its contribution to the officers' HMO Blue health insurance single or family plan to 75 percent as part of the agreement. The officers will have to pay the rest, according to Mazzarella. The city currently contributes 80 percent, Mazzarella said.

The city will increase the officers' "cleaning allowance" from $575 effective July 1, 2006, to $600 on July 1, 2007, and then to $650 on July 1, 2008, according to the agreement.

That allowance gives the officers money to wash their uniforms, or to replace something like a ripped shirt, according to Mazzarella.

The agreement will also increase the detail pay rate to $34 an hour for this year, then to $36 an hour by July 1, 2007, and to $38 an hour by July 1, 2008.

The agreement will also increase the minimum number of hours an officer is paid for during a "callback" to four hours. A callback is when an officer is asked to come in before or after their shift to fill in or to provide backup, according to Mazzarella. 
If the officer is called in before their shift, the callback rule will only apply if the officer is called in more than two hours before the shift was supposed to start, according to the agreement.

The agreement keeps the current three-hour pay minimum for court time, unless the officer has to appear in court on one of their days off, in which case they will get paid for four hours. Mazzarella is asking the City Council to approve $120,000 to help pay for the raises.


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## 209 (Jun 18, 2005)

Not sure if I like the in car GPS... I understand the good points but all you need is on a-hole supervisor that likes to be up everyones ass and gets on the radio everytime he sees your cruiser in an area sitting still for more than 15 minutes.


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## Gil (Jun 15, 1998)

I can see someone putting a request to modify the contract "The GPS system will be disabled between the hours of 01:00 and 06:00"


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## OutOfManyOne (Mar 2, 2006)

> "It came up in the last contract negotiation, but the technology wasn't available," he said.


Doesnt know what he is talking about. GPS has been around from ATS for over 10 years now.


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## Macop (May 2, 2002)

Doesnt seem like much of a pay hike for that.


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## Buford T (Feb 12, 2005)

G.p.s.= B.o.h.i.c.a.


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## MARINECOP (Dec 23, 2003)

Macop said:


> Doesnt seem like much of a pay hike for that.


You are right. They should have got 5, 5 and 5% min. for that GPS headache. Just ask Hudson PD if they like the GPS systems in the cruisers. I will say that this job really isn't what it use to be. The blue line in getting thinner every year.


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

I'd accidentally disable it.


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## chief801 (Dec 8, 2004)

GPS is as good or as bad as those who review it and how they use it. It has saved a couple of my guys asses against bogus complaints...


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## OutOfManyOne (Mar 2, 2006)

I think they did well on the raise, because GPS is usually a non-negotiable item as it is being passed as an officer safety issue. Ask many PDs that got ZERO for it. They got some nice language in their contact that it cannot be used for disciplinary issues, however, what happens when they find one guy sleeping or a guy gets in a collision at 80mph. I think the little language they got in the contract is out the window.


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## topcop14 (Jul 13, 2004)

OutOfManyOne said:


> I think they did well on the raise, because GPS is usually a non-negotiable item as it is being passed as an officer safety issue. Ask many PDs that got ZERO for it. They got some nice language in their contact that it cannot be used for disciplinary issues, however, what happens when they find one guy sleeping or a guy gets in a collision at 80mph. I think the little language they got in the contract is out the window.


 CVPIs have the little black boxes anyway so you are fucked with or without GPS if you crash at 80 MPH. What I would like to see is GPS installed in a portable radio that can only be activated when you hit your emergency button. That would be a true officer safety benifit. As far as the GPS in the car goes, I hear that a tuna can placed over the antenna works wounders with the system.


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## Deuce (Sep 27, 2003)

I'm w/ you put the GPS in my portable. I get in the glue come save my bacon, not the friggin car..
And you can reset the car black box, after your "incident" shut the car off, wait a minute or so and turn it back on...


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## topcop14 (Jul 13, 2004)

Deuce said:


> And you can reset the car black box, after your "incident" shut the car off, wait a minute or so and turn it back on...


Thanks for the tip brother.


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## alphadog1 (Oct 16, 2006)

When Tewksbury PD got the GPS system in their cruisers a few years ago, the entire late night shift abandon ship. Now it's all rookies.


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## MARINECOP (Dec 23, 2003)

From a management standpoint, it's great. A longer leash for the brass to have around your neck. For the average patrolman, it's bad news, simple as that. For example: You just worked your 3-11 shift and want to go home and then you get forced to work the mid-night shift because someone called in sick. Your not well rested for the shift and now you have to worry about this bullshit GPS watching where you have been and for how long. If you can answer your calls for service, but want to take it easy because you were forced OT. What is the problem with that? It is bad enough that most people have video cameras. I don't agree with the cut-throat big brother GPS gusatpo crap. We are our own worst enemies.


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