# Troopers Suspended in OT Abuse Scandal Could Get Jobs Back



## RodneyFarva

Massachusetts' Civil Service Commission reportedly ruled to reinstate the jobs for four state police troopers who were suspended from the department for their alleged participation in the overtime fraud scandal.

The Boston Globe reports the decision came after the commission determined on Thursday the department failed to discipline the troopers according to procedure.

The four troopers - Daniel Crespi, Jeffrey Russell, Jeffrey Reger and John Adams - were suspended in mid-August without pay after they were accused of skipping shifts during 2015 and 2016. The group was allegedly paid for the work they skipped, according to the Globe.

None of the troopers was charged criminally.

The troopers reportedly appealed to the commission a month after they were suspended and said they were "scapegoats" used to "diffuse media attention."

The commission's ruling reportedly stated the department must reinstate the four troopers' status to paid and give them the benefits and pay they didn't receive while they were suspended.

One of the troopers involved in the overtime abuse was recently the first sentenced in federal court to prison.

total dumpster fire....


----------



## mpd61

Ah HA HA HA HA HA!!!!


----------



## TheSnowman

What I don’t understand is why civil service is even sticking their snout into this. They have no power here. What the colonel says goes from my understanding.


----------



## Bloodhound

TheSnowman said:


> What I don't understand is why civil service is even sticking their snout into this. They have no power here. What the colonel says goes from my understanding.


Incorrect. There was a change in law in 2002 allowing troopers to appeal suspensions or terminations to the Civil Service Commission. MSP brass has fought this ever since, unsuccessfully.


----------



## TheSnowman

Bloodhound said:


> Incorrect. There was a change in law in 2002 allowing troopers to appeal suspensions or terminations to the Civil Service Commission. MSP brass has fought this ever since, unsuccessfully.


So then what's the next for those troopers? Reinstatement?


----------



## RodneyFarva

TheSnowman said:


> So then what's the next for those troopers? Reinstatement?


Yup they will never be able to testify in court for anything as prosecuting agent of the commonwealth.


----------



## mpd61

RodneyFarva said:


> Yup they will never be able to testify in court for anything as prosecuting agent of the commonwealth.


Airport or doing SSPO inspections for the Certification unit?


----------



## RodneyFarva

mpd61 said:


> Airport or doing SSPO inspections for the Certification unit?


Keeper of the records for northern B troop.


----------



## Bloodhound

TheSnowman said:


> So then what's the next for those troopers? Reinstatement?


Yes, however briefly. They were put on an unpaid suspension indefinitely without due process (ie Trial Board) or any hearing date. So MSP will have to carry out that process properly now.


----------



## Edmizer1

The new trend in CS decisions over the past several years is for departments to continuously appeal and/or ignore CS decisions that do not go in their favor. It is up to the appellant to keep fighting decisions they have already won over and over again. Back pay awards are also becoming a thing of the past. 

I spoke with a union rep of a PD that had just left CS a couple of years ago at a training. He said that their membership was on the fence on whether or not to take a significant pay raise to leave CS. He said that the chief spoke with the union leadership and told them that as far as discipline is concerned, CS is now a paper tiger. They now almost always back up the towns and have no real power to enforce their own decisions. The chief told them that he was basically going to ignore CS when running the PD and that they were better off taking the pay raise. After researching the chief's comments, the took the raise and left CS.


----------



## TheSnowman

Bloodhound said:


> Yes, however briefly. They were put on an unpaid suspension indefinitely without due process (ie Trial Board) or any hearing date. So MSP will have to carry out that process properly now.


So the end result will be the same. These troopers will be let go at some point. But civil service has inconveniced MSP by forcing them to address the issue sooner rather then later. Oh and the soon to be X-troopers might squeeze a little extra money out of the whole process. Basically civil service has the power of inconvenience.


----------



## Bloodhound

TheSnowman said:


> So the end result will be the same. These troopers will be let go at some point. But civil service has inconveniced MSP by forcing them to address the issue sooner rather then later. Oh and the soon to be X-troopers might squeeze a little extra money out of the whole process. Basically civil service has the power of inconvenience.


Consider the possibility that you are one of these Troopers, and you're innocent! The job has taken away your income, health insurance, etc with no due process. ZERO evidence presented, and with no time frame on when any of this may change, for 5 months. None of these four have been charged with any crime. So Civil Service interceding is a good thing if you're one of these guys.


----------



## LA Copper

I'm still surprised that officers/troopers back there in Mass are suspended *without pay *before they've been "convicted" of any wrong doing. That doesn't happen with my department. If the allegations are significant enough, the officer is assigned "home" *with pay *while the investigation is ongoing. Pay is not held back until the officer is "convicted" of whatever wrong doing he was accused of.

The way it is back there, it seems like the officer/trooper is guilty until proven innocent. Why is that?


----------



## Bloodhound

LA Copper said:


> I'm still surprised that officers/troopers back there in Mass are suspended *without pay *before they've been "convicted" of any wrong doing. That doesn't happen with my department. If the allegations are significant enough, the officer is assigned "home" *with pay *while the investigation is ongoing. Pay is not held back until the officer is "convicted" of whatever wrong doing he was accused of.
> 
> The way it is back there, it seems like the officer/trooper is guilty until proven innocent. Why is that?


That's exactly the point. You are required to be given an evidentiary just cause hearing (including a right of appeal) BEFORE you can be suspended without pay. Which in this case did not happen. Keep in mind there has been a pissing contest between MSP brass and Civil Service since the 2002 law change granting Civil Service appeal rights to Troopers.


----------



## CCCSD

These guys are going to the Marine Unit.


----------



## Kilvinsky

a SHIT job is still a JOB. Good Luck To 'em.

And honestly, just how bad would the MARINE unit be. Winter could be tough (if they make you go out) but nice days the rest of the year? HELL YA!


----------



## pahapoika

What's the old saying , "hate the game not the player".

If anyone's honest they know this stuff is encouraged and the system looks the other way. Not sure who these guys pissed off but somebody was out for blood.


----------



## Sooty

Kilvinsky said:


> a SHIT job is still a JOB. Good Luck To 'em.
> 
> And honestly, just how bad would the MARINE unit be. Winter could be tough (if they make you go out) but nice days the rest of the year? HELL YA!


Plucking floaties out of the Charles all summer long? UGH!


----------



## Sooty

TheSnowman said:


> What I don't understand is why civil service is even sticking their snout into this. They have no power here. What the colonel says goes from my understanding.


Well it's not like their negligence killed someone and they got to stay on...


----------



## LGriffin

TheSnowman said:


> So then what's the next for those troopers? Reinstatement?


Recruitment unit


----------



## Hush

Meet the new Command Staff

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk


----------



## TheSnowman

LGriffin said:


> Recruitment unit


Well at least they get to keep their jobs. Might not be what they wanted for a job role but it doesn't look like they have much say in the matter. I am curious though, why were they even implicated in the first place if there was no evidence of criminal wrong doing? Was it because they were working out of troop F and the brass just chalked it up to guilt by association? Or was it Because, like others have already suggested, they pissed off someone high up on the totem pole?


----------



## j809

You cannot be suspended without pay as you’re a tenured employee. In Massachusetts if you’re in the union you have to get paid. MSP was brought up in my collective bargaining class before all this fiasco and the professor a famous labor attorney said it will be a matter of time that the state police will get whacked because they’re violating law. There’s a procedure on discipline and removing a member and the court martial system doesn’t cut it , especially that they’re now represented by civil service for appeals etc. At the end of the day, whoever stole money and was part of the organized crime scheme with ghost tickets, etc, doesn’t belong on the job. Many troopers I know don’t want those guys back on the job. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## mpd61

j809 said:


> You cannot be suspended without pay as you're a tenured employee. In Massachusetts if you're in the union you have to get paid.


Too bad that didn't work for Tommy and Dave!
Tommy should have been reinstated under this MGL!!!
General Law - Part IV, Title I, Chapter 268A, Section 25


----------



## j809

mpd61 said:


> Too bad that didn't work for Tommy and Dave!
> Tommy should have been reinstated under this MGL!!!
> General Law - Part IV, Title I, Chapter 268A, Section 25


Yes once under indictment or guilty you cannot collect. Those troopers were never charged just administrative suspension.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Sooty

j809 said:


> You cannot be suspended without pay as you're a tenured employee. In Massachusetts if you're in the union you have to get paid.


False

Trust me!


----------



## CCCSD

I heard these guys were coming back as SSPOs...Fuck!


----------



## Goose

CCCSD said:


> I heard these guys were coming back as SSPOs...Fuck!


...at a state school!


----------



## Bloodhound

j809 said:


> You cannot be suspended without pay as you're a tenured employee. In Massachusetts if you're in the union you have to get paid.





Sooty said:


> False
> 
> Trust me!


As you long as you receive a disciplinary hearing of course you can be suspended without pay. That's what a suspension is.


----------



## Sooty

Bloodhound said:


> As you long as you receive a disciplinary hearing of course you can be suspended without pay. That's what a suspension is.


Yup!


----------



## LGriffin

TheSnowman said:


> So then what's the next for those troopers? Reinstatement?


They'll spend their remaining days stuffing envelopes for Jesse Jackson.


----------

