# Police, harbormasters earn thousands for PI traffic control



## DANIPD (Jun 30, 2003)

.....Another article just about blaming police traffic control details for the cost-overrun on the Plum Island Water Project.....

Police, harbormasters earn thousands for PI traffic control 









By Stephanie Chelf and Priti Prabhakar 
_Staff Writers_

Harbormasters earned up to $52.50 an hour to direct traffic on Plum Island roads. Some police officers were paid for work when they didn't even show up. And 79 officers, harbormasters, reserve officers and retired officers boosted their pay in amounts ranging from $140 to $56,000.

Traffic control work for the Plum Island water and sewer project is costing almost three times more than originally estimated by planners, and has become a key reason why the project is $850,000 over budget.

When Plum Islanders begin paying their share of the project, each home will pay about $330 for traffic control.

As construction nears completion on the $23.4 million project to bring water and sewer service to the island, The Daily News has reviewed hundreds of invoices submitted for detail work performed from November 2004 to February 2006. Among the findings:

* No one entity involved in the project provided oversight for when or where an officer was needed, leading to days where work was overstaffed or understaffed.

* On some occasions, officers were paid for four hours of work even though their shift was canceled. A policy required that officers be given at least two hours notice if they were not needed, and occasionally notice wasn't given in time.

* In many cases, police were not paid for the actual time worked. Pay is earned in four-hour increments because of union contracts. For example, records show officers who worked five hours were paid for eight-hour shifts.

* One Newbury officer collected $56,099 through February - the highest pay earned by any of the 79 traffic controllers - by frequently working his normal eight-hour police shift followed by a detail shift of eight hours or more.

* Reserve police officers, retired officers, harbormasters, dispatchers and a retired harbormaster were called for detail work when shifts could not be filled by full-time officers. They earned hourly rates ranging from $35 to $54.

In Massachusetts, officers monitoring traffic are a mandatory element of road construction projects. On Plum Island, $170,000 was budgeted for daily police details for the 21/2-year construction project. Now, officials are estimating that cost will be closer to $400,000.

Among the top detail earners were a full-time Newbury officer who works the night shift, a retired harbormaster, a Newbury reserve officer and the Newbury deputy police chief.

Police from both the Newbury and Newburyport police departments used a hierarchical list to call officers for daily assignments. In general, full-time officers were given first priority, followed by others such as reserve officers, retired officers and dispatchers.

In Newbury, traffic duties were also assigned to the harbormaster department, which normally patrols waterways and administers mooring registration, boating fees and the like.

Five Newbury harbormasters earned $46,208 for traffic control work. Retired Harbormaster Andrew Avelis Sr., earned the largest share - $18,600 in detail pay through February.

They were paid in a similar fashion as police officers - $35 an hour in four-hour increments, and $52.50 an hour for overtime.

"We're on the cycle rotation," said Glenn Gavin, Newbury's harbormaster. "We all went through detail training and are well-trained. We hold the title as special police officers in the town."

Gavin said the detail cycle rotation goes through the Newbury Police Department's full-time officers, then part-time officers, then harbormasters, then officers from outside of town.

"We do that so the money stays in the town," Gavin said. "Most of us in the Newbury harbormasters work for the department part time. All of us have regular jobs, that's why (Avelis) is mostly available to work the details."

George Gustafson, project coordinator, said it was difficult to determine when police would be needed.

"Basically, all the main roads would need police officers," Gustafson said. "We made some assumptions when we had one or two officers. That's where it really got tricky."

On occasion, Gustafson said he has seen police officers in their cruisers and told the contractor the extra officer would not be needed during that particular job. Gustafson also asked for an additional officer on some occasions.

"We got calls from residents on both sides - there's too many (officers) or there's not enough," Gustafson said.

Per local police contracts, officers who work on details are paid in four- or eight- hour increments. In several cases, officers worked fewer hours than the number for which taxpayers were billed. A sample of detail sign-in slips show officers working five hours but receiving pay for eight. For instance, on Jan. 4, 2005, a Newburyport officer worked from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and was paid the eight-hour rate of $288.

On some occasions, officers were also paid for four hours despite the fact they did not work at all. On Jan. 6, 2005, a Newburyport officer collected four hours of detail pay, $144, because a shift scheduled to start at 9 a.m. was canceled at 8 a.m. The officers require a two-hour cancellation notice.

*Who was in charge?*

Prior to the start of construction, Gustafson and John Donovan, an engineer with Camp, Dresser and McKee Inc., met separately with police chiefs from both towns to determine how much money would be needed to pay for details.

"The main issue for us was detail officers," Newbury police Chief Roger Merry said. "We know this project is being paid by the residents, and details tend to add up. There's a science to it - sometimes it would come down to the placement of a dump truck in using one or two officers on a busy road. If you lose focus, you would need two. That was one of the key things we asked the contractor to keep close watch on."

Newburyport police Marshal Thomas Howard said he required police on main roads, including Northern Boulevard, the Plum Island Turnpike and Water Street.

Gustafson said the initial budget for police details was $170,000, which he knew would not be enough. Gustafson said the budget for the entire project was tight at $22.9 million, but that he was hopeful there would be savings in other areas, such as construction, that would make up for extra police detail costs.

It was ultimately the contractor who determined how many police were needed daily. D&C Construction of Rockland is completing the installation work on the island.

Doug Tillitson, a foreman for D&C Construction who works out of a trailer on the island, said D&C uses a collaborative process with engineers to determine the number of officers needed for details.

"The foreman and the superintendent in the field tell CDM what we we're doing and we look at numbers for what we need (for officers)," Tillitson said. "(Details) are like the fifth element - it's the general process of construction."

Tillitson said D&C is the one who actually picked up the phone to call police stations.

For instance, when the chlorination building arrived on the Plum Island Turnpike, Tillitson said two officers were needed to direct two-way traffic flow.

"At times like this, and especially with school bus traffic, we could take into consideration two officers," Tillitson said. "We try to minimize areas where volume is very low and try to map out what we're going to be doing ahead of time."

However, invoices show officers stationed on a number of side streets, including 53rd St., 66th St., 76th St., Harvard Way, Olga Way and Fordham Way.

Where traffic volume was very low, the designation for the number of officers depends on traffic and the sight distance, as well as the nature of work being performed that day, Tillitson said.

"We had six crews to start and are now down to two," Tillitson said.

When construction began in the fall 2004, about a half-dozen police officers were stationed on the island, the turnpike and Water Street.

Two construction companies were working on the project at that time and had several crews requiring multiple officers, Gustafson said.

In one month - September 2004, the first full month of construction - detail costs totaled $16,680. Most of the work was on the Plum Island Turnpike. Some work was on Northern Boulevard.

During much of that time, several officers were on duty, each earning between $332 and $342 for nine-hour shifts, including one hour of overtime.

"For Plum Island Boulevard, there was a standing call for two officers every day. In the summer months, we want more officers," Gustafson said.

The number of officers depended on several factors, Gustafson said, such as the number of crews, location, backfilling and the distance between crews. However, there was no set policy - the contractor made the determination, officials said.

"The contractor, based on the operation, called a standing order," Gustafson said.

Several residents interviewed were generally supportive of how detail work was distributed.

"It's never been an issue," said Peg Brown of 78th St., referring to the work conducted on her street - about the width of a car - last fall. "There was never an abundance of officers. What has been there has been adequate."

Sandy Gray, of 66th St. in Newburyport, said there should have been more organization on her street.

"No one was there except for the workers," Gray said. "Frankly, it was a nightmare. There were all kinds of issues. We had to go up one road and down another. Sometimes, both entrances to the road were blocked."

Marty Silvia of Reservation Terrace on the Newburyport section of the island also said he did not see any officers - only crews - working on his narrow road.

"There was no havoc on the traffic. I think the crews did a real good job," Silvia said of the work performed last winter.


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## DANIPD (Jun 30, 2003)

Part 2 of 2:

Boos, hisses hurled at police detail reformer 







 Past state Sen. James Jajuga of Methuen, shown here on Salisbury Beach, tried at one point to reform the system for paying police for traffic details. He says no other legislator would join the effort, and for a time after that, police officers who once considered him a comrade would book him at public appearances.

By David Colbert 
_Staff Writer _

In 1997, a local legislator tried to pass laws reforming the way cities and towns in Massachusetts employ police officers for traffic details at construction sites.

James Jajuga of Methuen, then a state senator whose district included Newburyport, Amesbury and Salisbury, feared that officers working too many hours of traffic detail would suffer from fatigue while on their beat, potentially affecting their ability to make life-and-death decisions. The bill, among other measures, would have limited the number of hours police could work on traffic details to 25 hours a week.

Usually before filling a bill, Jajuga said, he would make the rounds to find colleagues who wanted to be co-sponsors.

But nobody signed onto this bill, and it quickly failed.

"I really didn't get any support, quite frankly," he said. "... Most of my colleagues said, 'Get the hell out of here. You're on your own, Jimmy.'"

Eventually, Gov. Jane Swift named Jajuga, who spent 20 years as a state trooper, as the state's public safety secretary. The job meant appearances at ceremonies and events with crowds of police officers. He recalled the reaction every time he was introduced at the functions:

"I was booed and hissed," he said. "It went on for a long time. ... I didn't take it personally. To them I was trying to take money from their pocket."

The practice of having police officers exclusively run roadside details is one that state legislators do not want to touch and police unions strenuously defend. Jajuga, a 21-year veteran of the state police, was accused of being out of touch with police work when he tried to change the practice. He said he was not trying to eliminate police details, just trying to get the state to examine them and see if a better system could be set up.

"I was trying to make some sense out of this process, which I don't think is abused all the time, but I think it's abused sometimes," he said.

Police detail costs have loomed large over the water and sewer project on Plum Island. Islanders will be paying about $330 per household to pay for details, which are expected to cost almost three times as much as originally budgeted.

The Daily News reviewed payment vouchers submitted by police and found in some cases, officers were paid for shifts they did not work, harbormasters who did traffic duty were paid the same amount as uniformed officers, and problems with staffing occurred - sometimes there were too many officers, other times, there were too few. The details were spelled out in yesterday's Daily News.

Jajuga said police details first took root in the early 1980s in the wake of the passage of Proposition 21/2, the law limiting property taxes. Cash-strapped cities and towns, having trouble paying their police force, saw details as a way to allow officers to make extra money without affecting the tax rate.

Community fiscal restraints and the incentive to keep the detail system remain.

Massachusetts has no law requiring police details at work sites or barring civilians from serving as flagmen in their place. But police chiefs have the discretion to determine when details are needed. Jajuga said most communities have collective bargaining agreements with their police unions preventing civilians from serving as flagmen at a fraction of the cost of employing patrolmen.

Jajuga sees a downside: officers who work too many hours and can get tired on duty, and the occasional negative impression the public gets "if they see the police officer looking at the hole with his hat off, slouched over."

Not just the money

Police officers who defend the practice say it's not all about the money, though buying a house and raising a family is not easy on a patrolman's starting salary.

"It's different for different guys," said Amesbury officer Craig Bailey of the need to make extra money. He points out that police are not allowed to perform law-enforcement related side jobs like private security or being a bar bouncer.

"What does a cop do on the side besides being a cop?" he asked.

Detail pay makes a big difference in many police officers' paychecks. Officers typically earn base salaries ranging from about $45,000 to $65,000, yet police often dominate the list of top-paid public employees. Two factors - overtime and detail pay - push some officers' pay above $90,000 a year.

Details can be a sensitive topic for police. They're the subject of occasional media scrutiny and public criticism.

In 2004, the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research at Suffolk University published a report estimating that using civilian security guards or flagmen instead of city and town police on detail would have saved taxpayers and governments between $36.5 to $66.5 million the previous year.

The study also argued that road details do not add any safety, since Massachusetts, the only state that does not use civilian flagmen, was also the most accident-prone in the country. At the time of the study, the Beacon Hill Institute reported, off-duty police officers were paid an average of $34.70 an hour, compared to $9.97 for an uncertified flagger and $21.11 for a certified flagger.

But police say the typical roadside details put more police on the street without a direct cost to local governments, allow them to retain control of public roads and put highly trained professionals in charge of sometimes chaotic work sites.

Police working private details can leave their posts in an emergency. A recent armed robbery in Amesbury carried out by a mother and son team using a syringe as a weapon was quickly solved, in part thanks to the help of two officers on traffic detail who participated in the investigation.

Bailey said private utility companies in Amesbury call the Police Department to request details. He said a company like NSTAR often wants someone trained in dealing with the public as a go-between at work sites.

Jajuga's proposal would have left the decision on details to local chiefs but would have allowed public input into the process. It also would have created a state program to train and certify civilian flaggers, barred injured officers from working details, created a new record-keeping system and installed a uniform detail system for every department in the state.

But police unions at the time said it should be left up to cities and towns to decide how to use details.

Kenneth J. Scanzio, vice president and legislative director for the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, which represents more than 100 police unions, said the danger of traffic details is underestimated and that a civilian flagger, with no authority to ticket, cannot command the respect of aggressive Massachusetts drivers.

"You can't understand how complicated it gets sometimes trying to keep a flow of traffic through a community," he said. "...People do not pay attention to what they're doing. They're on cell phones. They're doing all kind of things."


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## DANIPD (Jun 30, 2003)

Another detail-related article from the Daily News of Newburyport:

In N.H., flagmen and police share duties








http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/O5/ntstory.pl?-sec-News+fn-sepolicedetail.day2-20060418-+page_1
By Angeljean Chiaramida 
_Staff writer _

SEABROOK - New Hampshire and Massachusetts share similar rules for traffic control around construction sites, but drivers in the Granite State will see one significant difference.

Unlike Massachusetts, New Hampshire sometimes uses flagmen to direct traffic, often at a much cheaper hourly rate than police officers earn.

Like Massachusetts, New Hampshires lets local officials decide how to handle traffic control. Some New Hampshire cities and towns have local ordinances requiring that police handle all or certain traffic control around road work, according to Steven Ireland, assistant engineer at the state Department of Transportation's District Six office in Durham.

Others towns, like Seabrook, allow police chiefs to make decisions based on public safety and guidelines laid out in a federal manual on traffic issues.

In practice, Seabrook tends to use police on heavily traveled roads and flagmen on side roads.

During the state's widening of Roues 1 and 107 two years ago, Seabrook's police officers took on the task of traffic control. The Seabrook Police Department billed the road construction company $30 per hour, the amount set in the Seabrook Patrolmen Association contract, plus a 20 percent administration fee.

"On arterial roads, merging streets or collector roads, police chiefs are going to want a uniformed officer controlling traffic on their local roads," said John Starkey, Seabrook's public works director. "On a bedroom street, you might be able to use flagmen. Local departments of public works don't hire flagmen. One or more of the crew will be designated to control traffic, and they're just paid their normal hourly wage."

DPW workers are offered training so they know what to do when directing traffic. In Seabrook, training may come from any of three sources. The town's insurance company may provide training, Starkey said, or town workers may take a course at the state Local Government Center. The third option is to send employees to the University of New Hampshire's technical transfer center.

"Every state in the union has one of these," Starkey said. "It's the wave of the future for public works departments. In Seabrook, we've had three men graduate from the public works academy."

Warner Knowles, Seabrook's sewer superintendent, said he usually calls police to handle traffic if the road has to be completely closed, the work is on a dangerous stretch or it's on a main road. If the road work is expected to take only a short time, if it's on a minor road and the work site is safe enough, Knowles uses a crew member to be a flagman.

When Lowe's came to Seabrook last year and a lane was added to Route 1 to accommodate increased traffic, the state made the policy, and Seabrook police handled the traffic details. Seabrook's officers were offered the detail work on a rotating basis delineated in the union contract, which stipulates it be offered first to full-time, then to part-time Seabrook police personnel and lastly to law enforcement officers from other departments, according to Seabrook Patrolman Ed Cody.

Cody has done his share of traffic detail work on Seabrook roads during his 20 years on the force. He said traffic details are not always popular with officers because they can take a physical toll, particularity during winter and summer weather.

He said patrolmen offer law enforcement services flagmen can't. Patrolmen can check flowing traffic for vehicle inspection and registration stickers or equipment violations and stop reckless or drunken drivers, he said. While on traffic detail last summer for Lowe's, Cody said, officers noticed and arrested a drunken driver.

Seabrook Treasurer Oliver Carter Jr., who was a selectmen during Seabrook's sewer installation project some years ago, said the town hired construction firms to do the work and stipulated police be used for traffic control. The project budget included the money to cover the expense. Over the life of the project, controversy arose over the issue, and the town had to step in to remedy the situation.


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## DANIPD (Jun 30, 2003)

....And one more:

Local lawmakers wary of confronting details 







 
http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/O5/ntstory.pl?-sec-News+fn-nlawmakers.day2-20060418-+page_1
By Katie Farrell 
_Staff writer _

BOSTON - Local lawmakers are hesitant to file bills that would change the practice of paying top dollar for police officers to control traffic around construction in public roads, saying police make the job sites safer.

Despite widespread belief, no law in Massachusetts requires that road details be overseen by police officers. Cities and towns have local authority over the practice. They technically have the freedom to use civilian flagmen who would be paid a lower hourly rate than police.

But in practice, detail duty is commonly given to police officers through the union contracts they negotiate with city and town officials.

This has led to an almost universal police presence at traffic details in Massachusetts while neighboring states, such as New Hampshire, often employ civilian flagmen.

"Obviously over the years, the state has decided to leave it to cities and towns," Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, said.

Local lawmakers say that employing flagmen at construction sites has both benefits and drawbacks. They no have immediate plans to sponsor bills that would address traffic details. Such a measure would require research and study, they said.

Lawmakers' reticence to file bills on police details is understandable, said Barbara Anderson of the watchdog group Citizens for Limited Taxation. Police can be a powerful lobbying group, she said, pointing to the way police mobilized to halt then-state Sen. James Jajuga's 1997 attempt to change the rules.

"I've seen hordes of police officers descend on the Statehouse and scare the living daylights out of legislators by filling the back wall of hearing rooms," she said. "Legislators are afraid that the police unions still have the clout at the polls to destroy them."

Tarr, who did not support Jajuga's 1997 effort to make changes to the detail system (see related story), said using flagmen does save money. But he would want to know the additional benefits of relying on civilians to direct traffic before endorsing the concept.

"I felt the case wasn't made strongly enough," Tarr said of Jajuga's bill.

Motorists are more apt to obey signals from a uniformed police officer than those of a flagmen, Tarr said.

Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, who holds Jajuga's seat in the Senate and chairs the Joint Committee on Transportation, did not return phone calls seeking his position on police detail legislation. State Rep. Harriett Stanley, D-Newbury, also did not return calls.

Rep. Michael Costello, D-Newburyport, said having police officers at construction sites causes drivers to slow down because police can issue fines. The jobs also put more police on the roadways, he said.

Massachusetts is also more densely populated than New Hampshire or Maine, and highways are more heavily congested, which requires more expertise at construction sites, Costello said. State law requires that police oversee traffic on major highways, such as Interstate 95. State troopers are trained to control high-speed traffic and are more accustomed to it, Costello said.

Still, Costello said he would support exploring a compromise and using flagmen on less traveled, secondary roads.

Costello said he hasn't decided whether he'd ever sponsor a bill addressing police details. He said he would need to examine past bills and the ramifications of a measure before taking action.

Costello said he is opposed to "knee-jerk" legislation and wouldn't write a bill as a result of one particular issue, such as the Plum Island project's police detail budget overruns.

Tarr said he doesn't expect legislation regarding police details to be considered in the near future. The issue seems to have lost momentum, and he hasn't heard any discussions from other legislators about it.

"I don't see anyone picking it up soon," Tarr said.


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## Dr.Magoo (May 2, 2002)

Another slow news day at the Salem News.....I know we will write about police details again. Enough already! ](*,)


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## MVS (Jul 2, 2003)

> DPW workers are offered training so they know what to do when directing traffic. In Seabrook, training may come from any of three sources. The town's insurance company may provide training, Starkey said, or town workers may take a course at the state Local Government Center. The third option is to send employees to the University of New Hampshire's technical transfer center.


So, If there's an accident do they know CPR/First Responder? Are they required to have a cell phone?



> He said patrolmen offer law enforcement services flagmen can't. Patrolmen can check flowing traffic for vehicle inspection and registration stickers or equipment violations and stop reckless or drunken drivers, he said. While on traffic detail last summer for Lowe's, Cody said, officers noticed and arrested a drunken driver.


Why bother have an LEO there? Just use a flagger that will just keep waving the drunks by. :shock:


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

We have a sewer project going on in my town, it's about 30% over budget(projected) because of materials cost and because the contractor has to go 2 months more because of weather over the winter (not to mention the fact that they took crews off the job to do other jobs).
That being said...any time over runs influence the project costs in many ays....two more months means two more months of onsite DEP inspectors, means two more months of a project planner, mean two more months of details....

Don't like the fact that you have to have details...dont do a public works project.


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## Guest (Apr 19, 2006)

The reporter must have forgotten to add that Jajuga would financially benefit from using flagman.


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## id1811xecj (Jun 27, 2004)

MSP75 said:


> The reporter must have forgotten to add that Jajuga would financially benefit from using flagman.


As someone who has not lived in MA for 15 years, I cannot believe that details still exist. Every other state I have lived in rarely uses police for traffic control at road work. I had the pleasure of being waived by a flag man this morning into the path of an oncoming car.


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## MVS (Jul 2, 2003)

id1811xecj said:


> As someone who has not lived in MA for 15 years, I cannot believe that details still exist. Every other state I have lived in rarely uses police for traffic control at road work. I had the pleasure of being waived by a flag man this morning into the path of an oncoming car.


That is exactly the reason why there still ARE details.


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

RI has "Flagmen" but most serious details are done by the Police. They just don't sick flagmen anywhere like in some states. Then again I can only speak for my observations in the Northern RI area.


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