Every year or so, the papers print the ridiculous salary figures earned by police officers from paid private details, and there comes a chorus of complaint and calls for reform - but nothing ever happens. The police unions are entrenched, the corrupt system long-established and the Commonwealth itself resistant to any change. But I'll say it again. Paid police details are mostly a waste of money - your money.
Boston cops making $200,000? Troopers making over $150,000? Look, I know that police officers' base salaries are pretty low. (Although an economist might say they aren't low enough, because there are far more applicants than new hires.) And I know that many officers have come to rely on their detail money to support their lifestyle. It wouldn't be fair to switch it off overnight. But I advocate a gradual roll-back, to the point where details are rare. Once details are used only where needed rather than at every small pothole on every shoulder, we should increase police salaries on 5-10 thousand a year on average.
The cop who was making $65K base pay and $75K more from details won't be happy, but he isn't a very good cop anyway - he's too tired all the time. The current system is a rip-off, and it's your money they're taking.
I was going to do a post about this scam...again...but then I remembered that I don't live there anymore.
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
That said, if the people of Massachusetts knew what really goes into this scam, they'd be even more outraged than they get every two years when the Globe runs the same, tired story on this.
During my work on the Big Dig as a field engineer with Bechtel, I signed plenty of detail tickets, authorizing payment for the officer's overtime "work".
Scam-city, baby!
We'd get cops showing up on our site in days we didn't request a detail and they'd be like, "Well, I got out of bed and drove down here, you gotta sign my ticket to show I showed up."
They do not take kindly to folks who (rightfully) decline to sign off on the detail, so it was considere the cost of just making them go away.
And, away they would go, with their signed ticket that gave them their four-hour minimum just for showing up, down the road to the jobsite that actually requested a detail, or back home to work on their detail-funded boat.
Just last year, I was crossing Congress St. in Boston down by the Children's Museum. There were three or four separate work zones along the street every block or so, where a crew was doing some utility work.
Woudn't you know it, all FIVE detail cops were huddled at one end, just shooting the s*** where their cruisers were parked.
Meanwhile, near where THE WORK WAS HAPPENING, a guy tried crossing the street and was nearly killed by a speeding driver.
On the other hand, when we were repaving the airport roadway at Logan, at night, detouring traffic all over the place, and working right next to live traffic lanes, the half-dozen state-police cruisers were absolutely essential to guarantee the safety of the crew.
But, having it be a statewide requirement?
Scam-ola!
Posted by: Bruce | February 07, 2007 at 01:28 PM
Carpundit, have you thought about leading a referendum on the issue?
Posted by: Mike G. | February 11, 2007 at 07:25 PM