While my two sons, who both reside in Massachusetts, are contemplating their future careers – one in college, the other in high school – I’m strongly urging them to consider the numerous opportunities of becoming cops with anyone of the 351 or so local police departments in that State.
Granted, regular starting annual salaries for a local cop in Massachusetts is in the neighborhood of about $60K, HOWEVER, when you factor-in all the overtime police Details some of these guys work, mostly around roadside construction sites and periodic public town meetings, with earning potential literally going through the proverbial BLEEPIN roof.
What’s wrong with this picture: In a nearby Mass., community, which borders New Hampshire, half the members of its police force grossed more than $100K in 2012. Some of those cops not only pocketed more money than their boss, the Police Chief, but also grossed more than the Town Manager and School Superintendent of that town. In other words, all that sweet money – sometimes even doubling their regular salaries – with not even a fraction of the responsibility attached to it.
Now please don’t confuse what I’m saying here with a regular overtime situation for one of these police officers to cover for a colleague, who may have banged in sick – although that ain’t too shabby of an arrangement either because their rate of pay becomes time-and-a-half per hour, or double time if it happens to be on a State or Federal holiday.
With the overtime Detail pay I’m referring to here, as it was explained to me by a very reliable source whom I greatly respect, the utility company doing the roadside construction work, like National Grid, for example, would be obligated to pay a local cop $45 per hour for a MINIMUM OF A 4-HOUR BLOCK to direct traffic around the working site. So if the roadside Detail only lasted five (5) hours, for example, National Grid would be obligated to pay that cop $45 times eight (8) hours to cover those two, 4-hour blocks. If the work only lasted an hour-an-a-half, National Grid would be obligated to pay the Detailed cop $45 times four (4) hours to cover the one minimum block. Ditto for the community for hiring a Detailed cop for a periodic public town meeting. So cite me one (1) unskilled job that’s currently available — AND LEGAL — which you can pocket that kind of money for that type of work? I can’t think of even one. What a racket!
Also, please don’t factor in the actual “QUALITY” of work the cops are obligated to perform on these particular Details – remember, local cops are still considered PUBLIC SECTOR employees, as opposed to PRIVATE SECTOR employees. So, more often than not, you read these comments on Internet blogs or newspaper anonymous sound-off columns, about how some of these Detail cops either just shoot the “bull” with the construction workers or try to flirt with attractive female motorists when they’re supposed to be directing traffic. In these types of circumstances, the Detail cops aren’t legitimately earning their $45 per hour. And it’s not as if they’re ever going to lose these Detail opportunities any time soon because these cops are “REQUIRED” to either direct traffic at road construction sites or “keep the peace” at periodic public town meeting, so it’s not as if they’re “competing” against anybody here.
Even though Massachusetts is still one of the better States in the country as far as low Unemployment rates go, it still could be a heck of a lot lower. Why not create civilian road guard jobs specifically to direct traffic at roadside construction sites? Why not create security guard jobs to “help keep the peace” at periodic public town meetings? Label it, an effort to, “spread the wealth” a little bit.
Is a tired, overworked cop like a ticking time-bomb ready to explode? Or, maybe like a very serious accident just waiting to happen? A now former elected official once told me that he was extremely concerned over a cop who’s constantly working two shifts (one of them, overtime Details), and then has to respond to a Domestic violence type situation – which the majority of police calls are in this particular community. What if, under the guise of being overly worked and exhausted, the cop proceeds to irrationally pull the gun out of his holster and then kills somebody? Would all that money that cop pocketed on overtime Details really be worth it at that point in time?
I once asked a now-former local cop who, on at least several occasions, grossed more than both the Town Manager and School Superintendent of that community via mostly overtime Details. He justified the need for this perk by telling me all the potential crime which often takes place around roadside construction sites, such as motorists simply ignoring the cop’s instructions. Well, a civilian road guard making a minimum wage salary could easily take down a motorist’s license plate number, perhaps a brief description of the vehicle, and phone it into the Police Department as an official complaint. A uniformed cop who could easily jump in his cruiser and give that ignorant motorist a ticket certainly doesn’t justify a grossly overpaid perk, in my book. Furthermore, using that same former cop’s logic, perhaps Massachusetts ought to pass a law “REQUIRING” a Detail cop working every single Liquor store, and Convenience store in that State since there’s a heck of a lot more “crime” that takes place in those establishments than around roadside construction sites. Absolutely ridiculous!
One point that’s sometimes raised on the Internet blogs in that particular Mass., community, which I find somewhat hysterical, is all the “heroic efforts these Police officers did during 9/11”. I would argue that statement might hold true for the Police officers of New York City – but not of this particular Mass., community, which had a grand total of zero cops show up at Ground Zero on the fateful tragic day nearly 12 years ago. And let me interject that, for the most part, I honestly admire and respect what police officers do on a day-to-day basis – they are definitely our “heroes” but lets not get stupid here and throw out the “9/11 card”, which is just plain ignorant. I would further contend here that even if this town did have a few cops go down and help out at Ground Zero back at the time, that still wouldn’t justify most of these cops exploiting their community via doing these Details.
Heck, come to think of it, hypothetically speaking, if it were available to become a police officer on one of the local departments in Massachusetts and SOLELY DO ONLY DETAIL ASSIGNMENTS, Yours Truly would’ve become a cop in Mass., in a New York minute. Unfortunately, being a cop would require me to respond to Domestic violence, Drug busts and a whole bunch of other dangerous situations I would just assume not get involved with.
Another argument that the Police Union tries to rationalize for Detail cops working roadside construction Details – the same doesn’t hold true obviously for when they’re security guards during a periodic public town meeting – it’s the Utility company, like National Grid, NOT the taxpayers who’s actually paying for these Detail cops.
$64,000 Question: If a utility company, like National Grid, is over-budget due to expenses it had to pay out for unforeseen roadside construction situations, how do you suppose it intends to recoup its lost money? Well, I’m no financial expert, or anything like that, but I would assume National Grid would simply raise its rates which, in turn, recoups its lost money from all the ratepayers. So whether you get whacked on your increased property taxes, or an increased electric bill, the local Massachusetts resident is still paying the salaries for their cops “working” these Details.
It’s my understanding, that according to some Mass.State legislation called, the Quinn Bill, community Police Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs are prohibited from working these overtime police Details, HOWEVER, their annual salaries are gauged so well, that a lot of them are eligible to gross more than their bosses, the Town/City Manager or the Mayor. Most Police Chiefs – if not ALL – in Massachusetts are grossing well into the six-figure range when it comes to annual salaries. After all, it would be a crying shame if the lowly subordinates working for these local police forces got such a sweet “benie” like overtime Details, while the Chiefs were simply left out of the proverbial loop.
So why don’t either Selectmen, City Councilors, elected State officials or even challengers running against them ever make these police Details a major campaign issue? Politically speaking, Massachusetts is both a predominately Democrat state, as well as a “Union friendly” state. It would literally be “political suicide” for any candidate running for an elected office in Massachusetts to push for the elimination, or even the modification, of these police Details.
So what my kids would just assume pass up on, you can all exploit for yourselves: if you’re not already a Massachusetts resident, move there, take the Police exam, work as much overtime Details as you possibly can, and make a whole bunch of money in the process. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, while all this is going on, make sure you’ve got your fingers crossed so Massachusetts (or at least your particular community) doesn’t elect any honest politicians with integrity who’ve got the guts to finally rectify this very corrupt bureaucratic arrangement.
One Bad Decision Away From Homelessness 