Massachusetts Police Association news...
House Begins Budget Debate
On Monday, the House began budget debate looking first at the revenue side. We expect them to take up public safety sometime late Tuesday or Wednesday. I have included some of the proposed amendments under a separate heading.
As for the House budget itself, it differs in part from that presented by Governor Patrick. Here are several examples.
The House only provides 2 million for hiring of new police while Patrick had proposed 8 million. The House did add 2 million to the 19 million the Governor had proposed for community policing.
The Quinn is funded at just over 50 million, same as the Governor. As reported earlier, we know this is light by some 3-5 million. Last year the shortfall was funded in a supplemental budget. The grant to combat gang violence (Shannon) is funded at 11 million a 5 million dollar decrease from the Governors appropriation. We'll keep you informed as to the outcome
Police amendments
Amendment 207 Ms. Coakley-Rivera of Springfield moves to amend the bill in section 2, in line item 8000-0000, in line 4, by inserting after the figure “402” the following: - “provided further that no less than $350,000 shall be expended for Police Officer Uniform Identification Cards to be issued by the Secretary of Public Safety to every full-time police officer in all municipalities and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police Department. The identification card shall bear the officer’s photograph and identity and shall be carried on the officer’s person and exhibited upon lawful request for purposes of identification”.
Amendment 232…Mr. Hill of Ipswich moves that the bill be amended in section 2, item 2030-1000 by adding after the word “Fall River” the following language: Provided further that not less than $170,000 shall be expended for the creation of two additional environmental police officers to be stationed in the M-1 region.”
Amendment 507…Mr. Costello of Newburyport moves that the bill be amended by adding the following section: “Notwithstanding any general or special law or regulation to the contrary, police officers within the Office of Environmental Law Enforcement shall be permitted to retain on their person their state authorized weapon while in any state or county courthouse on official police business.”
Amendment 508 …Mr. Costello of Newburyport moves that the bill be amended in section 2, in item 8200-0200 by adding at the end thereof the following: “provided further that not less than $25,000 shall be expended to the town of Salisbury as startup funding for the new Essex County Police Institute, a reserve officer training academy”
Amendment 512 …Representative Costello of Newburyport moves that the bill be amended in section 2, in item 8000-0054, by striking out the figure “$2,000,000” and inserting in place thereof the figure “$8,000,000”.
Amendment 648 …Representative Campbell of Methuen moves that the bill be amended in Section 2, line item 8000-0010, in line 10, inserting after the words “for non-related overtime;” the following words “provided further, that no less than $502,717 shall be allocated for community policing grants to the City of Methuen;”
Amendment 740 ... Mr. Fresolo of Worcester moves to amend the
bill in section 2, in line item 7002-0900 by adding the following:
"provided, that not less than $573,279 of the amount appropriated within this item shall be expended for the operation of the joint-labor
management committee for municipal police and fire".
Amendment 993 …Mr. Sannicandro of Ashland moves to amend the bill by adding at the end thereof the following section: “SECTION . Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the Department of Public Safety shall reimburse police departments for no less than 50 percent of the cost for purchasing new bulletproof vests for any of their auxiliary, reserve or part time police officers. Said reimbursement shall apply only to vests purchased to replace vests that are 5 years old or older, or for a first time purchase of vests. Said reimbursement shall be provided only after the police department has applied for federal reimbursement funds.”
Amendment 1078 ...REPRESENTATIVE RUSH of BOSTON, Richardson of Framingham, McCarthy of East Bridgewater, Fallon of Malden, Rice of Gardner, Toomey of Cambridge, Forry of Boston, Honan of Boston, Verga of Gloucester, Callahan of Sutton, Stanley of Waltham, Grant of Beverly and Sullivan of Fall River move that the bill be amended in section 2, in item 8000-0054 by striking the figures “$2,000,000” and inserting in place thereof the figures “$4,000,000”.
Amendment 1211 …Representatives DiNatale of Fitchburg, Gobi of Spencer, O’Day of West Boylston, Rice of Gardner, McCarthy of East Bridgewater, Fallon of Malden, Fox of Boston, Alicea of Charlton moves to amend the bill in section 2, in item 8000-0010, in line 4, by inserting after “ 2009: the following: provided further, that prior to the awarding of any grants in fiscal year 2009 the Joint Committee on Public Safety and the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight shall conduct an investigation and study into the distribution process for community policing grants; provided further, that the appropriate police unions and police associations shall be consulted as part of said investigation and study; provided further, that the Joint Committee on Public Safety and the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight issue a report with recommendation on an equitable distribution process to the executive office of public safety and the house and senate committee on ways and means not later than January 15, 2009”; and in said item by striking out the figures “21,351,035” and inserting in place thereof the figures “25,351,035”.
Amendment 1225 … Representative Driscoll of Braintree moves to amend the bill in section 2, in item 8000-0010, by striking out the figures “$21,351,035” and inserting in place thereof the figures “$22,418,587”.
Amendment 1255 …Mr. Vallee of Franklin moves to amend the bill in section 2, in item 7007-0900, in line 16, by inserting after the word “commonwealth” the following: - “provided further that not less than $100,000 shall be expended for the law enforcement technology fund in the Town of Franklin” and in said item by striking out the figure “$12,352,414” and inserting in place thereof the figure “$12,452,414”.
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House Proposes 2 Million New Police Hiring, 21 Million for Community Policing
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MA C.O.P.S. Annual Golf Tournament
Friday, June 27, 2008
Massachusetts Chapter of C.O.P.S. will be holding their annual golf tournament on Friday, June 27, 2008 at the:
Hillview Country Club,
149 North Street,
North Reading, MA,
978-664-1660.
This golf tournament will support the families of law enforcement line of duty deaths, more specifically, the children of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire & Rhode Island.
Proceeds from this event will allow us to hold our fall outing and annual Christmas Party for the children. Attached please find our golf registration form and sponsor application. If you cannot play or sponsor the golf tournament raffle donations would be greatly appreciated.
Massachusetts Chapter of COPS is a 501 (c)(3)not for profit organization, founded in 1995 and includes the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the states of Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
The purpose of Massachusetts Chapter of COPS is to provide peer support to law enforcement survivors by forming bereavemenffgrowth groups where survivors can offer and receive emotional support.
To provide a centralized source of information about appropriate services which may exist within the local community.
To provide such other relief and assistance to law enforcement survivors as is consistent with the constitution and bylaws of this chapter and National Organization and to educate the public about the unique problems and needs facing law enforcement survivors.
Should you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact me at 617-861-1327 or heather@statelineqraphics.com.
MA C.O.P.S.
10-G Roessler Road, Suite 505
Woburn, Massachusetts 01801
Telephone: (781)376-9966
Facsimile: (781) 376-9950
Supporting The Survivors of: Massachusetts. New Hampshire. Connecticut, and Rhode Island
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COPS Annual Golf Tournament
June 27, 2008 |
Bait and Switch/ New Language Lessens Local Control
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
After agreeing last week to language which would make local rules and ordinances as well as collective bargaining agreements the baseline for determining work site traffic enforcement, the Senate changed their position. On Monday, they very quietly changed the language to stating that the awarding authority would determine the rules. This could mean that when the state is the awarding authority (ie Mass Highway) they would determine the need for police. Local ordinances as collective bargaining would still prevail when the municipality is the awarding authority. Utility companies would also be bound by local rule, See below for the before and after language. This will now go to the Governor who will as stated in other releases will promulgate rules. We will be working at this level to insure local options are carefully considered.
Original language
99 Notwithstanding anything in this section, the regulations and guidelines promulgated
100 hereunder shall ensure that the awarding authority of the public works contract shall have
101 the authority to determine the appropriate traffic control measures as long as such
102 measures are consistent with the ordinances or bylaws of the location of the public works
103 project. In addition, the regulations and guidelines shall not disrupt any applicable
104 collective bargaining agreement under Chapter 150E of the General Laws.
MODIFIED LANGUAGE
“Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary , the regulations and guidelines promulgated hereunder shall ensure that the awarding authority of the public works contract has the authority to determine the appropriate traffic control measures; provided, however, that when a municipality is the awarding authority, thetraffic control measures shall be consistent with the ordinances or bylaws of the municipality wherein the public works project is being undertaken and the measures shall not affect any applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement under chapter 150E of the General Laws.”; |
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Patrick backs off talk of curtailing police details
By Associated Press
Thursday, April 3, 2008 - Updated 2h ago
Gov. Deval Patrick today offered tepid talk about reducing police details at road construction sites after a backlash from law enforcement unions and local officials over his plan to start using flagmen in some instances.
"The more I think about this, the less certain I am that we can fix this top down, you know, by just saying, ’Here’s the governor’s policy or the state government’s policy,’ because the conditions are so different at local levels," Patrick told hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan during his monthly appearance on WTKK-FM.
"There’s a lot we can do about how we deploy the State Police at the state level, but I think we’re going to have to show some respect for the judgments at local levels and create some space when public safety permits and makes prudent the use of flagmen," the governor added..
"His statement on the radio is consistent with his message all along with cities and towns — give them the tools to better manage their budgets," said Patrick spokesman Kyle Sullivan. "In terms of flagmen, we are waiting to see what comes out of the Senate and House, but we stand ready to work with them and develop regulations that determine when it is safe and cost-effective to use flagmen on road-side projects."
Patrick himself said on the radio he expected flagmen to eventually replace troopers at projects on dead-end streets or other locales deemed safe.
Last week, Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi drew headlines when they announced they were united behind changing the state’s detail policy. They vowed to attach language requiring some changes to a must-pass bond bill being considered by the Legislature this week.
When they made that announcement, the leaders were deliberately vague, except to say they would require state transportation officials to develop language spelling out where it would be safe to substitute civilian flaggers for police officers.
The final language, which overwhelmingly passed the Senate today, said: "The secretary of the executive office of transportation and public works, in consultation with the secretary of the executive office of public safety, is hereby authorized to promulgate regulations and recommend guidelines for the use of police details at public work sites."
The bond bill, which now moves to the House for a final vote, also states that nothing in the section should supersede local labor contracts or the decisions of the local public works officials.
There is no state law mandating that police officers protect workers at road construction sites, but the practice has become commonplace and been fiercely protected by police unions. Some communities have labor contracts requiring that police staff construction sites.
In recent years, a backlash has built as some State Police troopers and Boston police officers have posted earnings over $200,000 annually — more than the governor or Mayor Thomas M. Menino — and utilities have said that using police officers has created an expense they are forced to pass on to ratepayers.
A 2004 study by the Beacon Hill Institute, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog at Suffolk University, concluded that municipalities would also save between $37 million and $67 million annually by replacing most police details with flaggers.
Last week officials suggested changing the policy would save municipalities $5 million annually, a relatively small amount.
Nonetheless, the specter of changes in the detail system prompted a furious response by police labor unions. They bombarded lawmakers with phone calls, and, on Thursday, huddled outside Murray’s office as senators considered the detail language change.
At the same time, Patrick was being asked about the subject on the radio.
© Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Pol pushes drug, alcohol testing for all public safety workers
It turns out it’s not that simple. It feels simple, but there are public safety issues, and that has to come first, so we have begun to engage public safety officials, police, local officials, to help us craft the right way to do this," the governor said.
HERE IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE TRANSPORTATION BOND BILL - DOWNLOAD PDF |
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BEACON HILL LOOKS TO CUT DOWN ON POLICE DETAILS
MARCH 27, 2008
Zeroing in on public employee priorities, the state’s leaders on Thursday announced sweeping transportation reforms they said would help close a funding gap to maintain current infrastructure pegged at $1 billion annually for 20 years.
Senate President Therese Murray led a chorus against the politically prized construction site police details, promising that civilian flagmen could be on duty for many projects within months due to new transportation and public safety regulations. Senators estimated the reform could save $100 million over 20 years.
“The reforms that leadership is proposing today will not by themselves bridge the funding gap, but we do believe this is a necessary step,” said Murray. “We need to repair the public’s trust in the state as efficient stewards of their money, and the proposals we’re announcing today are the beginning of this joint effort.”
In what has become routine practice on Beacon Hill, the well-attended press conference was not accompanied by specific legislation. The Senate will propose the reforms to a $4.8 billion transportation bond bill Gov. Deval Patrick filed last year, now in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Embraced by Patrick, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen, and other legislative leaders at a Senate Reading Room press conference, the reforms also target health care and pension plans at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and retiree health insurance contributions at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Those measures aim to bring the benefits packages at the quasi-public agencies more in line with other state employees’.
The Turnpike would also be forced to consider doing away with manual toll collectors, replacing them with cheaper electronic systems.
Uniform “prequalification requirements” for contractors and expedited project approval would curb construction costs, officials said. The plan would require the highway department to expedite all the projects advertised for this fiscal year and the next, and establish a long-term dedicated transportation maintenance fund.
Senators also want MassHighway to explore other states’ policies, and to abide by new reporting requirements on payments, project timelines, cash flow activities, and project advertising procedures.
Several of the proposals flow from an outside panel’s recommendations issued last year. The officials declined Thursday to say whether they would embrace an 11.5-cent increase in the state’s gas tax or open-road tolling, both measures proposed by the commission.
“That will be discussed way down the road,” said Murray. “First we have to see if you can put savings in, and if it’s necessary.”
The “flagmen” initiative, which former Gov. William Weld pushed unsuccessfully in the face of massive union resistance, would establish a tiered system evaluating which roads should be patrolled by police during construction, and which could be left to the less expensive civilians. Massachusetts is the only state that does not use civilian flagmen, senators said.
Police union representatives said the proposal overreached in looking to strip police details from local road projects, arguing that local rules could not be superseded by state regulations. Finally people realize that a law mandating details has been a media creation. No such law exists.. " The issue should be regulated on a local level" said James Machado, President of the 22,000 Massachusetts Police Association.
Public employee unions have long been a target of aspirant cost-cutters, who say the state’s policy of transferring politically difficult transportation problems onto semi-independent agencies often wastes money. The outside commission last year found that every one of the transportation agencies was operating in the red, with worsening deficits.
Patrick, who has promised additional cost savings through a streamlining of the state’s transportation bureaucracy, said his administration continues to review savings options. “We accept the Senate president’s challenge to step it up,” he said.
Other reforms are coming, lawmakers promised. Sen. Steven Baddour (D-Methuen), co-chair of the Transportation Committee, said Thursday signaled state government’s willingness to implement “bold, innovative, and controversial solutions.”
Leaders framed efforts to improve the state’s troubled transportation infrastructure as a public safety and economic development issue. “Our infrastructure is a hindrance to us and our economy. There is no question about it,” DiMasi said.
“I’m impressed with the range of the reforms,” said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, calling the package “an absolutely critical first step.”
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HOUSE APPROVES 4.4 PERCENT LOCAL AID HIKE
3/10/08
Local aid to cities and towns will rise 4.4 percent, or $223 million, in next year's state budget, under a non-binding resolution announced Monday afternoon by House and Senate leaders and approved by the House on Wednesday after members voted down a series of Republican amendments. The $5.26 billion commitment matches the local aid hike recommended by Gov. Deval Patrick in January. Outpacing the projected 3.8 percent rise in state tax revenues next year, the resolution is due for action in the Senate next week.
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LEGISLATURE TAKES ON BIGGGGGGGG ISSUE
3/14/08
A bill to prohibit the use of elephants in traveling circuses passing through Massachusetts was narrowly rejected Friday afternoon by members of the Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, with opponents contending that the bill would effectively ban circuses in the commonwealth after 80 years of performances.
Proponents of the bill, which was rejected on a 5 to 6 vote, argued that elephants in traveling circuses have been systematically beaten, chained and confined to dangerously small living areas.
Originally meant to ban certain training methods – the use of sharp, curved bull hooks, and chaining elephants for prolonged periods – the committee had toughened the language to ban elephants from traveling circuses in the commonwealth altogether.
Rep. William Pignatelli (D-Lenox), one of the six committee members who opposed the proposal (S 2002), said the bill’s supporters had yet to uncover a single documented case of elephant abuse in Massachusetts.
“As a legislator in Massachusetts, I have no jurisdiction over anything that happened in Montana,” he said. “Nobody in my opinion has proved any problems of abuse in Massachusetts. It’s legislation that doesn’t bear any fruit.”
Another committee member, Rep. Rosemary Sandlin (D-Agawam) said she opposed the bill because the Big E, a Springfield venue that hosts the circus, fell within her district.
“I got a great deal of input from the Big E,” she said, adding, “A lot of people very close to my campaign were definitely adamantly against banning elephants in circuses in Massachusetts.”
But supporters of the bill, who included the committee’s chairmen, Rep. Eric Turkington (D-Falmouth) and Sen. James Marzilli (D-Arlington), argued that the mere act of keeping an elephant in captivity is abusive.
“It’s inappropriate for elephants to be chained, dragged out to do dances in front of audiences and then put back on the train,” Turkington said in a phone interview. “Elephants need hundreds of acres. They need the companionship of other elephants.”
Turkington said there are no documented cases of abuse because circuses are in and out of town in a matter of days. He also noted that the same bill passed the tourism committee last year, also by one vote.
“It’s always been close,” he said. “All the parties are well funded and well entrenched.”
The bill passed the Senate last session but stalled in the House.
Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth), the bill’s sponsor, told the News Service that the bill may have had the votes had Turkington and the committee not redrafted the language to make it tougher. Hedlund said he was inquiring whether it would be possible to revert back to the original language of the bill and reconsider it. Either way, he said he would file the bill again next session.
“I think we’ll pick up supporters as we educate more people,” he said. “We’re up against a special interest that makes a profit. It’s an archaic, barbaric way of treating an animal. But sometimes old ideas die hard on Beacon Hill.”
Kara Holmquist, director of advocacy for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, echoed Hedlund, and added that advocates would press on.
“We’re obviously disappointed,” she said. “It’s not the end of the issue.”
Holmquist said that even if no cases of abuse in Massachusetts were documented, ample evidence exists that circuses have abused elephants in other states.
“We know that this happens,” she said.
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, which produces the Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey circuses, hailed the committee vote as a repudiation of claims of elephant abuse.
“Even though it was a close vote, the majority of the committee clearly recognizes this is not necessary,” he said. “We pride ourselves on our animal care.”
Payne said an elephant ban would have prevented the circus from coming to Massachusetts at all because “we’re not going to leave our elephants at the state line when we come to Massachusetts.”
At an October hearing, Ringling Bros. executives expressed outrage at the bill, insisting that bull hooks were used only to gently prod elephants, and that the animals were only chained to receive medical care and to prevent them from stealing weaker animals’ food. The elephants, they said, share close bonds with their trainers, who would never subject them to intentional physical distress.
But several former circus employees and animal rights activists told a different story at the hearing.
Describing bleeding, shrieking elephants, beaten viciously by trainers with bull hooks, some former employees said abuse was rampant.
"If families understood what went on behind the scenes, there would be a different perspective about how animals are taught to do these kinds of tricks," Hedlund said at the hearing.
Other members who voted to reject the bill included committee vice chair Sen. James Timilty (D-Walpole), Sen. Dianne Wilkerson (D-Roxbury), as well as Reps. Brian Wallace (D-Boston) and Angelo Puppolo (D-Springfield). Committee members supporting the bill included Sen. Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield), Rep. Ellen Story (D-Amherst) and Rep. Willie Mae Allen (D-Mattapan). Five members – Sen. Pamela Resor (D-Acton) and Reps. Todd Smola (R-Three Rivers), David Sullivan (D-Fall River), John Keenan (D-Salem) and Susan Gifford (R-Wareham) – reserved their right. One member, Sen. Michael Morrissey (D-Quincy), did not cast a vote.
Barring any unforeseen efforts to revive the bill, the circus is scheduled to come to Worcester from May 1 to May 4, to Boston from Oct. 9 to Oct. 12 and Springfield from Nov. 6 to Nov. 9.
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