Patrick’s plan could mean $12,000 hit for Lynn cops

LYNN – Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan to scrap police road details starting with the State Police means lost income for officers in Lynn and other cities and reduced public safety, police say.Patrick last Thursday said he is examining ways to replace police detail officers with lower-paid civilian flagmen and women in a bid to save money in the face of a billion dollars in transportation infrastructure upgrades.Patrick said he needs to explore every way to save money and avoid tax increases. But he stopped short of launching a campaign to do away with the police details.”What has to happen is we have to look at it,” he said. “It’s never been very high on my own list of priorities.”Details are typically hired by utilities, like telephone, cable and electricity services, installing cables and wire in roads. The officers’ detail pay is based on fee schedules detailed in contracts signed between police unions and communities. Utilities pay for the details.”It all comes from the vendors. None from the taxpayers,” Police Chief John Suslak said, adding he doubts hiring flaggers would provide a substantial financial savings.Revere Police Superior Officers Association President James Guido agreed and said pay rates for flaggers could end up being on par with police officer detail pay because state rates for flagmen or women will have to conform with prevailing wage laws.The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority said it spent $3.4 million on police details in fiscal 2006, the most recent figure available. The state highway department said it didn’t have immediate statistics on its police detail costs.Comparable rates for municipal details translate into added income for police officers. According to 2006 city salary records, Lynn officers earned incomes from details equivalent to one-third, even 43 percent, of their gross incomes.Detail earnings in 2006 for Lynn officers ranged from a few hundred dollars to over $58,000 with an average earning of $12,000.The state’s detail system has been a political hot potato in the past. Critics claim utilities pass on the cost of hiring details to their customers and warn that officers working details risk being too tired to work regular police shifts.Police unions and chiefs like Suslak say there is a public safety benefit from assigning officers to details that will not be replicated if flaggers are hired by utilities.”There are many cases of officers responding to calls in progress. That won’t happen with flagmen,” Suslak said.Guido said drivers who are told to stop speeding or slow down for a traffic signal by officers on a detail will not listen to the same warning from a flagger.A blue ribbon commission recently recommended that police details be slashed. It also called for a hike in the gas tax to pay for what it estimated are $19 billion in road and bridge repairs over the next 20 years.Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and a member of the transportation commission, applauded Patrick. He estimates that police officers make more than $100 million per year on details.”Police details are second to none in raising the ire of the public. They know that 49 other states use flag men or women when there’s no safety risk.”