Arbiter rules for cop union: No more tickets by K9 officer

SAUGUS – A ruling from a union arbitrator means K9 Officer Harold Young’s job as a traffic officer has gone to the dogs.An arbitrator has sided with the Patrolmen’s Union regarding a grievance filed against Town Manager Andrew Bisignani who, a little more than a year ago, gave Young the capability to write very specific parking tickets.When the union heard of Young’s appointment, it immediately argued that Bisignani was crossing bargaining lines. In the decision rendered by Arbitrator Sarah Kerr Garraty, union President Kevin Murphy said the issue was never brought to the union prior to Young’s appointment. He also pointed out that writing parking tickets was a core part of the job and under the sole jurisdiction of the department.However Lt. Stephen Sweezey said in his testimony that he has given books of parking tickets to a number of other agencies including the State Police, the Department of Conservation and Recreation at Breakheart Reservation, the town’s Assistant Harbormaster and the Housing Authority.Bisignani allowed Young to issue tickets only for people parked in handicap zones, fire lanes, crosswalks, blocking corners or on sidewalks. While he may not have taken it up with the union, Bisignani did seek a legal opinion prior to making the appointment.Town Counsel John Vasapolli wrote that Bisignani, as the appointing authority in regard to police officers, has the right to appoint “special” officers with specific duties and police powers. Vasapolli cited the use of retired officers used to work details as an example of that.Neither the union nor the arbitrator agreed with that opinion.The bottom line, according to the arbitrator, is that although it was done with good intentions, the work of issuing parking tickets has customarily and historically been done by police personnel and cannot be diverted to civilians unless it’s negotiated.Bisignani said he is disappointed by the decision, but will abide by it. He has not decided whether he will appeal the ruling.”It’s unfortunate that the police department doesn’t have the resources to write tickets because it would be helpful to public safety and a revenue stream for the town,” he said.The patrolmen, with Young’s help, brought in $62,755 over the last year in parking tickets with Young issuing the bulk of them – 184. Patrolman Jeffrey Woods was second with 123 tickets. The department had a better year in 2007 prior to Young’s appointment when it issued 738 parking tickets with 33 other agencies kicking in for a total of 957 tickets. In all, tickets netted the town $78,000 that year and Woods wrote the majority at 100.