By Matt Carroll, The Boston Globe
If there’s one thing better than a free lunch, it’s getting paid for it.
And Quincy Police Chief Robert F. Crowley does -- nearly $150 a week.
He also gets paid to “read” -- $91 a week, to cover the cost of reading material related to law enforcement work.
Those are two of the more unusual benefits that swell the paychecks of Crowley and the department’s 49 superior officers and 153 patrolmen and detectives, in some cases boosting their annual pay by tens of thousands of dollars.
Alan H. Cousins, president of the Quincy Taxpayers’ Association, questions why the police should receive so many perks.
“The fact that police personnel, not just superior officers but rank and file, get so many add-ons is a matter of legitimate concern as to whether it should happen and how legitimate it is,” he said, noting that many officers earn six-figure salaries after earnings for paid details are added.
Crowley, for example, is paid a base salary of $94,981, plus an additional $56,518 in perks, for a total of $151,499. Some of the benefits are well known, such as money for educational advancement, popularly known as the “Quinn Bill” benefit. Crowley receives $34,736 under this provision passed by the Legislature.
But other payments for Quincy’s officers, such as for reading, lunch, longevity, and clothing, are little known outside the Police Department.
The reading benefit is less than a decade old, said officials. Officers are paid to keep current with state law and police issues, although no one checks to see what, if anything, is purchased. All officers receive extra for uniforms. Longevity pay, which ranges up to $1,500, is based on the number of years served.
The lunch benefit began decades ago, when day-shift officers worked longer than the two other shifts. Their shift included a lunch break, said officials and officers who have negotiated contracts. When the three shifts were evened out to eight hours each, the day shift lost its lunch break.
As compensation, superior officers on the Monday-through-Friday day shift picked up “lunch” money. Superior officers on the evening and overnight shifts do not get lunch money. All patrolmen are paid for time at lunch, on the premise that they can be called back to work at any moment, said a union official.
The amount paid in some benefits varies among department employees because it is based on hourly wages. Crowley, the chief, receives $7,747 a year for lunch, $4,749 for reading, $1,500 for longevity, and $975 for uniforms.
When asked about the benefits, Mayor William J. Phelan lauded the professionalism of the Police Department, and would not criticize the police contracts. But he noted, “There are hidden costs with any collective bargaining agreement that do add up.”
He said city negotiators need to take care before agreeing to a benefit that ends up costing a lot of money down the line.
“Once it’s in [the contract], it takes an act of Congress to get out,” said Phelan.
In effect, the benefits are stipends that boost paychecks, said officials and officers. Police departments across the state pay such benefits, though they differ from department to department. And while Quincy’s benefits for lunch and reading are unusual, they are not unique.
Crowley, following a short phone conversation, did not return subsequent calls seeking comment about benefit pay.
Police officers and city officials said the overall police contract needs to be considered because examining individual benefits out of context can be misleading. The final result of the collective bargaining process was something both sides could live with, they said.
“We give up things and we get things, and we end up with a final package,” said Gerard S. McAuliffe, the attorney for the Superior Officers’ Association, adding that negotiating ground rules forbid him to speak about specifics.
Lieutenant John F. McDonough, president of the union, defended the extra pay for reading, although he said he does not like the term. “People think of a guy reading” a tabloid newspaper, McDonough said. He said most officers, especially those interested in advancing their careers, work hard studying off-duty.
“Most guys are into it, but, like everything else, some guys [thwart] the system” and pocket the cash, said McDonough, who said he subscribes to antiterrorist and police-oriented magazines. Patrolman Bruce D. Tait, vice president of the Patrol Officers Association, said he uses his reading pay to buy legal updates.
City Councilor Kevin F. Coughlin wondered how the benefits are viewed by residents.
“When you shine a bright light on these things, the average person who works 9 to 5 wonders what the rationale is,” he said. “Property values are rising and taxes are increasing dramatically, and people are asking if tax dollars are being spent wisely.”