Related article:
Mass. police perks undergo changes
By Jessica Fargen
Boston Herald
BOSTON — Unruly off-duty cops protesting the state’s new rules that do away with some paid police details caused such a disruption in Woburn today the city’s mayor and police chief were called in to mediate, according to the state’s top highway official.
MassHighway Commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky said one off-duty cop drove the wrong way on Lexington Street and union officers from Woburn and surrounding towns gathered in the street.
“Some of the police protesters created a hazard for drivers and our employees,” said Paiewonsky, who was at the scene twice today to work with Woburn’s mayor and police chief to control the crowd of cops.
“Vehicles were parked in the road. Police protesters were walking across the work site. A protester was driving the wrong way down the street in a way that we felt was a hazard to employees and our drivers. Police officials were surrounding flaggers so they couldn’t be seen by traffic.”
Calls to Woburn Police Chief Phillip Mahoney and Mayor Thomas L. McLaughlin were not immediately returned.
At least 30 police union members held signs and heckled MassHighway workers this morning as they protested the state’s new rules that no longer require police details at all road work sites. The rolling MassHighway crew cleared catch basins along the road, set up cones and directed traffic.
“It’s a public safety issue, first and foremost,” said Woburn Police officer Dana Gately, vice president of the Woburn police union.
Some of the off-duty officers heckled the MassHighway workers as they placed orange cones on the road and directed traffic using a Slow and Stop sign.
“I make $50,000 a year working nights and weekends,” barked Stoneham cop Joe Ponzo, president of his department’s union. “A lot of these cities and towns can’t survive without these details.”
Cops in Revere and Everett protested at two Massachusetts Water Resources Authority work sites on Friday, where for the first time, no local paid police details were required to direct traffic. In Everett, police detail work pays $42 an hour. In both cities, protesters were able to stop the MWRA crew from completing their work that day.
The pay scale for civilian flagmen has not been finalized, but estimates used to calculate the $5 million annual cost-savings put the rate at approximately $33 an hour, including benefits.
The new rules, championed by Gov. Deval Patrick, took effect on Friday and instruct the state to use civilian flaggers or electronic signs on roads with a 45 mile per hour speed limit or less. The regulations also affect roads with higher speed limits but light traffic patterns.
The state has trained more than 100 employees in flagging and certified 14 trainers.
Civilian flaggers were used in all five state highway districts today, Paiewonsky said, adding that in four districts the flagmen worked without incident.
The department is well prepared to impose the new rules, she said.
“We are very confident the flaggers will be able to control traffic,” she said. “We’re going to keep doing our jobs. We are going to keep implementing the regulations.”
Copyright 2008 Boston Herald