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[Admin]

Cops absolutely deserve more than that but it doesn't justify the detail scam.

+1

 

[Bolt308]

So if the details go away my taxes and utility bills will go down?

Somehow I doubt that...why not get rid of a real money sucking program like perpetual welfare?

+1

As a worker where paid details at least 3-4 times a week. I'd much prefer to have an officer, whom most every motorist will obey when signaled to stop and who can call an ambulance if needed than some other option who'd just be a target and useless in an emergency. Some people see a waste of money, when my detail rolls up I see more safety for me or co-workers.

 

[Snapshot]

When did you graduate high school exactly?

2000 was when this happened but it wasn't high school (thus the mention of student loans)

Cops absolutely deserve more than that but it doesn't justify the detail scam.

Agreed but we're not talking about what they deserve. We're talking about what is needed "to survive".

$37k IS enough to raise kids, save for retirement (I had a 401k at the time) and buy a house (PMI?).... IF you keep a realistic idea of what you need "to survive".
Many people think owning the latest and greatest SUV or 52 inch plasma is needed "to survive". Many people need weekly trips to Kappys liquors or a pack a day smoking habit "to survive". Many people eat at McDonalds more times in a week then I have in a year "to survive".

I'm not saying he or any cop does these things. I'm just saying that I've seen "poor" and $37k isn't it. Especially if that's one of two incomes. So let's be careful of our use of the words "to survive".

and who can call an ambulance if needed

What's to stop anybody else from calling an ambulance?

 

[dwarven1]

Dick, if I got told I was taking a pay cut, I'd find another job or get my union to intervene - to boost the salary, NOT to get useless, highly-paid wastes of my time put into my job description.

If they take away your details, you can either work private security in the time that you'd be doing details (I did it, why can't you?), you can lobby your town or city to raise your pay rate, or you can find another job. Telecom certainly wasn't MY first choice, but it's what I do now and I make a good living at it. You can find a hobby that you can make money at, too - I fix watches. What do you do that people might pay you for? After all, you won't have those long details taking up your time...

 

[bpm990d]

When I first got out of school I was making about that much and thought I was rich. Brand new motorcycle, new (to me) car, luxury apartment on a hill overlooking most of the town, new top of the line gaming computer, and that was after furnishing the apartment.

And that wasn't even living off of credit cards either. In fact I paid off both vehicles and student loans months if not years early and never carried a balance on my CCs.

So I wonder just how you are living that you need even more "just to survive".

I've never made that much. Where do I apply? Never mind, I starved to death years ago.

B

 

[dwarven1]

+1

As a worker where paid details at least 3-4 times a week. I'd much prefer to have an officer, whom most every motorist will obey when signaled to stop and who can call an ambulance if needed.

You think that a flagman won't have a cell phone?

 

[JoeT]

I kinda feel a lot of you are missing the point. Me, my father and just about every other officer depends on this money to survive. Tell me what $37,000 a year will get you? Not much.

Actually, i think that you are missing the point. I think that we all agree that police should make more than $37,000 a year. BUT they should make it doing POLICE WORK, not looking in a hole in the ground. If you save $20 an hour by putting a flagman to direct traffic, that $20 could be spent on POLICE WORK like solving (and God forbid preventing) crimes

The only time the state pays for the detail, is when the state is working the project. For the most part if the construction is being done by a private company then the private company must foot the bill for the detail NOT the state.

please don't fool yourself (or try to fool us) with this logic. The taxpayer pays for it either way.

now let me tell you a story of years ago when I was running a restaurant. In an attempt to increase sales and get people into the restaurant, we decided to bring in live entertainment to attract people. In Worcester (and most other cities as well) you need to get a permit for live entertainment. The permit was issues WITH THE CONDITION THAT WE HAD A POLICE DETAIL AT ALL TIMES there was live entertainment. The cost, IIRC was $100 an hour (because the dept needed to get a cut too)

So here we had a family restaurant that 4 nights a week we brought in family entertainment for 4 hours. Karaoke was big at the time. If it was a DJ, we paid him $200 for the night- but the Police Department got $400 (plus food and drink for the cop) who most of the time hung around trying to get laid all night. In 6 years that I managed that restaurant, never did we need a cop. All this did was cut into profit, so we increased pricing to cover the extra $1600 a week in extortion.

 

[Admin]

Actually, i think that you are missing the point. I think that we all agree that police should make more than $37,000 a year. BUT they should make it doing POLICE WORK, not looking in a hole in the ground. If you save $20 an hour by putting a flagman to direct traffic, that $20 could be spent on POLICE WORK like solving (and God forbid preventing) crimes

I think we ALL agree on that...

 

[reinbeau]

I kinda feel a lot of you are missing the point. Me, my father and just about every other officer depends on this money to survive. Tell me what $37,000 a year will get you? Not much.

And that's all you get? What about paid time off? Who pays your health insurance/how much do you contribute for it? Do you get regular raises? How is your retirement plan? I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but most of us poor schlubs in the private sector get little of this. Nevermind the fact that we've got to pay taxes to fund these employment benefits for all of the LEO's. I'm not saying LEO's don't deserve a fair wage, but realize your benefits far outstrip most of us who are paying your wages.

My husband gets three days off a year. Period. He makes a good wage provided the sun shines, come winter, he's laid off. We pay $225 a week for a family plan for health insurance (that takes us through layoff, hopefully, with health insurance, last year we had none for six months. Scary). There's a 401K with no match. He hasn't had a raise in two years. Our property taxes, however, have gone up in both of those two years. So, figure out a way to make it even.

As for police details, Greg was in RI the other day and {gasp} he and a project manager were directing traffic at a job! No one died. He knows how to do it. He's from Maine and NH where he did it before. I can understand on major highways needing a police car with a light bar to draw attention to upcoming roadwork. But if you're talking Broadway in Hanover, there's no need for two or three (at least) policemen or women standing at the jobsites directing traffic. The contractor could use his own trained staff (they'd have to be trained, of course) at a much lesser cost to all concerned.

 

[PaulD]

2000 was when this happened but it wasn't high school (thus the mention of student loans)

Sorry. I should have seen that.

Agreed but we're not talking about what they deserve. We're talking about what is needed "to survive".

$37k IS enough to raise kids, save for retirement (I had a 401k at the time) and buy a house (PMI?).... IF you keep a realistic idea of what you need "to survive".
Many people think owning the latest and greatest SUV or 52 inch plasma is needed "to survive". Many people need weekly trips to Kappys liquors or a pack a day smoking habit "to survive". Many people eat at McDonalds more times in a week then I have in a year "to survive".

I'm not saying he or any cop does these things. I'm just saying that I've seen "poor" and $37k isn't it. Especially if that's one of two incomes. So let's be careful of our use of the words "to survive".



What's to stop anybody else from calling an ambulance?

Ok, you're probably right that someone could survive on that but I disagree about buying a house and raising kids in this area. A $200k 30yr mortgage at 7% (about right with PMI as I'll assume this person won't put 20% down) works out to $16k/year in payments and that's at the very low end of the housing market in my town. If both parents are working and making $37k/year, they'll probably be paying another $16k/yr in daycare (yes, that's what it costs). Add in $100/wk for food, property taxes, clothes, utilities, etc for the full cost of living.

So, I suppose someone could survive but I wouldn't call it a good lifestyle, not even close. This person certainly isn't going to be able to afford much ammo.

 

[ArmedMainer]

I don't think ending road details for cops will change anything, as has already been stated the people hired to flag will be paid almost as much as the cop, also I'm sure the flaggers will get some sort of benefits, i.e., health insurance, vacation time, maybe even a pension plan. Not to mention the education and training that I'm certain will be required in order to become a certified traffic flagger. It seems to me this is just away for Deval and his machine to create more do-nothing jobs for their cronies, and the cost to the consumer/taxpayer will be the same if not greater. Just my .02

Flaggers can be employees of the construction company, they don't have to be state employees. Even if they're getting paid prevailing wage, they wouldn't have the overhead benefits as paid to police now, and the cruiser would be freed up for real crime work. The jobsite is charged not only for the police officer, but for the cruiser, as well (if one is present). If you do the math, how many hours is it going to take to buy a Ford F250 diesel with a light bar on it, at that rate!

As Ann mentioned I've been doing this for quite some time. My last job in NH was for Pike Industries who produces more aggregates for road construction than any other company in the Northeast. Details up there are as efficient if not more efficient than anything seen in the state of Massachusetts. Massachusetts' requirements for numbers of LEO's on a job site far exceeds that of any other state. Last year while repairing a water main break in Boston at 2am a Boston P.D. supervisor who wasn't even at the job site before had my boss sign off on himself and four other officers. There was only two there the whole night. Who do you think was paying to line these guys pockets? Maine and NH both require a LEO on a job site in certain circumstances but don't abuse the system like what happens in Massachusetts. While at my last MA. job I couldn't believe where State Troopers were required to be stationed. They weren't sleeping but they were positioned on streets that were closed to traffic. I've only been in this state for five years but I never cease to be amazed at the screwing the taxpayer takes at every construction site. It'd make you sick if you saw half the things I see.

 

[ramx50]

I agree that the current detail situation is a scam. I had a tree removed from in front of my house about two years ago, the company had to add in 4 hours for a LEO detail into the price even though the truck was only slightly in the street for about 30 min (no more than a car would be if someone parked on the street). The whole 35 min the LEO was at my house six or seven cars went down my street.

I for one would vote and pay to see LEO taken off details that they are clearly not needed on and pay them overtime (or severe duty pay) to be in places where they ARE needed and will do the most good!