WBZ TV-4
Monday, September 22, 2008
I-Team: Trooper Fishing On Taxpayers' Dime
Reporting: Kathy Curran
BOSTON (WBZ) ― A State
trooper who claims he is too sick to work is calling in sick to fish and
run his side business -- all on taxpayers' dime.
I-team reporter Kathy Curran uncovered how the man of the law is abusing
the system.
On the water, Terry Nugent is the captain of his fishing business,
Riptide Charters.
On land, he wears the uniform of a trooper for Massachusetts State
police, but the I-team discovered on some days when he's supposed to be
protecting and serving, he's calling in sick to fish.
"The worse thing of all is when the people cheating are the people who
are supposed to protect us from scam artists," said Barbara Anderson
with Citizens for Limited Taxation.
Curran logged onto the fishing chatroom "Surftalk" where Trooper Nugent
goes by the username Riptide and has written almost 400 posts about his
fishing adventures on the waters off the Cape.
On this day, he says "take a day off -- call in sick" because the
fishing season is too short. When the I-Team compared days here to his
recent payroll records, it found the trooper was taking his own advice.
The I-Team discovered that on May 18, May 25 and June 15 he was out sick
and had gone out fishing.
According to his post, on one of those days Trooper Nugent was well
enough to run a charter that turned out to be "a killer 1/2 day bass
trip."
The day before he was out landing this mahi and hauling in some tuna.
Too sick to show up to work at the Bourne barracks but not to fish.
According to an online post from August 26, 2007, "rippy got a new ride"
as in a new boat. The boat was supposed to be delivered the following
Wednesday or Thursday. That Wednesday Trooper Nugent called in sick.
"Do you think this is sick time abuse?" Curran asked Jack Greene with
Northeastern University.
"I don't think there's any question about it," Greene said.
That's Greene's opinion after looking at Nugent's posts and pay records.
"It creates shortages and overtime," he explained.
Greene is a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern.
"It's supervision, supervision, supervision. The reality is the
supervisor should know where his or her direct reports are, and if
they're not there, why they're not there," Greene said.
Nugent has taken 30 sick days in the past year and a half. This fishing
season eight out of the 11 days he called in sick he was fishing. When
the I-Team showed up at Trooper Nugent's house to ask him some questions
the "Riptide" was on dry land. After we knocked on the door the shades
were pulled.
There is case after case from the beginning of July where Nugent "made
the call" for a 14-hour fishing day and made sick calls two days in a
row to the middle of the month when "Riptide" was hunting tuna and
bailed on work once again.
Barbara Anderson says the citizens of the state who pay Nugent's salary
deserve more.
"It's always a problem when someone's cheating," Anderson said. "It's
worse when they're cheating on the public dollar."
The I-Team's investigation sparked an internal investigation by State
police. In a statement they said they cannot and will not tolerate abuse
of any rules or regulations and the department will take appropriate
disciplinary action if necessary.
Trooper Nugent is supposed to ask for permission to have a second job.
When we asked about that the department had no comment.
State police policy says excessive use, using sick time when the trooper
is not sick or a pattern of taking sick days around weekends and
holidays are signs of sick leave abuse.
The Eagle-Tribune
Sunday, September 21, 2008
State considers closing loophole
that lets towns opt out of using civilian flagmen
By Jim Patten
The state is threatening to
slam the door on a loophole allowing cities and towns to exempt
themselves from Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to start using civilian
flagmen at some road construction projects.
This has police unions steaming, as they say the detail work has always
been part of the collective bargaining process and should remain so.
The dispute stems from a clause in the governor's plan that exempts
cities and towns from the rules if they have language in their police
contracts or a municipal ordinance governing detail work, as long as it
is in effect by Oct. 3.
This "grandfathering" provision was added out of respect for the
collective bargaining process, said Klark Jessen, a spokesman for the
state Department of Transportation. At the time, he said, there were
only a dozen communities that had union contracts giving police the
exclusive right to work road details.
But soon after the governor announced his plan, police unions across the
state ramped up efforts to make sure their locals had such contract
language in place, Jessen said. Haverhill police agreed to a new
contract last month that contains wording that precludes the use of
flagmen. And police unions in Lawrence and North Andover are trying to
do the same in advance of the Oct. 3 deadline.
Methuen and Andover have had language guaranteeing them the right to
work road details for years.
"We have language in place we are pretty certain is going to cover us,"
said Andover Patrolmens Union President Patrick Robb.
He said the contract does allow for the use of flagmen, but only when a
police officer is unavailable for detail work. Even then, the job would
first be offered to auxiliary officers, firefighters, state troopers, or
officers from other agencies, such as the sheriff's department.
Language in the Methuen police contract specifically forbids the use of
flagmen, according to Lt. Frank Korn, former patrolmen's union
president.
If enough communities in the state go that same route, it would
effectively render the governor's proposal moot.
For this reason, Jessen said officials are now considering removing the
entire exemption provision from the new regulations. Due to the looming
deadline, he said a decision would have to be made "soon."
He said the police were told that officials believe state law only
permits them to bargain over wages, benefits and conditions of
employment, and that the recent moves to amend police contracts show how
this can get out of control,
Spokesmen for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, and the
New England Benevolent Police Association were critical of any plan to
remove the grandfathering protections.
Jerry Flynn, executive director of the New England Benevolent Police
Officers Association and a vocal opponent of the new detail regulations,
said the state's actions fly in the face of legislative intent.
When it passed the regulations, he said the Legislature did not mandate
a timeline or any changes to pre-existing collective bargaining
agreements.
"They are trying to prevent our members from negotiating this issue
despite the fact that, in the past, details have always been bargained
over as a term and condition of employment," said Phil Petit, spokesman
for the IBPO. "Chapter 150E (the public employee collective bargaining
law) is the bedrock of our labor laws, and the Patrick Administration is
attempting to tear it down.''
He said union leaders believe the issue is a local one that should
continue to be dealt with on a local scale through negotiations with
local officials rather than being regulated by the Commonwealth.
But there are others who feel that the governor is doing the right
thing.
Barbara Anderson of the Citizens for Limited Taxation
hailed the legislation, saying it is long overdue.
"I think (the governor and the Legislature) know there is a problem, and
the problem is that people are fed up," she said. "I think they are
giving the unions a chance to be reasonable, and if not, change it."
The Boston Globe
Monday, September 22, 2008
Unions lose on police details
Patrick moves to tighten rule for work sites
By Matt Viser
Governor Deval Patrick has
toughened his new rules on police details at road construction sites,
outmaneuvering local police unions that were making a last-minute push
to get around efforts to rein in the costly assignments.
The governor eliminated a provision that would have allowed local police
details to continue at all state-supervised work sites - even on lightly
traveled roads where the danger is low - if a local labor contract or
municipal ordinance required it.
The governor tightened the rules following a Globe story last week that
said local unions were scrambling to exploit the provision and protect
the lucrative details for their officers before the rules take effect
Oct. 3.
Police officials were furious yesterday when told of the change, saying
the new rules will dramatically reduce their ability to make
public-safety decisions in their own communities.
"In my 25 years in law enforcement in this state, I have never worked
with a more insensitive and arrogant administration that is simply
unwilling to listen on this issue," said Arlington Police Chief
Frederick Ryan, who is also a spokesman for the Massachusetts Major City
Chiefs, which represents police chiefs in the state's largest
communities.
"In a labor-friendly state like Massachusetts, it's outrageous that the
administration would try to implement a policy that trumps labor's
well-established . . . bargaining rights," he said.
An administration source briefed on the plan said the intent of the
change was to treat all communities the same, regardless of what type of
union contract they have negotiated with their police union.
"The administration decided to remove the provision and treat all
communities equally," the source said, speaking on the condition of
anonymity because the final plan has not yet been announced. "The
elimination of this provision means that in any city and town, projects
where the state is the awarding authority would fall under the
regulations."
The new regulations, which are final and were obtained by the Globe last
week, were filed late Friday with the secretary of state.
The last-minute revision could have a major impact in Boston, where
contract language and city ordinances guarantee the use of police
details at construction sites.
"You're kidding me," Thomas Nee, president of the Boston Police
Patrolmen's Association, said yesterday when told of the regulations.
"This is a complete surprise to us."
Mayor Thomas M. Menino declined to comment until reviewing the changes
and exploring whether it would be legal for the state to trump local
collective bargaining contracts.
"The mayor has not heard anything about these proposed regulations, and
would be interested to learn how they'd impact the city," said Menino's
spokeswoman, Dot Joyce.
Already, the Massachusetts Highway Department is preparing to place
civilian flaggers on state projects early next month.
It will mark the first time police details are replaced, at a lower
cost, with civilians to monitor construction projects in Massachusetts,
the only state that automatically assigns police officers to nearly all
utility and road work sites.
"Congratulations to the governor," said David Tuerck, executive director
of the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University and a longtime critic
of police details. "The unions will dig in further and do whatever they
can on the local level. But they've lost this battle."
The new regulations will place civilian flaggers on nearly all state
roads where the speed limit is below 45 miles per hour, as well as on
low-traffic roads where the speed limit is higher. Civilians would also
be used at sites where barriers are used to block off construction sites
on a high-speed, high-traffic road.
Some roads - generally those with speed limits of 45 miles per hour and
above, and with more than 4,000 vehicles per day - would still rely on
police officers to monitor traffic.
The state currently spends about $20 million to $25 million annually on
police details. The new policy will mean annual savings to the state of
between $5.7 million and $7.2 million, according to administration
estimates.
Municipalities could still allow police details on projects that the
state is not overseeing, such as locally funded road sites, utility
projects, or private construction projects.
Administration officials have said they hope their new policy will set
an example for municipalities, but there's nothing in the state
regulations to compel local officials to challenge police unions and
make changes on town or city roads.
Completion of the regulations marks a political victory for Patrick, who
has overcome an issue that plagued his predecessors. However, the move
has generated heated criticism from unions that are among the governor's
biggest supporters.
At a public hearing last week on the regulations, Robert Haynes,
president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, lashed out at the plan, saying
it "reeks of political motivation."
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
A Boston Herald editorial
Deval Patrick stands up to police unions
Organized labor pulls the
strings of many a politician on Beacon Hill but it appears the
Democratic governor isn’t one of them - at least when it comes to
expensive police details.
Yes, it seems Gov. Deval Patrick has managed to outmaneuver the powerful
police unions, which were girded for battle over the lucrative detail
assignments.
The governor, of course, has come out in favor of using civilian
“flaggers” on road construction projects to save money, provided it can
be done safely.
And the administration took the first step by releasing regulations last
month authorizing flaggers for state-run projects on roads with a speed
limit less than 45 miles per hour, or higher-speed roads that are
lightly traveled.
But the regulations made an exception if a city or town’s collective
bargaining agreement with police requires the use of uniformed officers.
In other words, a loophole you could drive a cruiser through.
That exception led to a scramble by the unions to get cities and towns
to negotiate such requirements into their contracts before the
regulations took effect Oct. 3. They even provided ever-so-helpful
language that the local unions should propose.
But in filing the final regulations late last week the administration
removed that exception. And barring some kind of legal action (which
would hardly come as a surprise) civilian flaggers will be authorized on
hundreds of active state highway projects beginning next month.
Now, as we’ve said before we’ll keep the champagne corked until we see
an actual civilian in a Day-Glo vest directing traffic somewhere. The
work will require training of civilians and the state expects a certain
ramp-up period before they can be deployed.
And we repeat: We feel for those officers who rely on details to earn a
pretty comfortable living. The trouble is, that comfortable living
represents an unnecessary burden on the rest of us. That is
fundamentally unfair and the Patrick administration has acknowledged it.
The Boston Herald
Monday, September 22, 2008
New police detail rules toughened
By Associated Press
[READERS'
COMMENTS]
MassCop:
All the deval kissers think
this is a big W for their pathetic cause. Not so much. We'll now have to
get second jobs in order to alleviate our 40k yr jobs, so while you sit
behind your computer making 100 plus k shaking your crooked finger at
the cops, I'll be looking through the job postings...maybe I'll apply
for that sweet faggers, *cough, I meant flaggers job OR just hammer
every citizen who commits infractions. Hmm, I'll go with option B, so
the next time you wiz past that lady in the crosswalk, get ready to eat
that $200 fine. I'll see you in court, and get paid OT for being
there...thanks joe citizen!
#389182 - Sep 22, 2008 3:04
PM EDT
----------------
MassCop:
That's exactly what is
going to happen, and before all the detail, cop hating posters begin to
rant calling us "ahole" cops, think about this. Cops enforce laws SET
forth by the commonwealth, many of which are arrestable and most which
impose monetary fines. I have preached with the view of educating and no
punishing, however with a big paycut for me on the horizon, for just
doing my job, I'll have to rethink the way i operate at work. So the
next time you toss that butt out the window, you very well might see
blue lights in your rearview.
#389358 - Sep 22, 2008 6:26
PM EDT
----------------
chipford:
MassCop wrote: "maybe I'll
apply for that . . . flaggers job OR just hammer every citizen who
commits infractions. Hmm, I'll go with option B, so the next time you
wiz past that lady in the crosswalk, get ready to eat that $200 fine.
I'll see you in court, and get paid OT for being there...thanks joe
citizen!" --- Hey MassCop, that's the union way: fear and intimidation.
Good job with the PR -- and proving the point "tuffcitydesigns"
previously made: "If any company, group or group of individuals had
devoted that amount of effort, coercion, intimidation and shear
arrogance to such a ongoing venture they could then be said to be what?
Organized crime? RICO." --- What ever happened to that "To Serve And
Protect" we used to see and hear, MassCop? Just more PR when it comes to
the brotherhood's extortion for personal profit it seems. When you can't
pick your employers' pockets, you'll DO WHAT??? --- You don't deserve
the uniform, a badge, and certainly shouldn't be issued a firearm! You
are an embarrassment to the profession. You don't even deserve the
position of flagman. --- Your ill-advised comment just added gas to the
fire. Good job, MassCop.
#389400 - Sep 22, 2008 7:42
PM EDT
----------------
maryanne:
Chipford, you nailed it.
Your last post was perfect.
#389464 - Sep 22, 2008 9:36
PM EDT
----------------
chipford:
Hey MassCop, one of your
brothers in blue was caught red-handed scamming us taxpayers by the WBZ
TV-4 I-Team last night. It's available on the WBZ-TV I-Team website, a
state trooper who called in sick regularly so he could take out
customers on his charter fishing boat. I guess he needed more money than
even your beloved details could provide, MassCop. He's replaced the
body-building "disabled" Boston firefighter (another of the class of
so-called "disrespected and under-appreciated heroes") as the new poster
child for public (safety) employee abuse of taxpayers. I call him "The
Big One That DIDN'T Get Away"! What an ad for the "Yes on Question 1"
ballot question committee. --- Trooper Fishing on Taxpayers' Dime ---
http://wbztv.com/iteam/state.trooper.fishing.2.823298.html
#389632 - Sep 23, 2008 7:45
AM EDT
