Comm. Davis announces new “anti-lying” policy
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, Inc. 9-11 Shetland Street Boston, Massachusetts 02119
IAD will determine what constitutes a “lie,” termination is the preferred option
PRST. STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 2226 WORCESTER, MA
By James Carnell, Pax Editor ommissioner Ed Davis has recently announced (via BPD Commisioner’s Memorandum 10-007, issued 1/20/10) a new “anti-lying” policy in a brief, eight-line memo which announces to the patrol force that if his Internal Affairs Division determines that an officer has “lied”, “termination will be the presumptive disciplinary action…”. (continued on page A6)
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Nation’s First Police Department • Established 1854
Volume 40, Number 1 • January/February 2010
PAXCENTURION Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, Inc. Boston Emergency Medical Technicians
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POLICE ORGANIZATIONS
Gov. Patrick cuts police pay, guts contracts First pay cut in BPPA history orchestrated by Governor, allies, Globe editorialists: Are more pay cuts on the way? By James Carnell, Editor, Pax Centurion eginning on January 29th, 2010, Boston police officers will be receiving a pay cut of almost half of their negotiated educational incentive pay, courtesy of Governor Deval Patrick; and it may not stop there. On average, officers who attended college, paid tuition, and completed the required course work based on promised state funding from the so-called Quinn bill, an educational incentive implemented in the early 1970’s, will receive a pay cut of about $5,500. (Bachelor’s degree, patrolman, 20% of base pay). Officers with Master’s degrees or Juris Doctorates ( law degree, 25% of base pay) will receive a commensurately larger pay cut, officers with Associates degrees (10% of base pay) somewhat less.) Additionally, Governor Patrick has also encouraged the filing of legislation which would allow cities and towns to effectively escape from their collective bargaining commitment to provide the other 50% of Quinn bill funding. Among public employees, police officers have been singled out for the Governor’s wrath to the exclusion of all others. As a
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former civil rights attorney in the US Justice Department and a committed liberal who attended prestigious Milton Academy and elitist Harvard University tuition-free, Patrick’s animus towards police officers had long been suspected, but only recently bubbled to the surface. Neither firefighters nor teachers have been subjected to similar, specifically targeted pay cuts by the Governor. The Governor’s friends at the local editorial boards, specifically the Boston Globe, celebrated and cheered the pay cuts for police across the state, encouraging additional police pay cuts by passing the above noted legislation allowing cities and towns to abrogate their contracts. (“Local aid goes beyond dollars” – 1/22/10, Globe editorial: “Local communities also need a way to escape escalating costs of the Quinn bill, which gives salary bumps to police officers who earn college degrees in criminal justice. The cost is supposed to be split by the local community and the state. But the state has backed away from its commitment... At a minimum, Governor Patrick and the Legislature should change the Quinn bill statute to make clear that cities and towns aren’t required to absorb the state’s share.”)
The advertisers of the Pax Centurion do not necessarily endorse the opinions of the Pax Centurion/ Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association. The advertisers are in support of the BPPA Scholarship Fund and every patrolmen who risks his or her life to protect and serve the community.
BPPA officers attend Plymouth picket denouncing Governor Patrick’s repeated attacks on police wages and benefits. At the last minute, the Governor, who was scheduled to attend an AFL-CIO conference as a guest speaker to discuss “the future of unions in Massachusetts,” turned tail and fled in the face of hundreds of off-duty police officers and family members. See article and more photos on page A9. The Quinn Bill represents about twothousandths of one percent (.002 of 1%) of the entire state budget of $27 billion. And remember, officers have been promised, since 1970, that earning college degrees would result in contractual pay increases. Based on that promise, agreed to through collective bargaining agreements (known in the business world as binding contracts), officers paid thousands of dollars in tuition and earned degrees over a period of years, spending countless hours of their own time in class. Many officers are still paying back student loans based on this false “promise”, for what are now essentially “half-price”or potentially totally worthless-college de-
grees; if Gov. Patrick’s bill makes it through the legislature. In fact, there is now no reason whatsoever for any aspiring police officer to seek higher education of any kind, because a high school diploma or G.E.D. has the exact same monetary value as any college degree. (New officers can never obtain any Quinn bill benefits, of any kind; therefore, why bother spending the tuition money?) In a day and age when police work has become more complex and sensitive than ever before, the need for higher education has never been more obvious. But in a Globe article this past summer, the fact that fewer and (continued on page A3)