Sep 22, 2008 1:29 pm US/Eastern
Patrick Overrules Local Towns On Police Details
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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The regulations call for using flaggers only on state roadways where the speed limit is less than 45 mph.
WBZ
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Gov. Deval Patrick has altered new rules on police details to eliminate a provision that would have kept local police details at some state-supervised construction sites.
The amendment filed Friday came after some local police unions tried to get contract language protecting the lucrative details.
Klark Jessen, a spokesman for state Executive Office of Transportation, says the change does not affect locally supervised projects on local roads.
The move angered police. Arlington Chief Frederick Ryan, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs, called the administration "insensitive and arrogant."
"Whose phone rings when there's gridlock in a community? The police chief's phone," Ryan told WBZ Monday.
"To take the authority away from the chief to deal with gridlock, traffic gridlock, in his or her community is equivalent to taking away a fire chief's authority to use water from fire hydrants."
The decision to replace police with civilian flaggers at some road construction sites starting Oct. 3 is expected to save the state up to $7.2 million annually.
One analyst told WBZ that non-union flaggers make anywhere from $20 to $37 an hour. Compare that to state police troopers, who get paid at least $40 an hour.
The regulations call for using flaggers only on state roadways where the speed limit is less than 45 mph, which is less than one-third of all state roads. Decisions on whether to use police officers or flaggers would be made on a case-by-case basis by the state highway department.
At first the flaggers would be drawn from employees already working for the state.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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